สนามใจ: Luangpor Teean’s Awareness-Mindfulness Meditation

Luangpor Teean’s Awareness-Mindfulness Meditation

Developing Awareness-Mindfulness in Daily Life

You should develop awareness-mindfulness frequently and regularly. You can practise in any posture such as sitting or lying. When you are on a bus or in a car you may put your hand on your thigh, turn your palm up and down and be aware of the movement. You may rub your fingers gently and slowly or you may grasp-release your hand. These actions will awaken your awareness.

To practise “all the time” means to feel or be aware of the movement when you are doing all your daily tasks: washing clothes, sweeping floor, cleaning house, washing dishes, gardening or writing. The awareness will accumulate little by little every day like raindrops falling in a container or earthen jar. If the container is not leaking it will be full of water overtime.

It is the same as practising awareness-mindfulness meditation. You may practise by walking back and forth, swinging your foot or your hand, or lying down in bed and grasping-releasing your hand repeatedly until you fall asleep. When you wake up in the morning, begin the same practice. This is the developing awareness-mindfulness.

Caṅkama (Walking Meditation)

Caṅkama in Pāli language means walking forward and backwards or to and from. Sitting for a long time may cause aches and pains, you can change your body’s position from sitting to walking. After walking for a long time you can change the position from walking to sitting. There are four positions: standing, walking, sitting, and lying. Time should be well allotted for each of them.

Do not move your arms while walking; keep your arms across your chest or clasp your hands behind your back.

When you are walking to and from, be aware of your feet’s movement. Do not recite “the right foot is moving” and “the left foot is moving”.

Do not walk too fast or too slow, walk normally.

To walk with awareness is the method of walking meditation. If you walk all day without awareness, it is not walking meditation; you will waste time.

Walking forward and backwards with "knowing" (awareness) is walking meditation.

Rhythmic Movements of the Hands

If you want to develop sati, samādhi and paññā you need to know the method and techniques of practice. Techniques of practice are: do not sit still, move your hands rhythmically all the time, do not close your eyes, and do not recite any word(s). You may sit in any position, no matter if you sit on the floor or on a chair; you may stand or lie down, but you have to be aware of every movement.

The method of practice in the sitting position is as follows: