Walking Meditation: A Guide by Thich Nhat Hanh
By: Thich Nhat Hanh
By: Thich Nhat Hanh
Walking meditation is the practice of meditation while you walk. Walk in small steps, fully relaxed, moving slowly with a gentle smile on your lips. Open your heart to the experience of peace. You'll genuinely feel the ease of simply being present with yourself. Your footsteps will be those of the healthiest, most carefree person in the world. All your worries and anxieties can fall away as you walk. Learn to walk in a way that leads you, step by step, to your own liberation. With just a little mindfulness and a heart inclined toward joy, anyone can do it!
Going Without Arriving—Simply Walking
In our daily lives, we often feel pressured on all sides, always rushing from place to place. Yet how rarely we stop to ask ourselves why we have to live this way.
When you practice walking meditation, you walk with the spirit of a wanderer, with no particular destination or direction in time or space. The purpose of walking meditation is the walking itself—it's the act of walking that matters, not arriving anywhere. Each step is life. Each step is peace and joy. That's why there's no need to hurry. That's why we slow down. Though we appear to be moving forward, because we're not pulled by any goal, we aren't really going anywhere at all. And so we can smile as we walk!
Trouble-free Steps—Footsteps Without Worry
In everyday life, our steps carry so much anxiety and fear. Life can feel like an endless chain of restless moments, and because of this, our footsteps lose their natural ease.
What a beautiful world this is! Everywhere there are roads and paths graced with nature's own elegance. Do you know how many dirt roads are lined with green bamboo or wind through rice paddies? Do you know how many forest trails are filled with colorful plants that offer cool shade? All of this has been prepared for us. But because our minds aren't free from worry and our steps aren't light and at ease, we can't truly enjoy any of it.
Walking meditation is about learning to return to walking with ease and serenity. Remember how you walked when you were one year old, with that tottering, swaying gait? Learning walking meditation is, in a sense, learning to walk all over again. After a few weeks of practice, though, you'll be able to take solid, steady steps with peace and comfort. Below, I've tried to offer some guidance to help you learn walking meditation. May you succeed!
Shaking off the Burden of Worries—Shaking Off Dust and Cares
If I had the Buddha's wisdom eye and could see all things clearly, I could detect traces of worry and affliction in every step you've taken, just as a scientist looking through a microscope can see the countless microorganisms contained in a single drop of water. Learn to walk so that your footprints bear only the marks of lightness, joy, and complete freedom. To do this, you must learn to let go—let go of your sorrow, let go of your anxiety. This is the secret of walking meditation.
Walking in the Pure Land—Walking on the Pure Land
If I had supernatural powers, I could take you to visit Amitabha's Land of Ultimate Bliss, or the Christian heaven. I'm sure everything there would be wondrous and pure, with magnificent vistas. But if you did arrive there, what would your footprints look like? Can you be certain that your steps on the Pure Land wouldn't still bear the marks of anxiety and fear carried over from this Saha world?
If you were to walk on the Pure Land with steps weighed down by anxiety and worry, you would defile it, destroying its original purity! To honor the Pure Land, you must first learn to walk with peaceful, carefree steps right here in this Saha world.
The Very World is Pure World—This World Is the Pure Land
I'm sure that telling you a secret won't offend the Buddha or God. The secret is this: if you can walk through this world with peaceful, carefree steps, then you'll have no need to go to any so-called Pure Land or heaven. The reason is simple—the Saha world and the Pure Land both arise from the mind. When you dwell in peace, joy, and freedom, the Saha world is transformed into the Pure Land, and there's nowhere you need to go. Even if I had supernatural powers, I'd have no need to use them.
The World Contains All the Wonders of the Pure Land—
This World Already Contains All the Splendor of the Pure Land
To find inner peace, joy, and freedom, you have to learn how to let go of the sorrows and afflictions that make you unhappy. First, you should know that all the splendor you hope to find in a Buddha Land is already present right here in this world. It's only because our grief and troubles obscure our vision that we fail to see it.
I've always felt that I prefer this world over the Pure Land, because I love what this world offers—lemon trees, orange trees, banana trees, pines, apricots, and willows. Some might say that in the Pure Land there are precious lotus ponds, trees made of the seven jewels, roads paved with gold, and countless celestial birds. But these don't especially appeal to me. I'd rather not walk on roads paved with gold and silver—even marble-paved roads like the ones in this world don't tempt me. What I truly love are dirt paths flanked by green grass. I love the way gravel and fallen leaves blanket the earth. I love the low shrubs, the streams, the bamboo fences, and the small boats.
When I was a young novice, I told my teacher, "If there are no lemon trees in the Pure Land, then I don't want to go." My teacher smiled and shook his head. Perhaps he thought I was a stubborn boy! But he didn't say whether I was right or wrong. Later, when I learned that both this world and the Pure Land are created by the mind, how happy I was! Because I knew that in the Pure Land, there are also lemon trees and star fruit trees growing alongside paths bordered with grass and earth.
I know that as long as I stay awake and mindful, and walk with ease, I can find my Pure Land. That is why I practice walking meditation every single day.
The Seal of an Emperor—The Emperor's Seal
Choose a good path for practicing walking meditation—along a riverbank, in a park, on a rooftop terrace, in the woods, or along a bamboo fence. These are all ideal, but not absolutely necessary. I know many people who practice walking meditation in labor camps, even inside prison cells. A path that isn't too rough or too steep is best. Slow your pace and focus on your steps, clearly aware of each movement. Walk straight ahead with dignity, calm, and comfort. Be fully aware of every imprint your foot makes on the ground. Walk as the Buddha walked—place each step on the earth the way an emperor places his supreme seal on a royal decree. A royal decree can bring people happiness or misfortune. It can bestow favor or destroy lives. Your steps have this same power. If your steps are peaceful, then your world will have peace. And once you can take one peaceful step, you can take two, or even a hundred and eight peaceful steps.
Your Steps are Most Important—Your Steps Matter Most
What activity is most important in your life? Is it passing an exam, owning a car or a house, or getting a promotion at work? So many people have passed their exams, bought their houses and cars, earned their promotions—and still can't find peace of mind, joy, or happiness for themselves. The most important thing in life is to discover the treasure of peace, joy, and happiness, and then share it with others, with all beings. To have peace and joy, you must genuinely succeed in finding peace in each step you take. Your steps matter most, because they determine everything. Let me light incense and, with palms pressed together, pray for your success.
Each Step Will Cause a Breeze to Rise—With Each Step, a Gentle Breeze Rises
At one meditation center, there's a large stone at the entrance to the walking path, engraved with the words "With each step, a gentle breeze rises." How magnificent, how beautiful! This fresh breeze sweeps away the fever of affliction from your journey through birth and death. It brings you the peace and liberation that are the very taste of joy and freedom.
Dear friend, wouldn't you like to walk through our world in this way?
Be Aware in order to Let Go—Awareness Is the Path to Freedom
Our lives are bound up with sorrow and affliction, and we long to be free of them. But how? Take solid, steady steps. Take courageous steps. Be aware and resolute—clearly recognize the heavy burden of your grief and worries, and strengthen your determination to set that burden down. Ask yourself: "Why do I voluntarily carry all this weight on my shoulders?"
Recognize that you really are carrying the burden of sorrow and affliction, and be compassionate with yourself. Feel that compassion whenever you notice yourself heading toward yet another round of grief and worry. Understand that these afflictions can't solve any of your problems—they only block your peace and joy. With this awareness, resolve to let them go. The moment you truly want to, you can. It's as simple as slipping off a raincoat and shaking away the drops that cling to it.
Smile Like a Buddha—Smile as the Buddha Smiled
When you bid farewell to your sorrows and worries, a smile will come to your face. It might be the faintest beginning of a smile, but let it linger on your lips—smile as the Buddha smiled! Learn to walk as the Buddha walked. Smile as the Buddha smiled. You can do this—why wait until you become a Buddha? Be a Buddha right here and now!
I've written about smiling and its effects in The Miracle of Mindfulness. This kind of smile is the fruit of awareness, peace, and spiritual joy—and in turn, it nourishes and sustains them. It's truly wondrous, beyond comprehension! It brings peace and joy not only to you but to everyone around you. It transforms the Saha world into the Pure Land. As you practice walking meditation, don't forget to keep smiling. It will keep your steps light and at ease, and bring you even greater awareness, peace, and joy. Be clearly mindful of your breathing—it will nourish every step you take. Awareness of the breath is the wonderful method for sustaining your mindfulness and calm.
The String of Pearls—The Thread of a Pearl Necklace
Your smile and your peaceful steps are shining, radiant pearls. Beautiful as they are, they remain separate from one another. The breath is the thread that strings these pearls together into a necklace, so they are no longer apart. If you can stay aware of your breathing, the fruits of your walking meditation will be abundant!
Breath—Counting While Walking—Counting the Breath While Walking
Breathing with awareness is different from breathing without it. When you breathe mindfully, you know you're breathing. If the breath is long, you know it's long. If it's short, you know it's short. If it's ordinary, you know it's ordinary. You might wonder, "How can I pay attention to both my breath and my walking at the same time?" You can—as long as you synchronize your breath with your steps. Instead of counting breaths, count your steps. In other words, you gauge the length of each breath by counting how many steps you take during one breathing cycle. Count how many steps you take on each out-breath, and how many on each in-breath. This is the method I used when I first began walking meditation fifteen years ago, and now I share it with you. Breathe normally, and walk a bit slower than your usual pace—but not so slow that it feels unnatural. Don't try to control your breath. Walk this way for a few minutes, and notice how many steps you take as your lungs fill with air, and how many as they empty. In this way, your attention embraces both breath and steps. You remain aware of both, and the link between them is the counting. Your smile brings peace and joy to each step and each breath. It helps anchor your attention, and it is itself an object of attention. After a few hours of sincere practice, you'll find that breath, counting, steps, and smile all merge into one vast, balanced state of mindfulness. This is the stillness that walking meditation creates—four elements fused into one.
Pace
Let me share a few tips on counting. Adjusting your walking speed makes it much easier. Your in-breath or out-breath might not span three full steps—maybe only two and a half. If that's the case, you can quicken your pace slightly so that one breath covers exactly three steps. Or you could slow down, taking only two steps per breath. Once you find this new rhythm, simply breathe and count at that pace.
Your out-breath may be longer than your in-breath, especially when you're new to the practice. But after observing yourself a few times, you'll settle into a natural breathing rhythm that matches your footfalls. It might be three steps on the in-breath and three on the out-breath (3-3), or two in and three out (2-3). The first keeps the breaths even; the second gives you a slightly shorter in-breath. If you exhale for three steps and inhale for two, then 2-3 is your rhythm. Breathing this way is comfortable for your lungs, and you can walk for a long time without tiring.
When you walk uphill or downhill, your breathing may become irregular. In that case, just adjust your rhythm to whatever your lungs need in that moment.
Getting More Fresh Air
After a few days, try a small change: take one extra step during each out-breath. For instance, if your normal rhythm is 2-2, shift to 2-3 for four or five breaths, then return to your original 2-2 pattern. Moving more air through your lungs than usual makes you feel healthier. In normal breathing, we rarely empty our lungs completely—some stale air always lingers at the bottom. Taking an extra step on the out-breath helps push that air out. But don't overdo it. Four or five times is enough; any more and you'll tire yourself. After four or five rounds, return to your normal breathing rhythm. Wait about five minutes, then try again. Remember: add the extra step on the out-breath, not the in-breath. After practicing this way for a few days, you might feel the urge to add an extra step to your in-breath as well. Your lungs might seem to say, "We'd be very happy to shift to a 3-3 rhythm instead of 2-3." Give it a try, but only when that urge comes naturally. The change will feel good. Again, do it just four or five times before returning to the 2-2 rhythm. After a few minutes, start with the 2-3 rhythm, then shift to 3-3.
Over the course of a few months, your lungs will grow healthier and your circulation will improve. Your old breathing habits will transform. For example, you might move from a 2-2 rhythm to 3-3—and 3-3 will become your new normal rhythm during walking meditation!
Walking, Standing--Each Act Maintains Our Work of Realization
I suggested earlier that you walk like the Buddha, as though each step were placed by him. If every step leaves an imprint of peace, joy, and innocence on the earth, then this world itself becomes the Pure Land. In 1968, I had the chance to visit Vulture Peak (Linn Thuu Mountain), where Shakyamuni Buddha once lived. I walked alone on the dirt path he had walked. I stood where he had lived, and I saw the rock where he had sat to teach the Dharma so many times. I sat there, watching the red hues of the setting sun dip below the horizon, knowing he had watched that same sun set countless times. I felt that if I could not stand, walk, sit, and see things just as the Buddha did, I could not carry on the Tathagata's work. And the same is true for all of us. If you cannot stand, walk, sit, and observe like the Buddha, you cannot fulfill his mission—you cannot "nourish and honor this sacred seed, guiding future generations to revere the Buddha."
Awakening awareness in others doesn't come from preaching or explaining scripture. It happens through the way you walk, stand, sit, and look.
A Lotus Flower Blooms Beneath Each Step
When an artist or sculptor creates an image of the Buddha seated upon a lotus, they're not just expressing reverence. They're doing their best to capture the Buddha's inner state as he sits: a state of absolute peace and supreme happiness. We may sit in meditation several times a day, yet few of us feel truly peaceful and at ease. Few can sit with the same dignified presence as the Buddha. Most of us grow restless after a while, as though sitting on a hot griddle. But whether on grass or stone, the Buddha always looked as serene as if he were resting on a lotus.
When I first entered monastic life, my teacher taught me to reflect on this gatha before sitting in meditation: "Sitting here in an upright posture, I vow that all beings will sit upon the Bodhi seat, their minds unattached." Only after reciting this verse would I slowly sit down. This is how we learn to sit like the Buddha. I have this advice for Pure Land Buddhists: sit on the lotus throne right now, in this very moment—don't wait until you're reborn in the Pure Land. Be reborn in the lotus with every passing moment; don't wait until the brink of death. If you realize you can be reborn in the lotus here and now, the existence of the Pure Land will no longer be in doubt. The same is true of walking! The Buddha's birth is often depicted with him taking his first seven steps on the earth, a lotus blooming beneath each foot. We, too, should let our peaceful steps give rise to blooming lotuses. The next time you practice walking meditation, try to see a lotus springing up beneath each step, just as it did for the newborn Buddha. Don't think this visualization is of no benefit. If your steps are peaceful, these blooming lotuses are real. You are a Buddha, and so is everyone else. I didn't invent this—the Buddha said it himself. He taught that all beings possess the wisdom and virtue of the Tathagata, the potential for awakening. Practicing walking meditation is practicing how to live in mindfulness. Mindfulness (samadhi) and awakening (prajna) are one. Awakening gives rise to mindfulness, and mindfulness gives rise to awakening.
The Miracle is Walking on Earth
Walking on the earth with a free and peaceful mind is a true miracle. Some say only walking on burning coals, beds of nails, or water is miraculous, but I find that simply walking on the ground is the real miracle. When Neige Marchand translated The Miracle of Mindfulness into French, she gave it the title The Wonder of Mindfulness, which I loved. Imagine you and I are astronauts who have landed on the moon. The ship's engine is beyond repair, and we realize we can't return to Earth. Before mission control could send a rescue ship, our oxygen would run out, leaving us only two days to live. In that moment, aside from dreaming of returning to walk side by side on our beautiful green Earth, what could bring our minds peace and freedom from worry? It is only when facing death that we truly understand how precious every step on this green earth is.
Now, let's imagine we are those astronauts, safely rescued. Let's celebrate the joy of walking on this lovely earth once more! Let this miracle manifest in every step. Each step is a blooming lotus. Continue this practice, aware that your steps are creating wonders. The world right before you is wondrous beyond words. With right view and right thought, you can take steps filled with the deepest happiness on this earth.
Be clearly aware that every step lands on the ground—on the vast surface of this earth. See clearly what a miracle it is that this earth exists all around you. As you walk, notice exactly where your foot will land. As you step down, focus on the feeling of your foot, the ground, and the connection between the two. Think of your step as an emperor's seal. When you practice walking meditation in this hall, remember to use "the emperor's seal" or "the earth springing forth" as your theme of contemplation.
Choosing an Object of Attention
Mindfulness and peace are the aims of walking meditation. Because awareness is essential, we bring mindful attention to breathing, walking, counting, and smiling. These four elements give us spiritual strength. They dwell within us, revealing the presence of an awakened, all-knowing mind.
Through walking meditation, we discover niem and dinh. Niem means mindfulness, and dinh means concentration. Together, they describe a mind that is stable and gathered—free from conflict and distraction, with awareness resting steadily on the right path. To experience stillness and peace, you don't need all four elements at once—breath, counting, walking, and smiling. Often, just walking is enough. But if you find it hard to stay mindful while walking, bring in one or two of the others.
Anyone can coordinate walking, breathing, and counting. But if you focus too intensely on just one—say, your steps—your awareness of the breath and the counting may fade, like a light bulb dimming when a heater turns on. That's fine, as long as you stay aware of your steps.
You might ask: if I pour all my attention into watching my steps, or into visualizing lotuses blooming beneath my feet, how can I appreciate the other wonders around me? The bamboo grove along the path, the movement of the wind, the scent of the rice fields? It's true—the broader your scope of attention, the softer your point of focus becomes. If you choose the lotus, just focus on the lotus. If you choose the earth, focus on its presence. The moment your foot touches the ground, the earth will seem to appear magically beneath it. You can be aware of both your step and the earth at once.
If you'd like to enjoy the scent of the rice, the shade of the bamboo, the green grass, or the clouds, simply stop. Keep your breath in clear awareness, and let yourself take it all in. Let a smile come to your lips, and hold it naturally. After a moment, resume your walk, returning your focus to your steps.
Use Words Instead of Numbers
To stay aware of your breathing, you can use words instead of numbers. For instance, if your breathing rhythm is 3-3 and you're visualizing a lotus blooming beneath your feet, you can silently say to yourself, "Lo-tus-blooms, lo-tus-blooms." If your rhythm is 2-3, you might say, "Lo-tus, lo-tus-blooms." For those visualizing the Earth, a 3-3 rhythm could be, "This green earth, this green earth," while a 5-5 rhythm could be, "Walk-ing-on-the-green-earth, walk-ing-on-the-green-earth." A 5-6 rhythm might go, "Walk-ing-on-the-green-earth, I-walk-on-the-green-earth."
Find words that fit your steps just as you would find numbers. For Pure Land practitioners, the Buddha's name works beautifully: "A-mi-ta-bha, A-mi-ta-bha" (for a 4-4 rhythm), or "Na-mo-a-mi-ta-bha, Na-mo-a-mi-ta-bha" (for a 6-6 rhythm). This method comes easily in languages built from single-syllable words. Yet I've also seen Westerners make it work with their multisyllabic languages. They use phrases like, "Walk-ing-on-the-green-earth, I-walk-on-the-green-earth" for a 6-6 rhythm. These phrases link the breath and the steps together while simultaneously evoking the presence of the Earth.
The Future of Human Beings Depends on Your Steps
When you practice walking meditation, just walk naturally. You don't need to fold your hands or put on a solemn face. Choose a quiet path in a park or along a riverbank. If you're at a meditation center, you can practice walking meditation anytime—everyone there will know what you're doing, so they won't greet you and interrupt your practice. If you happen to meet someone on the path, simply place your hands together at your chest, bow slightly, and keep going. When I lived in Sceaux, France, I had a habit of walking in the early morning and late afternoon. The neighbor's dog would often run out and bark at me. Later, while staying at a Zen center on Tremper Mountain in New York, I led a group of American students in walking meditation. One morning, a dog barked at us too—dogs in America, just like dogs in France, aren't used to people walking so silently and slowly. If you pick up your pace and walk quickly, they think it's normal and pay no attention. I told the students, "Next year, when I come back to walk with you, this dog won't bark at us as we pass by. He'll have grown accustomed to your daily walking meditation over the year and become familiar with your mindful way of stepping." Everyone agreed.
I believe the way we walk, stand, sit, and look at things profoundly affects plants and animals. It's because we kill them or destroy their habitats that they face extinction. The resulting ecological shifts are now coming back to harm us. Polluted drinking water and toxic air are already taking their toll on human health. Today, we have manufactured over fifty thousand nuclear weapons—enough to destroy many Earths like our own. Yet we keep building more, as if we can't stop. We're like sleepwalkers, unaware of what we're doing or where we're headed. Whether humanity can awaken from this nightmare depends entirely on whether we can learn to walk with mindful, focused steps. That's why I say the future of humanity—indeed, the future of all beings on Earth—depends on your steps.
Let Me Walk with Your Feet
The Vietnam War inflicted tremendous physical and psychological suffering on the Vietnamese people. Many Buddhists lost an arm and could no longer fold their hands to bow to the Buddha or to one another. Many lost a leg and could no longer sit in the full or half lotus posture, nor could they practice walking meditation. Last year, two such individuals came to Phuong Van Temple to practice during the summer retreat. We had to find a different way for them to meditate. While everyone else sat on cushions on the wooden floor of the meditation hall, they sat in chairs in the corner. I showed them how to practice walking meditation right there on their cushions: choose someone who is actually doing the walking, follow each of their clear, mindful steps, and eventually merge with them. In this way, they too could plant peaceful, quiet steps on the wooden floor. Even though they couldn't walk, they could still bloom lotus flowers with every step. These two students succeeded right from the start. During the first session, I saw tears welling up in their eyes.
You have both hands and legs. You can fold your palms like a lotus bud, and you can practice walking and sitting meditation with ease and comfort. Recognize what a great blessing this is. Be a mindful walker. Walk beautifully for yourself, and for those friends sitting in chairs who are following in your footsteps. Do you realize that you are walking for many of your fellow beings?
Walking in Order to Find Peace
While it's easier to cultivate focus and awareness when you walk alone, you can also walk in silence with another person. I wake up early every morning to walk, and whenever I find a free five minutes to half an hour during the day, I use it to walk. Walking meditation brings you peace, clarity, and a great deal of joy. Let's transform every path on Earth into a path for walking meditation. If you don't practice, you won't benefit. Neither will I, nor will all sentient beings.
When you slow your steps, you might feel a bit off-balance at first, like an infant learning to walk. Just follow your breathing and place your feet with mindful awareness, and you'll find your balance soon enough. Observe how a cow or a tiger walks. A cow steps with clean, dignified grace, while a tiger moves gently and elegantly. If you practice walking meditation regularly, you'll find that your own steps become crisp, steady, and graceful too.
Walking so that All Beings Are Peaceful
In the early morning or late at night, the air outside feels exceptionally fresh and pure. Nothing nourishes the energy of life quite like clean air. When you practice walking meditation, you breathe in this energy, strengthening both body and mind. If you walk regularly, your life will gradually transform. Your movements will become lighter and more agile, free of heaviness, and you'll be deeply aware of whatever you're doing in the present moment. In your relationships and decision-making, you'll find yourself more grounded and resolute, with better insight and greater compassion. All beings—near or far, large or small, from the sun, moon, and stars down to leaves and silkworms—will find peace through your mindful steps.
True Love Comes from Right Understanding
Before closing, I want to share a few thoughts straight from my heart. I've said that this Saha world contains all the wonders and marvels of the Pure Land. Now I must tell you that this Saha world is actually better than the Pure Land, because suffering exists here. If I were hesitant to enter the Pure Land, it wouldn't just be because there are no star fruit or lemon trees there, but because there is no suffering. The very first thing the Buddha awakened to was the existence of suffering. If you cannot recognize the First Noble Truth—the truth of suffering—you cannot truly be a Buddhist. Awareness of suffering gives rise to compassion, and compassion is the driving force of the spiritual path. If you cannot see and understand this fact, your love is not yet true love. It might just be fleeting passion, excitement, or desire.
After going to help the boat people, I returned to Europe. At the time, Western life didn't feel like real life to me—it felt alien. Having seen so many refugees suffer and yet survive at sea, I landed at the airport in Paris and drove home. Along the way, I passed through cities and supermarkets ablaze with colorful neon lights. The whole scene felt like walking through a dream. How could there be such a vast gap in the human condition? Here, people were drinking and reveling under neon lights, while out at sea, people were being killed, robbed, raped, and persecuted. Having truly awakened to suffering, I once again rejected this superficial way of living. In the Pure Land, Amitabha Buddha and all the Bodhisattvas constantly remind us of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Yet how could the mere words of the Dharma ever replace the direct, lived experience of suffering? During the Vietnam War, Westerners could see scenes of the war on their television screens, but I wonder how much they could truly understand from them. I saw those same images, and I don't believe they can truly convey the depth of the agony.
Don't Ignore the Other Half of Your Dharma Treasure
I think this Saha world we live in is the best training ground for practice. Mahayana teachers often use words like goodness and beauty to describe the treasures of the Dharma. When they say, "Green bamboo and yellow flowers are nothing but the wondrous Dao; white clouds and the bright moon are themselves the truth," they are actually concealing half of our inherent nature. The true face of our inherent nature also includes the mud and murky water of greed, anger, and ignorance. Truth is also the pain and harm that people inflict upon one another. In the Pure Land, the songs of heavenly birds transform into the sounds of the Dharma; it is the same in this world—the songs of birds can also reveal our inherent nature.
An old Dharma Master once said, "Since beginningless time, sentient beings are neither born nor destroyed." He also composed a verse as proof: "When spring arrives, a thousand flowers joyfully bloom; the golden bird sings among the green willows." To us, the bird's song represents joy, beauty, and purity; it awakens the vitality and love within our lives. But if we look a little deeper, we'll see that the bird's song also carries the trace of suffering. One day, while sitting quietly in the forest, I was startled by a bird's cry. I clearly saw that the insects hiding under the leaves or inside the tree hollows were just as startled as I was. The bird's call terrifies these insects, just as the roar of a tiger terrifies us, giving rise to fear and suffering.
Choosing Bodhisattvas as Traveling Companions
The practice of walking meditation will open your eyes to the wonders that exist in this universe. It can transform the Saha world into the Pure Land, relieve your sorrows and anxieties, and bring peace to your mind. Naturally, walking meditation will also help us see and become aware of the existence of pain and distress. When our awareness is clear and bright, we can see exactly what is happening in our lives. I often tell my meditation students, "If you can't see what is happening right in front of you and all around you, how can you possibly understand your own nature? Seeing your nature isn't achieved by closing your eyes. On the contrary, you must open your eyes wide. You must be clearly awake to the real conditions of the world. Only then can you fully see your perfect, inherent Dharma treasure and Dharma body, and understand that things like explosives, starvation, and the pursuit of wealth and fame are not separate from your own nature."
Paths through rice fields carrying the scent of grain, dirt roads lined with bamboo shade, parks blanketed in dark gray, dry fallen leaves—these are all paths for walking meditation. Please enjoy them. They won't make you lose your mindfulness; rather, they will bring you the mindful awareness needed to see the true nature of the world. Whether a narrow trail or a wide boulevard, every road in this world is a path for walking meditation! Even the remote alleyways of Beirut or the roads in Vietnam where landmines still lie hidden, waiting to take the lives of children and farmers—as long as you are fully awake, you won't hesitate to walk upon these roads.
You will still experience suffering, but it won't come from your own sorrow or fear. Instead, it will arise from your compassion for all sentient beings, because you now carry the compassionate heart of an awakened being—a Bodhisattva.
【About Thich Nhat Hanh】Thich Nhat Hanh (Thích Nhất Hạnh, October 11, 1926 – ), born in central Vietnam, is a renowned modern Zen Buddhist monk, poet, scholar, and peace activist. He ordained at the age of sixteen and later founded the School of Youth for Social Services, Van Hanh Buddhist University, and the Order of Interbeing (Tiep Hien). In 1982, he established the Plum Village practice center in southwestern France to promote mindfulness meditation, helping refugees and children from around the world. He has dedicated his life to spreading the message of nonviolent peace and the art of mindful living. In 1967, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Fluent in Vietnamese, English, French, and Chinese, he is the author of more than one hundred books on Buddhism, poetry, fiction, and biography, which have been translated into over forty languages and frequently become bestsellers.
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