our true home

When we practice walking meditation we are walking without needing to arrive anywhere, walking just to walk, each step you take brings you back to life, because in Buddhism we say that life can only be found in the present moment. The past has already gone, the future has not yet come, there is only one moment to live, and that is the present moment. Therefore, you have an appointment with life. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. Therefore, when you practice walking meditation, with each step you arrive in the present moment, and that is the address of our true home: life.


If someone asks you, "What is the Buddha’s address, what is the bodhisattvas’ address?" we say that the Buddha’s address is the here and the now. If you want to meet Buddhas, great beings, bodhisattvas, that is the address where you will meet them. Each brings you to the here and the now, so that you can be in touch with life as it really is. Everything you are looking for is to be found in the here and the now, because the here and now is the only place where life is available. Therefore, walking meditation is something very enjoyable to do. You can practice according to this formula: "I have arrived, I am home."


excerpt from the Dharma Talk on Mindful Consumption given by Thich Nhat Hanh on July 17, 1998 in Plum Village, France.

Photo above: Walk as a Sangha. I do not forget this magical moment, such a beautiful scene captured in a picture by Richard, taken during a walking meditation in Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, The Breath of the Buddha retreat, June 2006. Peace is beauty, beauty is peace. And our sister carries a piece of blue sky during her walking meditation, to bring with her the energy of the Sangha, and never be lonely. ©Richard Friday

If you would like to know more about Plum Village Practice Center, please refer to:
http://www.plumvillage.org/