The most important thing during meditation,
whether seated or walking, is concentration. During walking
meditation, be aware of each movement of your feet. In this
way, you will feel that you will start becoming familiar with
yourself, that you will come back to yourself, that you will
come back to every movement of your feet and be clearly aware
that “now, I am lifting up my foot, and now, I am putting it
down.” If your heart/mind is not wildly dashing about outside,
you will experience how joyful it is to come back to yourself.
Why do so many people enjoy the practice of Chan meditation?
It is because meditation lets our spirit return home to itself.
Our heart/mind is always wildly dashing about - as soon as
there is anything out there, we perceive it and get involved
with it. And so our heart is never really at home with itself.
In walking Chan, we find a way of getting a hold of our heart,
and once we have a hold of it, we can be home with ourselves.
If we continue practicing walking Chan for a long time, we
will find our original face.
Do you know where you are right now? Do you see that you
are residing in the body? This deceptive body of ours does
what it wants. When it has to die, it simply dies. When it
has to get sick, it simply gets sick. Whatever it is, it does
what it has to do. And so our body becomes a hindrance for
us--- a hindrance that is conditioned by Karma. Since we live
in this body we are restricted by our bodily conditions and
receive the karmic effects of our body. In other words, we
feel the condition of our body; we get sick, and we experience
pain.
But who is it that feels the pain? If our spirit was not
there, we would not experience any feelings whatsoever. If
we did not live in this body, we would not get sick. This
body is a result of Karma---it is the one that receives the
effects of Karma, whether these may be good or bad. But our
spirit is not the body – it is without any form or shape.
So how can it experience pain? It is because of the effects
of Karma.
So again – what does it mean to say that we practice seated
meditation or walking meditation? It means that we let our
spirit come home to itself. Without the body, we have no way
of seeing or understanding our spirit, our Buddha nature,
or to return home to our original face. If we want to become
enlightened, we have to find our original face. This is what
all the Buddhas have always told us. If we cannot find our
original face, we cannot overcome the cycle of life and death,
we cannot be free from suffering. Therefore, if we practice
seated or walking Chan, we slowly learn to concentrate our
mind, and to let our heart return to itself, so that the heart
will be able to see itself, so that the heart will be at home
with itself, so that it will be one with itself.
Dharma Master Hsin Tao
(Translated by Maria Reis Habito)
是什麼人在痛？
我們坐禪、行禪就是要攝心，走路的時候，注意自己每一步起落，你會覺得自己跟自己開始熟悉，自己會回到自己的想法，也會回到自己腳底的動作，一起一落都會清楚知道，心如果沒有在外面亂跑，就會感受回到自己是多麼的快樂。
為什麼那麼多的人喜歡坐禪？就是讓我們的靈性回到自己，我們的靈性都在亂跑，有什麼想什麼、有什麼看什麼，心都不曾跟自己在一起，所以用行禪來讓自己的心抓回來，抓過來跟自己在一起。我們行禪做久了，就會找到自己的本來面目。
你知道自己現在住在哪裡嗎？你們有看到自己住在身體裡面嗎？身體這個假體，要死就死，要生病就生病，要怎麼樣就怎麼樣，這個身體是我們的業障，因果的業障，我們是住在這個身體裡面受這個身體的果報，受這個身體的果報，所以身體怎麼樣了，我們就會有感覺，會生病、會痛苦。
但是什麼人在痛？我們的靈性如果沒有在這裡，什麼感覺也沒有。我們如果沒有住在身體這裡，我們就不會生病，因為這個身體就是業報，用這個身體讓你受果報，好好壞壞都是要受，我們這個靈性，它也不是身體，它也無形，怎麼會去受苦？就是業力。
所以說我們坐禪、行禪，是坐什麼意思呢？就是讓我們的靈性，回來看自己，如果沒有身體你就看不到，你就沒有辦法瞭解我們的靈性、佛性，回到本來的面目。大家要成佛，就是要找到自己的本來面目，這是一切諸佛說的，如果沒有找到自己的本來面目，都沒有辦法了脫生死，斷煩惱。所以我們坐禪、行禪，慢慢的攝心，讓自己的心回到心，心回來看看自己，心跟心在一起，心跟心住在一起。
─── 心道法師
