I’ve just enjoyed a nine day walking meditation that required single-pointed concentration focusing on 100,000 stones! My teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, is fond of reminding his students that any experience can be enjoyed as meditation when one has 100% awareness. Fully awake and aware, we can walk, care for a child, go to the toilet, sit at a traffic signal; each of these experiences can be meditative even though we are not sitting on a cushion.
The trails of the Annapurna Sanctuary carry trekkers and supplies by foot, horse-back, donkey, mules and yak to an elevation of 4130 meters; hiking this trail was itself “a meditation on stones”. The meditation brings the trekker to the Annapurna Base Camp and unobstructed views of snow-capped peaks looming at 8000 meters and higher – Macchapuchre, Hiunchuli and Annapurna I, II, III and Annapurna South.
Unlike the trails of high mountain ranges elsewhere, these steep ascents and descents have been created by placing tens of thousands of stones. Some create flat steps numbering several hundred in succession; others are round and irregular, more erratically situated.
As I hiked, I became aware of how essential it was to carefully test each next stone with the tip of my trekking boot: Was the stone solidly in place? Was it slippery or could it provide traction for my boot? Would it move under my full weight? Only then would I settle into that particular stone and search for the next. It was indeed “a meditation on stones”. I was totally focused on the stones before me.
Some stones were covered with wet leaves; others fully immersed in the running waters of monsoon streams. Moss grew liberally on stone surfaces. Some stones were covered in the dung of horses or donkeys. There were hazards to be assessed and obstacles to be skirted. I remained fully aware and focused on the stones, sometimes even missing the environment around me.
I will now look at stones with an appreciative smile and deep gratitude for the opportunity to have learned stone meditation.
No comments:
Post a Comment