Part 1 - Working With Pain

Another aspect of the practice is that when you feel a painful sensation to be unbearable you have a tendency to change position. You should be patient with the pain and note it as much as possible attentively and methodically, not to change instantly but you should proceed with mindfulness of the pain. Eventually if the painful sensation becomes unbearable you can change only once in a sitting. But for some who can sit an hour without changing position it is not good to change the position in a sitting. Such yogis should not change their position. If the pain becomes unbearable then you should get up and practice walking meditation. Thats better because when you have a change in the position then your concentration has been broken. Even though you continue to sit after changing your position you cant get deep concentration. So its not very beneficial for you to change your position if you can sit an hour without changing it.

And in walking too, you should not walk only at ten minutes or fifteen minutes, for a short time. You should walk at least an hour if you can walk without any disturbance to your bodily processes. Only after that you should sit again for meditation. The most important point in walking is not to look round here and there. Naturally you have a tendency or desire to look round when you hear the sound of someones voice, when you feel something is happening nearby or someone is coming towards you, and so on. But whenever you have a desire or tendency to look round, you should make a mental note of that desire or tendency as: desire, desire, desire, tendency, tendency, and so on. When that desire has disappeared you wont look round and you can resume your walking. Your concentration is still stable to a certain extent. Its not broken.

Yesterday, I explained to you how a meditator can observe twelve parts of a step, including intention before every action as mentioned in the Commentary to the Pali text. But it depends on you how many of the actions you should note. You should watch some objects as comfortably as you feel. If you have to exert or endeavour your utmost to be aware of any number of objects uncomfortably, you should not do that. If you do that you feel tense on your neck or your back, and sometimes you feel a headache. Sometimes you feel dizzy because you have to strain too much to be aware of each part of the step. So it depends on you; you yourself know. Normally for a meditator it should be adequate to note four or five objects of a step comfortably without strains with your relaxation: intending, lifting, moving, dropping, or touching. If you are able to observe these four or five objects precisely and very attentively then you can attain a deep concentration on the movement of the foot.

To be aware of these four or five objects very precisely and attentively you have to slow down your stepping. Unless your step is slow you cannot catch each individual part of the step very well. Its indispensable for you to slow down your step so that you can note all these four or five objects very precisely and attentively. Now when you are able to note all these four objects very well, your concentration gradually becomes better and better. You can note intention very concentratedly. Then the lifting movement you can note with diligent mindfulness. Then the pushing movement and putting movement and touching sensation you can know very well without looking here and there. In this way when you practice walking meditation for about three or four days you can attain a deep concentration.