it became very difficult to stop practice and to go out of it. While the ends of the alley were open, some invisible force turned me back and I walked another round again and again. So strange action continued until deep night as probably the monk did previously. Coming back to village from cemetery, I could notice briefly how people were afraid of my appearance in darkness. A similar practice was done by Sri Aurobindo (the founder of Integral Yoga in XX century) who walked eight hours per day in his own room from wall to wall. It was not an “alley’, but he shoveled a path through the floor as a channel while walking constantly. Instead of rising to God (symbolized by trees), he downloaded super-intellect into his physical body (symbolized by geometry of his closed house). In both cases, the methodology included similar rhythmic movement and keeping axis. We can find some other examples in both Zen and Vipassana walking meditations.
Let us find a personal rhythm during walking meditation in Vipassana practice. Thai forest monasteries support this tradition many centuries, choosing it from four meditative postures given by Buddha (walking, standing, sitting, and lying). According to Achaan Nyanadhammo, at first visit to a monastery, the Vipassana master checked its paths for walking meditation. If paths were good worn, he accepted it as a good sign. There were amazing examples of practitioners. For instance, one monk practiced walking meditation on the top edge of monastery wall stepping carefully at high level as if balancing on a rope in the circus. Some Thai monks walked 10—15 hours per day covering about 20 km, even though they did it slowly. Achaan Singtong walked on the same path so long that he created a tunnel down to the ground. Achaan Dtun walked day and night not coming inside his hut even for sleep. He just lay down on the path and continued to walk again after awakening. Literary, he lived in the way. Since Westerners accept meditation mostly as sitting practice, these facts seem to be unusual.
As for length and speed, both parameters depend on your personal rhythm only! After he got liberation in Bodhgaya, Buddha used path as long as his 17 steps. The sacred path is a place of worshiping until now. Later some wandering monks used longer path about 30 steps, while several masters recommended for beginners to start from 15 steps. When you have too long path, your thinking becomes intensive and chaotic. Achaan Chah recommended natural walking, namely, not very fast and not very slowly. Anyway, it is easier to start from slow walking win order to notice all sensations and to develop your concentration. But some phlegmatic people need fast walking, otherwise, they “sleep’ in the way. Interesting, total concentration during walking will make it slower till full stop. Then you can proceed to standing meditation, next to sitting meditation, and finally to lying meditation. Vice versa, when you can keep attention on the chosen object in sitting position, you can try to extend concentration during walking. The task is more difficult, but it allows getting perfect concentration. Anyway, meditation is a control of thinking, which must be done independently from any position of your body in the space.
External Rhythms
When you realize your personal rhythm, you become very sensitive to any external rhythms, since you still cannot know the way of stars and destiny of people, at least till some degree. You need important ability to turn aside softly from your central axis keeping self-awareness and coming back to your central axis again without any contradictions. There is easy Taoist technique developing rhythm, namely, “pendulum’ in position sitting on your knees. You decline from your central axis forward and come back to vertical position again. Try to find your own rhythm! Some duration of such practice is very important since one-two movements will give nothing. More complicated version requires position sitting on your buttocks, stretching your legs forward, little bending your knees and joining your feet. Start rotation, slightly fixing three positions: decline forward (palms on ankles); move to left side (palms on shanks); decline backward (palms on knees); move to right side (palms on shanks); decline forward (palm on ankles). Then start circling to opposite direction. Spine is straight while declining from central axis without bending corpus. You can keep permanent concentration on axis only while your physical body is circling around it.
Of course, you can use some mantras, ritual dances and many dynamic practices for rhythm developing. However, using any traditional technique you must follow the specific rhythm of this tradition. No problem, if your current situation fits such experience (sometimes a “situation’ as long as the current life). Nevertheless, you will need to synchronize the rhythm of chosen spiritual practice with other rhythms of social life etc. Staying outside of monastery, you will need to coordinate your own rhythm with harmonization of spiritual, working, social, family and other spheres. Always there are some external obstacles; therefore, you have to tune your rhythm regularly, being independent of any actions. Otherwise, you will false in your own life. Probably, you will not notice the beginning of your personal corruption! Traditional realization makes everything simpler, if you exist within the tradition permanently, and nothing can influence your behavior. Then you can synchronize with your teacher, and he will build your structure according to some traditional spiritual standard. Finally, you will be converted into a similar teacher in order to support the rhythm of the particular tradition.
Stilling Rhythm
No matter, how your personal rhythm is coordinating with external rhythms, tuning universal rhythm causes complete stillness of any rhythm. Finally, it is obvious in meditation on technical level, when your breath and pulse become slower with long pauses which are impossible for human being naturally. External yoga practices make it clear already at Pranayama stage: first you choose some breathing rhythm, and then you extend it due to natural relaxation of whole organism, being attentive to breathing itself. Principally, this is non-violent action, and you must not suppress your breath forcefully. This is namely rhythm tuning in a “volume’ way. Proportion of breath-in and breath-out (and breath-holding, if necessary) is permanent usually, though you extend duration of each period. Slowly, it becomes as subtle as almost invisible and inaudible. The classic Yoga system recommends doing meditation after completing pranayama. The effect is useful for deepening attention which controls both breathing and heart pulsation, as the main function in human organism. Finally, Yogi can stop pulse by his own will, and I controlled such demonstration personally once in India.
Let us describe Vipassana as a rhythmic practice too. Slowly, you will also calm both movement and breath due to deepening attention. Breath becomes equal in both nostrils (Swara-Yoga is a holistic system for this purpose), more subtle, flowing, and transparent, as if you drink water with your nose. Exhale become shorter, finally you will not feel it in your nostrils. Pulse can be reduced twice (from 60 to 30 heart-beats per minute). Reaching this stage, you need not a regalement for father practice because duration is extending by itself. Breath-holding creates holistic consciousness of emptiness, but new inhale will bring you back to Samsara, which becomes obviously elusive and unreal. When you come to the state of “breathless corpse’, you will calm your personal rhythm completely. Then you will get perception of a universal rhythm without distraction and finally experience Nirvana. Your personal rhythm becomes not actual anymore, because Nirvana contains Samsara.
IV. Attention
We come closer to a “meditation’ which is originally the Latin term for translation of the Sanskrit “dhyana’. However, there is suggestion for another English translation, namely, “contemplation’. It was essential polemic for its practical subject. The so-called “meditation’ is rather an attention to reality (vision as such) than thinking about something (a reflection of some image composed during vision of the particular object). This is a principle difference since Descartes’s “Meditationes de Prima Philosophia’, where the “meditation’ became the obvious background of Western philosophy. Due to this differentiation, we can discriminate between “applied meditation’ as a form of psychotherapy and “real meditation’ as increasing spiritual practice up to Samadhi. Western psychology use meditation as exchanging negative images for positive images. Anyway, there are images. While dhyana brings to total annihilation of all images (chitta vritti nirodha) proceeding to contemplation of pure conscious reality without any images. The main point is developing attention to Reality as such. There are many technical variations in different traditions which