,One Step

Visit the One Step Pilgrimage event page

Walking practices have been an integral part of Dharma practice since Shakyamuni wandered the dusty roads of Northern India. One bodhisattva, Jizo, or Earth Storehouse Bodhisattva, is characterized as a pilgrim, dedicated to wandering the six realms of conditioned existence on foot in pilgrim clothes to present the Dharma to all unawakened beings.

In the Red Maple Sangha we draw on these traditions to encourage practitioners to explore how to deepen their awareness through walking.

• Indoor walking is part of every practice period.
• Our first Saturday of each month concludes with a one-hour silent walk down one of our neighbouring country roads.
• At least once a year we practice an extended walk or pilgrimage.

Walking or foot practices have taken several forms:

1. Walking meditation: someitmes called kinhin, walking a slow, limited, often oval or rectangular pattern as a way of relieving sitting practice.
2. Shrine circling: from earliest times there has been a practice of walking and chanting while circling a stupa (ceremonial mound) or relic site.
3. Pilgrimages: Extended linear or circular walks, called henro in Japan, have been encouraged since Shakyamuni's own time. In the Mahapara-nirvana Sutra he lists preferred sites to visit and encourages this practice. Dozens of sites exist around the world in the present.
4. Begging rounds: a walk around a temple community or village to collect daily food has been part of monastic life in most Asian Buddhist countries for centuries.
5. Kaihogyo: This is a central pracctice within the Tendai community. Its can be a short focussed walk around a temple or, on Mt. Hiei in Japan, can be up to 1000 days of 40km walks around a temple route.
6. Mandala walking: Mandalas are symbolic representations of cosmic reality, and can be two or three dimensional. This practice involves walking physically around the mandala , through it where the mandala is large enough or exploring it mentally where the paths are visualized. There are some similarities between this practice and modern uses of labyrinths.

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