During my visit to Tilorien Monastery in Belgium, I encountered a new way of practice for the Full Moon Uposatha Nights. Rather than sitting all night, most of the night is spent walking, mostly in forest. About half way through the walk about an hour is given to listening to a Dhamma talk or to silent meditation.
Monday night, was the delayed rain date for July’s Full Moon walk, which was great for me as I was away visiting Anenja Vihara in Germany on the actual July Full Moon. The silence of the landscape was so lovely and inviting, we chose to sit in silence starting at 11 pm until it was time to resume our feet on the earth trek through the night.
In June, Venerable Vimala and I walked from the monastery to the Lac de Nisramont Loop and circled the lake under the full moon. I estimate we covered around 14 km that night.
The trail had somewhat challenging terrain with lots of changes in elevation and rocks to scramble up or down. Alltrails website listed the trail as “hard” and doing it in the middle of the night did not make it easier.
For me, the terrain and Venerable Vimala’s amazing capacity to walk quickly over it, brought a particular quality to my mindfulness. I realized early in the walk that my personal energy resources in the muscles and balance of my body were not to be wasted as they may be vital to completing the walk. With that in mind, I endeavored to notice any ways I was over-efforting as I walked and to drop those behaviors for simpler, more relaxed and appropriate movements. Right effort of abandoning unskillful and cultivating skillful became a body based practice.
This practice brought my attention into the body and into the surroundings and into relationship with my travel companion in a directed way that seemed to naturally produce happiness. What a moon lit Uposatha Night gift.
The Full Moon of July I was at Anenja Vihara in Germany for the ordination of three new bhikkhunis (not pictured here).
It was a joyful occasion. A harmonious occasion. An activity-packed occasion. And although so much of that was a gift for the heart, it was a balancing blessing to have a sweet little stretch of trees and river with a waterfall to walk to and have a quiet chat or a nice meditation. I went to that site three times in two days. Each time I felt a little touch of calm and grounding. So, even the short outings can be balancing.
However, a full night of walking loosens up and reaches deeper for me at this time of practice, so I was glad that the July full moon walk at Tilorien got rescheduled to a night I could join.
Monday night three of us, Venerable Vimala, Karolina, and I walked about 20 km of roads and trails through little towns, camps, and forest into an area with fairytale like qualities. The majority of the terrain was much easier in terms of steepness and tricky footing, although the right amount of tricky was included and there was beauty around us and companionable walking.
However, I had been a week without my support slippers that keep me from chronically inflamed feet. I unmindfully left them at Anenja Vihara and I got to practice being with a less effective support while they were found, packed, and shipped to me with much kindness from some monastics and lay supporters there. Meanwhile, my feet had gotten sore, so I started out the overnight walk that way.
The terrain I needed to give most care on that night was the inner terrain of mind. My sense of where I would become drained was in thinking about the feet in the past or in the future or dwelling on how it hurt now. I set the intention to walk without mental defilements and each trip of the mind from the present moment was dropped onto the road and abandoned until there were stretches of the path that were just noting the in breath and the out breath and the body in motion. This way of practice was one of quiet happiness and ease.
These walks were good nights of practice for body and mind and the qualities of heart that bring both into easeful motion and quiet stillness.