The ninety-day and seven-day forms: walking, sitting and half-and-half

Zhiyi’s intensive samādhis of constant sitting, constant walking and half walking, half sitting: traditionally undertaken under a teacher.

Warum es wirkt

Mo-ho chih-kuan vol. 2 describes the four samādhis as four ways of bringing the mind to rest: constant sitting, constant walking, half walking and half sitting, and neither walking nor sitting. The first two are set out over ninety days, with the walking form based on the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra and its “Buddha standing before you” vision. The half-and-half form is a seven-day practice of circumambulation with recitation and sitting. The text describes them as fixed, time-bounded periods, with set rules for posture, movement, speech and place.

So gehst du vor

1. These are not home practices. The first step is to find a qualified teacher who knows the practice and the monastic precepts. The text itself asks for an accomplished master for the walking form.
2. Discuss with the teacher whether your body, your daily life and your current wellbeing can support a long form of practice at all. Start, if at all, with the short forms in the other practices on this page.
3. If the teacher advises the form, follow the setting and schedule they give, including the precepts and the place. The texts describe a prepared, quiet room and a fixed routine.
4. Keep a regular check-in with the teacher during and after the period, and report anything that is difficult, frightening or unusual, rather than pushing through.

Evidenz

The ninety-day forms, the seven-day half-and-half form and the instruction to practise under a qualified teacher are in Mo-ho chih-kuan vol. 2. No trial has studied these intensive forms. (anecdotal)

This is an intensive form described in a classical text. It is not a form to try alone, and the texts ask for a teacher for good reason. If you are struggling with distress, sleep or intrusive thoughts, see the meditation-related-challenges page before considering any intensive practice.

Quellen

• Zhiyi. Mo-ho chih-kuan (摩訶止觀, T1911), vol. 2 (上), Chinese text on Chinese Wikisource. Sections on the four samādhis (常坐, 常行, 半行半坐, 非行非坐) and the Lotus samādhi.
• Zhiyi (538–597). Great Cessation-and-Contemplation (Mohezhiguan, T. 1911), Volume I. BDK America product page, which describes the text as the foundation of Tiantai Buddhism and as a treatise on śamatha-vipaśyanā.

Häufiger Fehler

Attempting a long, intensive form on one’s own because the instructions are in a book. The text itself makes a teacher a precondition, and intensive practice can magnify whatever is already difficult.