Kinhin in a small room

[karlmalachut]

So in my house I have a small room and I'm wondering how can I do Kinhin in it?



Gansho,

Karl

[Tairin]

How small? The room my zafu is in isn't very large and it has a bed in it. I walk in the available floor space. Mostly a longish rectangle.

Alternatively step out into the hallway.

Good luck and
Tairin
Sat today

[Kyoshin]

I have a really narrow space, long enough for about 3 normal steps, or 4-5 tiny kinhin steps. I just go to one end, then do an about face and go the other way. I treat the about face as a another step, and do it at the top of the breath to keep the rhythm.
Gassho
Kyōshin
Satlah

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[Mp]

Hey Karl,

Kinhin is in each and every step, so if you have to take one step and then turn ... this is kinhin. Kinhin is not about distance or space, but rather like zazen, being present in each and every moment (every step). =)

That being said, if you have to walk kinhin in a straight line, that is ok. If you have to walk kinhin in a tight circle, that is ok. Just be present in each breathe, in each step ...

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Jundo]

Yes, one can walk kinhin on top of a single blade of grass or one atom.

When small there is small, when big there is big. What is beyond and right through all measures of "big" vs. "small"?

Gassho, J

SatTodayLah

[Jakuden]

I’m another one in a tiny space, it was about four steps back and forth in my daughter’s room, now two or three in the corner of my bedroom. It is still a welcome break from the sore bent knees and ankles after awhile on the cushion!
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[sjlabat]

Yeah, space-wise make do with what you have. I have my home-office, where I sit, and then usually use the hall for kinhin.
gassho
sean
sat.lah

[Jundo]

I just posted this in our book club ...

For Mahayana Buddhists, a single note by a single instrument of a symphony is not merely a "part" of the symphony, but is the whole symphony. The entire symphony fills the note, as do all the other parts and bars and instruments, as if the entire symphony and entire orchestra were embodied fully within each single note (and perhaps an endless string of notes containing whole orchestras playing symphonies containing notes containing whole orchestras ... )

A drop of ocean is not merely a "part" of the ocean, but embodies the entire ocean within, and every other possible configuration of the ocean, and every shoreline or possible shoreline, and each grain of sand on those possible shorelines ... each drop or grain of which also does the same and on and on ...

Today, on another thread, we discovered that ...

it is believed that between 120 to 300 sextillion (that’s 1.2 x 10²³ to 3.0 x 10²³) stars exist within our observable universe. But looking closer, at the atomic scale, the numbers get even more inconceivable.

At this level, it is estimated that the there are between 10 [to the power of] 78 to 10[to the power of] 82 atoms in the known, observable universe. In layman’s terms, that works out to between ten quadrillion vigintillion and one-hundred thousand quadrillion vigintillion atoms.
...
This is to say that the number of legal configurations on a 13 by 13 goban [board for playing the Japanese game of "Go"] is nearly equal to our current estimate of the number of elementary particles in the observable Universe. The number of legal configurations on a 19 by 19 board is vastly more than the square of that.
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...l=1#post241623

That is to say that each single piece or each one configuration of the go board holds the entire board as well as every other possible configuration ... every particle of the universe does likewise for the whole universe.

That said ...

I was reading a Tibetan teacher's book today where he described "Emptiness" as not our usual concept of something "empty," meaning the absence of things. Rather, it is more like the fertile soil of all possibilities that holds both everything that is possible -- as well as -- the absence of all possibilities, and transcends all possibilities.

...

Something like that.

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?16977-BOOK-OF-EQUANIMITY-Case-82&p=241625&viewfull=1#post241625

This means that the tiniest step or pause of Kinhin holds all the movements and possible movements of the great "Go" game of the cosmos.

So, I would not worry too much about a small space.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Jundo]

Just to be clear ... make due with the space you have.

In a 6 meter by 6 meter room, I walk 6 meter by 6 meter Kinhin ... in a 1 meter by 1 meter room, I walk 1 meter by 1 meter Kinhin ...

... Once in a phone booth (remember those?), I walked in the phone booth. In a crowded train, I did not even move, but "stood" Kinhin. I was in a hospital bed unable to move, and gently raised and lowered my toes. Running, I jogged Kinhin, and climbing the paths of Mount. Tsukuba, the distance between stones determined the length. In my coffin, I will walk Kinhin with no movement at all.

Generally, in a Japanese Soto group, we say to "take a half step forward" with the top of each breath at natural speed, seeking to keep up with the person ahead, not creating a traffic jam for the person behind, if walking with others. But, really, that means "half a step" varies. As well, if needing to walk in a tiny space, "half a step" can be an inch, half an inch, a micron or half a micron ... stillness in motion, moving stillness. Truly, Kinhin is not a matter of distance, or long and short. Every step crosses the universe faster than light.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Heiso]

I'm also in a small space and walk Kinhin around the outskirts in small steps - I tend to sit in the FSR with my camera on and it's only recently I realised people will be able to see me walking Kinhin in my pyjamas and dressing gown!

Gassho,

Neil

STLaH

[Onka]

Thanks for asking this question Karl and thanks to Shingen, Jundo and others for your replies. This helps me too.