Walking, Standing, Sitting, Lying Down

Sakyamuni Buddha taught that there are Four Dignities in human life: Walking, Standing, Sitting, Lying Down.

I saw a child standing by a field. The child asked, "What is life?"

I knelt and whispered, "Life is walking, standing, sitting, lying down. These are the Four Dignities. Do them well, and all else is accomplished."

The child replied, "Lying in my bed, I awoke. I sat up, saw the sun at the window. I stood, stretched, then walked here."

"Well done!" I said to the child. "You lay down, and sat up, and walked, and here you stand so beautifully, just so! You stand like a mountain whose streams nourish the earth.

"You walk wonderfully. You move your body like a host of monarch butterflies, like a well fed lion, like a river in a valley.

"When you sit, your body is a forest of still trees stirring with blossoms. All victories rehearse themselves in the calm of your breathing. Warrior angels of heaven are at ease, yet ready to serve, in your sinews and tendons.

"When you lie down to sleep, your body is a field full of buried glowing seeds. Your body is an ocean where mysterious and powerful swimmers play. They rise glittering darkly, then plunge back into luminous night. Your body is the unfathomable movement of waves. Your body is the moon's chariot. The sun rises from the center of your body each morning.

"Honor this body till the end of days, when the secret of dust is revealed. Let your body be the kiss of earth and sky. Then you can make peace with every other body. You can honor the humblest creature, and breathe light into the heart of pain.

"Your body is the place where God came to dance, the temple that Christ calls home, the lake where the Spirit of the Mother floats swan-like in the form of breath. The Word that created the universe murmurs in your heartbeat.

Don't ask for a miracle. Just be your body."