Re: cankama

Dear Num,

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question. I searched the CSCD
disk with the ca"nkam* string hoping to find a reference to a good
commentarial explanation but couldn't find anything definitive. You'd also
have to be more specific as to whether you're interested in the word as
understood in earlier times in the texts or later on in modern times. To
find out the meaning in the early texts you might have to go and look up a
large number of the references in the Tipitaka and its commentaries and
gather together anything you could find. I looked up a few references and
found some interesting bits here and there but not nearly enough to form a
clear picture. You'd also want to find out about the cankamas the Buddha did
like the 'jewelled walk' after his enlightenment and his daily habit of
doing cankama in the first part of the last watch of the night. I saw some
passages relating cankama to the samaapatti-s. A cankama can be done in
space or on the earth. I also found an interesting passage about a cankama
being well-hidden from public view (like the cloistered walk of Christian
monks) and when it was permissible to do cankama otherwise.

Best wishes,
Jim

>Hi Jim,
>
>I have a quick question regarding the meaning of a term Cankama.  I talked
>with Kom over the weekend, as usual he quizzed me by what does it really
mean
>when in Thai we say, "walking cankama". Does it mean just regular walking,
a
>form of walking with smadhi or regular walking with sati ??
>
>I check in my Thai, Pali-Thai  dict. They said cankama means walking back
and
>forth or in circular manner. I looked up R.Davids dict., it said :walking
up
>and down and also a place where one is walking esp. a terraced walk,
>cloister. In my Pali-Thai dict. Also mentioned cankura which means an oxen
>cart.
>
>I checked on Thai pitaka online, cankama was mentioned ay numerous places,
to
>me sound like it does not really means regular walking.  In Sutta mentioned
>Ven. Sona who did cankama until his cankama place stained with blood from
his
>bleeding feet. In anguttara nikaya also mentioned 5 benefits of cankama
>1.able to stand walking long distance. 2.able to stand development of
viriya.
>3. less sick 4.facilitate food digestion and  5.able to prolong smadhi.
>
>Alright, I better stopped here. My orthopedic doctor put my hand on a soft
>cast. I tore my ligament from playing tennis. It's not easy to type or do a
>lot of things while my fingers tied.
>
>Regards,
>
>Num


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