Hi all,
I’m curious what is meant by journey in Bhante’s translation.
In the Buddha’s time people would walk from place to place. Sometimes long distances. There were no buses and cars.
It’s the spiritually proper of gallivanting.
And if you do enough walking meditation, you’ll also be capable of astral traveling:
when anyone has developed & pursued mindfulness immersed in the body, then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know & realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening.
…
He wields manifold supranormal powers. Having been one he becomes many; having been many he becomes one. He appears. He vanishes. He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, & mountains as if through space. He dives in & out of the earth as if it were water. He walks on water without sinking as if it were dry land. Sitting crosslegged he flies through the air like a winged bird.
~ MN 119
The Buddha spent a large portion of his life travelling, but the reason is rarely discussed. Here we see an account of the brutal political events which underlay the Buddha’s life and how they motivate his journeying in an effort to provide accomodation for his following: