‘Loving Kindness’ (Maithree) Meditation
From TheBuddhism.Net
It is a fact of life that many people are troubled by difficult emotional states in the pressured societies we live in, but do little in terms of developing skills to deal with them. Yet even when the mind goes sour it is within most people’s capacity to arouse positive feelings to sweeten it.
Loving-kindness is a meditation practice taught by the Buddha to develop the mental habit of selfless or altruistic love.
“Hatred cannot coexist with loving-kindness”
Therefore, one should try to get rid of hatred and cultivate benevolence in order to get the full effect of this meditation.
Loving-kindness is a meditation practice, which brings about positive attitudinal changes as it systematically develops the quality of ‘loving-acceptance’. It acts, as it were, as a form of self-psychotherapy, a way of healing the troubled mind to free it from its pain and confusion. Of all Buddhist meditations, loving-kindness has the immediate benefit of sweetening and changing old habituated negative patterns of mind.
To put it into its context, Loving-kindness is the first of a series of meditations that produce four qualities of love: Friendliness (metta), Compassion (karuna), Appreciative Joy (mudita) and Equanimity (upekkha).
The quality of ‘friendliness’ (metta) is expressed as warmth that reaches out and embraces others.
When loving-kindness practice matures, it naturally overflows into ‘compassion’ (karuna) , as one sympathizes with other people’s difficulties.
(One should not confuse ‘compassion’ with ‘pity’ which merely means the quality of concern without empathy. Empathy has a positive expression of “appreciation of other people’s good qualities or good fortune” which ‘pity’ lacks.)
This series of meditations comes to maturity as ‘on-looking equanimity’ (upekkha), which means caring towards everybody with an equal spread of loving feelings and acceptance in all situations and relationships, while remaining kindly disposed.
(One should not confuse ‘equanimity’ with ‘indifference or aloofness’ which are enemies)
How to do ‘Loving Kindness’ Meditation
The practice always begins with developing a loving acceptance of yourself.
Loving-kindness is a heart meditation and should not to be seen as just a formal sitting practice removed from everyday life.
So, take your good vibes outside into the streets, at home, at work and into your relationships.
Applying the practice to daily life is a matter of directing a friendly attitude and having openness towards everybody you relate to, without discrimination.
This will have the effect of breaking down the divisions within your own mind, the source of much of the conflict we experience.
This is the simplest way to meditate, but probably the most effective. Learn the following phrase in ‘loving-kindness’ by-heart and repeat it in your mind as you go on in your daily activities.
1) For all beings (together)
May all beings be healthy and appeased,
May all beings be without hatred;
May all beings be without dangers;
No one may have hostility towards others;
No one may belittle others;
May all desire happiness and well-being of each other;
May all dislike giving pain and burdening others
2) For all beings (step by step)
May all beings in my country be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings in other countries be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings in the upper region be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings in the lower region be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who live across be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who live faraway be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who live nearby be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who I have seen be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who I have not seen be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who are small be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who are big be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings who are medium sized be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May all beings be healthy and appeased, be without hatred, be without dangers, not have hostility towards each other, not belittle one another, desire happiness and well-being of each other, dislike giving pain and burdening others!
May Peace be with You !
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