Metta Meditation

Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Bhavana)

The Metta Bhavana, or Development of Loving Kindness, practice is one of the most ancient forms of Buddhist practice, which has been passed down in an unbroken line for over 2,500 years.

The practice helps us to actively cultivate positive emotional states towards ourselves and others, so that we become more patient, kind, accepting, and compassionate. It's part of a series of four practices which lead to the arising of loving Kindness, compassion (empathizing with others' suffering), empathetic joy (rejoicing in others' well being and joy), and equanimity (patient acceptance of both joy and suffering, both our own and others'). The Metta Bhavana is the foundation practice for this series of meditations. The practice, leading as it does to the realization of compassion, is central to Buddhism, to the extent that the Dalai Lama has said "My religion is kindness."

Stage One
In the first stage of the practice, set up your posture and deepen your awareness of your body.

Then become aware of how you are feeling. What emotions are present? You don't necessarily have to label them, just be aware they are there.

These emotions will be your focus during the practice. Keep your attention focused on your emotions throughout the practice. If you get distracted, come back to your body, and then to your emotions.

To work with your emotions, use a word or phrase, or a memory, or your imagination. As you work with your particular method, be aware of what effect it is having on your emotions, which are your focus. Be kind to yourself - wish yourself well. Stay with yourself until you feel comfortable with your thoughts of well being, that is, there is no real effort involved and you don't feel awkward about it.

Stage Two
In the second stage of the practice, think of a good friend, and wish them well. Decide in advance who you're going to pick, otherwise you might waste time during the practice. Stay with your friend until you feel comfortable with the naturalness of wishing them well.

Stage Three
Call to mind someone you don't have any strong feelings for. It doesn't matter if there is some feeling -- the main thing is that you neither really like nor really dislike this person.

Once you've called this person to mind, wish them well, using words or phrases, or your imagination. Stay with this person until you feel comfortable with the act of wishing them well.

Stage Four
Then we cultivate Metta for someone we don't get on with. It may be someone that we have long-standing difficulties with, or it may be someone that is normally a friend, but we have difficulties with them just now.

Call the difficult person to mind, and be honest about what you feel. There may well be feelings of discomfort. Notice any tendency you may have to think badly of that person, or to deepen the conflict you have with them (for example, by getting into arguments with them), and let go of those tendencies.

Instead, wish them well. "May they be well, may they be happy, may they be free from suffering." Stay with this person until it is no longer an effort to wish them well. Why cling to thoughts and intentions which only cause you pain?

Stage Five
So you've generated Metta towards yourself, a good friend, someone you don't have any feelings for and someone you dislike.
Now see all four of you together, and wish all four people well. Try to do this equally for all four of you, and notice any tendency to "play favorites" by wishing your friend more happiness than the others.

Then spread your well-wishing out in wider and wider circles, until you are wishing that all sentient beings are well and happy. Try including those who live or work around you then go further afield. Include the area you live in, the town, the country, the continent then the whole planet.