Beautiful.
So let's begin our Generosity Tone Glen meditation.
Notice and feel where your body comes in contact with the chair or cushion or ground.
Just take a moment to feel how the earth is supporting you,
Right here and now.
Now settle your speech in its natural state of silence.
You have nothing to defend,
All you have to do is just be here,
Now.
And let's together take a full breath in,
And gently exhale and relax.
Again,
Take a full breath in,
And hold it.
Breathe out and let go.
Now just relax and allow the breath to find its own rhythm.
And follow the sensation of your breath,
In and out.
Stay with the breath.
Generosity,
Known as Dhana in Buddhism,
Is a choice.
We often think of generosity in terms of money.
In Buddhism,
Dhana is any act of giving.
Not just money,
But also food,
Time,
Or our attention,
Without expecting anything in return.
So in this Tonglen Breathing Meditation,
We'll offer our attention and healing energy to ourselves and others to heal from cravings and suffering.
There's no right or wrong.
To do this meditation,
Your heart in its natural state is open,
Spacious,
And boundless,
And cannot be hurt.
So think of when you were a young child,
And recall fears you had.
Fears of being small,
Or fear of being big,
Fear of being teased,
Fear of being not good enough,
Or not being loved.
Allow that young child's afflicted feelings to come to the surface.
Now inhale that child's cold feelings into your open,
Boundless,
Warm heart,
And allow that child's feelings to melt right there.
And exhale one warm blanket of loving energy and caring and respect to the young child.
We'll repeat this two more times.
This might not feel natural and can be difficult at first,
But your generosity for yourself and others will grow.
We inhale the young child's cold feelings into our open spaces,
And we exhale warm feelings of love,
Caring,
And respect to the young child.
Finally,
We inhale the young child's cold feelings into our open,
Spacious,
Warm heart,
And with generosity,
We exhale warm feelings of love,
Care,
And respect toward the child.
Now think of a recent time when you were having a craving or you were grasping for something in your life to be different.
You might have been craving a drink or drugs,
Food or love,
Lust or relationships,
Or even recognition.
You might have wanted to act out just to get some relief.
Now breathe in that cold craving and grasping into your open,
Spacious,
Boundless heart and let it melt right there.
Breathe out and surround yourself with warm feelings of love,
Caring,
And respect.
Breathe in your cravings and grasping for things to be different into your open,
Boundless,
Warm heart and allow them to melt right there.
Breathe out and surround yourself with warm feelings of love,
Caring,
Respect,
And generosity.
As we get more comfortable with a generous open heart,
We experience more balance and ease.
When something unpleasant arises,
We don't have to worry that it's going to crush us or overpower us.
We also practice generosity to extend healing and happiness to all beings and to try in some small way to reduce the suffering in this world.
Now let's turn our attention to our friends in this space that are struggling with the same feelings and we'll inhale their cravings and their grasping into our open,
Spacious,
Boundless heart and we let their suffering melt right there.
We exhale warm feelings of love,
Caring,
Generosity to one another.
Let's turn our attention again to our brothers,
Sisters,
Siblings in this space that are struggling with the same feelings we've experienced and we inhale the cravings into our open,
Spacious,
Warm heart and we let their suffering melt right there.
We exhale warm feelings of love,
Caring,
Respect,
And generosity to them all.
The choice of generosity in our everyday lives comes in many forms.
Sometimes it's choosing a friendly smile.
Sometimes it's choosing to make time to offer a listening ear.
Sometimes it's welcoming the newcomer or creating safety to allow vulnerability for someone's suffering to heal.
And none of this costs anything.
Group meditation with others and offering silent encouragement and support is an act of kindness.
Again,
This is all free to give.
Each time we choose to act with generosity,
Our hearts expand.
This is a gift of friendship to others and a gift of freedom to ourselves.
May we all be happy.
May we all be joyous.
May we all be free.
