Loving Kindness Or Metta Bhavana For Freedom - Talk

This is a talk on loving kindness and compassion,

A practice known on the Buddhist path,

Otherwise known as metta.

I wanted to talk about this practice today as I feel it is one of the most important starting points on the path to freedom,

On the path to radical freedom.

In all my years of practice,

Of yoga and meditation,

And even in some instances,

Peak experiences as a result,

There is still suffering.

There is still feelings or hindrances that arise in my mind and I haven't found anything quite on point as the teachings of the Buddha,

A real means to lessening suffering in the mind.

So I want to talk about loving kindness as a starting point to the path to freedom,

To the path to radical freedom from suffering.

So let's first talk about what is liberation according to a Buddhist.

So this is total freedom from suffering,

Complete cessation of hate,

Anger,

Lust,

Greed,

Aversion and craving.

One is able to see through their own insight the nature of this illusion,

The nature of the mind,

To clearly see how this illusion is constructed all around them.

So as a result of seeing,

Really seeing with their own mind's eye,

Ignorance is gone and the psychology is permanently transformed and all that is left are wholesome thoughts and feelings,

Feelings and thoughts without craving or aversion.

So in early Buddhism from the Pali Canon otherwise known as the Suttas,

The Buddha talks of two distinct types of meditation,

The Jhana or calm abiding otherwise known as Samatha meditations and Panna or wisdom or Vipassana otherwise known as insight meditations.

These two paths of meditation merge later on as one becomes more advanced and experienced.

So Jhanas are a practice where the mind becomes so steady,

So focused like a razor blade,

It can penetrate anything it places its attention on.

This is the real absorption meditations where you can really look into the heart of any matter,

So still,

So focused.

This is one type.

The second is Vipassana.

So after the mind has become so focused,

It's able to examine the deeper layers of reality,

The basic building blocks down to the quantum level to really see how the mind operates,

How thoughts arise when senses come into contact with things.

So for example,

When the eyes see an object,

What is the process of consciousness when this happens?

With insight one can clearly see the mechanism unfold.

So these are very advanced states,

But they are attainable and they are real and the path is very much walkable.

So how is loving kindness situated within these two paths?

Traditionally loving kindness belongs in the four abodes of Brahma or Brahma viharas.

These are very old.

These are older than Buddhism.

They go back to Brahma Loka and the Upanishads.

So this is where we see a change from Vedic ritual towards a sense of virtue.

So these practices of loving kindness belong to the calm abiding practices.

There is no real order to develop the calm abiding practices.

It's good to develop them all simultaneously.

But let's start with the meaning of loving kindness or benevolence within the Brahma viharas.

So of these four states,

Loving kindness would be a sense of warm feelings towards others.

Warm felt towards one's own child when they're sleeping,

For example.

This isn't sexual and it's not bound up in any conditional friendships.

I will like you if,

For example.

Compassion,

Another one of the Brahma viharas,

Otherwise known as karuna.

So this is the care one has for their child when they're suffering,

The wish for them that they feel better.

So thinking of someone suffering and wishing they were free from it.

So this isn't pity.

This compassion is hard to cultivate if we are being cruel.

So we must refine our actions and behaviour.

Empathetic joy or mudita,

Another one of the four abodes of Brahma or Brahma viharas.

This feeling of genuine joy at someone else's success,

For example,

Happiness at your son or daughter's success.

It comes from within and it spills over.

The fourth Brahma viharas equanimity,

Not feeling attached to others,

Not feeling happy or sad by someone's thoughts or feelings or actions.

It's not indifference.

There is unattachedness.

There is awareness.

There is the ability to remain calm and centred while observing all states,

All emotions that arise and pass.

There is a real stillness in this state and a tentative awareness,

Absolutely awake.

So these are the four abodes of Brahma.

This is where loving kindness originates from,

This practice.

And these attitudes are the foundations of benevolence,

Of compassion,

The foundations that build a steady path towards awakening.

So these practices,

These attitudes support deep absorption.

With these attitudes,

We can really arrive at a state of access concentration where the mind is so focused,

Where the mind is so light,

It is able to achieve a very deep state of absorption,

Otherwise known as the jhanas.

These are all naturally in us,

These Brahma viharas,

But sometimes they get buried under all the illusions that we are separate souls and sometimes they get buried under our pain and our suffering,

But they are always there.

So in order to awaken these attitudes again,

We need to plant these seeds or thoughts.

The loving kindness practices sometimes might feel fake at first.

However,

We are laying foundations in the mind for these feelings to arise.

A truly wholesome mind always contains the seeds of loving kindness.

Metta or loving kindness is thought to remove the negative thought behaviour patterns of the mind.

So when the mind clings to a negative past experience and keeps feeding that experience with hateful thoughts,

The practice of metta reprograms the mind to steer away from fueling memories with resentment and ill will.

Within the Theravada tradition,

There is a famous story Devadatta,

The cousin of Buddha,

Sent the Buddha a wild elephant to kill him.

However,

When this wild elephant came raging at the Buddha,

It was automatically subdued by the Buddha's immense heart of loving kindness.

This is a really common occurrence to those who become skilled in the practice of loving kindness and there are many stories in the Thai forest tradition where monks often meditate in the wild and based on their calm loving heart,

These wild animals are subdued when they come near them.

After all,

An animal will sense fear.

So the benefits in the Theravada tradition or in the Pali Canon says that metta allows one to sleep easily,

Wake easily and have no bad dreams.

One is dear to human beings and dear to non-human beings.

So you are protected by the devas.

Neither fire,

Poison nor weapons can touch you.

Your mind gains concentration quickly and your complexion becomes bright.

And when we die,

We die unconfused.

These are the benefits of metta bhavana.

The Anguttara Nikaya in the Pali Canon says,

Fully ripened metta is an antidote to ill will.

No other thing do I know,

Oh monks,

On account of which unarisen ill will does not arise and risen ill will is abandoned so much as on account of this,

The liberation of the heart by benevolence.

For one who attends properly to the liberation of the heart by benevolence,

Unarisen ill will does not arise and ill will is abandoned.

So this describes how,

When one pays proper attention to cultivating metta,

These latent feelings of hate or anger,

When they arise,

They're quickly abandoned.

They do not take root in the mind and they even cultivate a mind where eventually these thoughts no longer arise.

So recent studies of psychological and physiological research have found that metta has a positive impact on problems such as schizophrenia,

Depression and anxiety.

In an eight week pilot study,

Loving kindness meditation showed reduced pain and anger with people with chronic lower back pain.

There is also evidence to say that metta reduces inflammation and behavioural responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses.

So within the Buddhist tradition,

The Theravada and the Mahayana,

We have the 10 paramitas or 10 perfections.

These qualities are important to cultivate.

So this would be dana,

Generosity,

Chila,

Virtue,

Nikama,

Parami,

This is renunciation,

Pana,

Parami,

Transcendental wisdom or insight,

Vidya,

Parami,

Energy,

Diligence,

Vigour and effort,

Kanti,

Parami,

Patience,

Tolerance,

Forbearance,

Acceptance,

Endurance,

Aditana,

Parami,

Determination,

Resolution and metta,

Parami,

Goodwill,

Friendliness,

Loving kindness.

So these attitudes,

When we develop these attitudes,

We are creating a foundation from which all other thoughts,

All other behaviours,

All other actions spring from.

They colour every action,

Thought,

Speech.

So within the Buddhist tradition,

A really important concept is dependent origination.

This is the idea that every thought that arises affects the nature of the next thought that arises.

This in turn affects everything in the body and mind,

Even down to the cells.

This is what the Buddhists call causality.

Therefore,

Cultivating these qualities leads to a wholesome mind and a wholesome body.

So eventually a being which is free from clinging and aversion.

Clinging and aversion being the qualities that pull us further into illusion.

Within the tradition,

Loving kindness is the basis for compassion.

Compassion has to be the motivation for enlightenment.

This is the most wholesome state.

So when we start with loving kindness and compassion as a practice,

We can move towards enlightenment with the correct intention due to causality,

To thought and action arising from our initial intention.

This is also the safest path.

When we think of others,

It's easier to let go of the self and this is precisely what we must do so that the consciousness can abide in Rigpa,

Pure awareness.

In order to develop in compassion,

We have to develop in equanimity.

This helps the mind give love equally without discrimination.

So we want to move away from conditional love.

This is precisely the kind of attachment which gets us in trouble.

Therefore,

When we practice loving kindness,

The stages are very important.

The kind of mind you eventually get is always molded by your initial intention.

So due to the changing nature of the mind,

One day we love someone,

The next day we don't.

We want to train our mind to become equanimous so that we can give this loving kindness to anyone whatever they are doing.

This is called mind training.

To make the mind pliable and workable,

Any mind can do this.

There is nothing more easy to mold than the mind.

So we have to do this,

Otherwise life will do it for us.

There are lots of practices within the Buddhist tradition that are all wonderful and really important on the path.

However,

If we practice without a light mind,

A buoyant mind,

A mind full of benevolence,

Then these meditation practices can have adverse effects.

The Vishuddhi Magga describes certain practices which can cause issues in the mind without this initial foundation of benevolence.

Concentration without gentle kind focus can make one tense and stressed.

This can cause headaches and tensions if one is trying too hard.

Mindfulness can become catatonic and detached if initial warmth isn't the supporting practice.

So we must make sure we walk the path from the beginning.

Before we can sit and concentrate and develop any kind of jhana or absorption or deep insight,

We must have a calm mind,

An undisturbed mind.

So the initial step of loving kindness is very important.

Loving kindness will not help you achieve enlightenment in and of itself,

But it certainly is an excellent starting point.

It can also lead to deep states of absorption or the jhanas.

We have all been hurt,

Rejected,

Felt pain.

The nature of thought and thinking causes the idea of the self and separation.

This is a natural process to everyone.

When we become more involved in me and mine,

That is where the pain gets more intense.

So we start with loving kindness to the self.

With the motivation to be able to love others.

Often we think this is hard to do.

We think that it's a self-centred practice,

But it's not.

This is wholesome care for the self,

An important starting point from which we can love others.

This is different from self-cherishing.

This is realising you are just as worthy of love as every other sentient being.

This will give us confidence to walk the path.

Before we dissolve the ego,

We need a healthy ego.

And of course,

The near enemy is self-cherishing,

Whereby you think that you are more important above and beyond others.

But of course,

The initial intention to practice loving kindness so that we can love others is very important.

If we try too hard to develop loving kindness,

It can cause fatigue and strain.

So we start simple.

As you begin to develop this feeling of metta,

It naturally flows outwards and that's what we are looking for,

A spontaneous arousal.

The more we meditate correctly,

The more the boundary of the self begins to dissolve.

Imagine yourself as a solid mass,

Dissolving and softening into the space around you.

So first,

Think of someone you love,

Not someone you have sexual desire for,

Not someone who is dead.

These are all instructions according to the Vishuddhi Magga.

Think of them there,

Think of them happy,

Think of them smiling,

Think of your connection with them and think how they make you feel.

Let them help you generate this warm feeling in your heart.

Then when this is flowing,

Think of someone you have mutual feelings for,

So someone you regularly see but don't know,

Someone who you neither have any strong love or aversion for.

And then think of someone you have difficulty with.

To begin with,

Don't choose someone who brings up a lot of strong feelings.

This is exhausting and can cause strain.

In order to help generate the feeling of loving kindness towards this person,

It's good to think of how this person may have suffered in their life,

Conjuring up feelings of compassion for them.

These difficult ones are treasures because you will learn heroic love.

Eventually we expand the number of people and then we are able to include all beings where this feeling is a spontaneous arousal and it moves through you.

We must be patient when cultivating these feelings.

Go slowly,

Be kind to yourself,

Be patient with yourself.

It takes a long time.

We don't want to race forward until these feelings are authentic.

So in order to prepare,

We must make sure our intention is in the correct place.

We want this for the benefit of others and the outcome of your practice will depend on the sincerity of your practice.

So we need a strong resolve.

We need to establish concentration in a settled mind and a settled body.

Remembering patience is really important.

The restlessness that one may feel are exactly the energies we need to settle in order to give ourselves fully to compassion.

So as always in the Buddhist tradition,

The seven factors of awakening are qualities we want to cultivate in all our meditation practices.

These are mindfulness,

Awareness of what the mind is doing,

Investigation,

Really examining closely the feelings that are arising,

How they are reacting with the body,

Energy and determination.

This is the effort you apply to your practice.

Joy and rapture make this light and buoyant.

Relaxation,

Consciously relax the body,

Consciously relax the mind,

The muscles.

This should not be tense or forced.

Concentration,

Calm,

One-pointed focus.

Keep the mind on the object of your practice that is loving kindness.

And equanimity,

Acceptance,

Everything as it is without craving,

Without aversion,

Just acceptance.

With these qualities you will be successful.

I wish you all the success in your practice.