Allowing this natural settling to happen,
The mind resting in the body in the same way the body can be resting on the earth in a balanced,
Grounded way.
In a sense,
It's an act of faith that there is this possibility of the body being relatively at ease sitting here,
And the mind relatively at ease resting in the body,
Resting with the body.
We have confidence,
However it might be for us now,
This activity of the body and the mind,
We have confidence that the body and the mind can be at ease.
Maybe not perfectly at ease.
Then allow inward smile,
Inward appreciation as you notice the quality of the mind.
And to the degree that the mind is relatively settled,
Relatively happy,
Relatively at ease,
It's very appropriate to be happy about the relative balance and wholesomeness of the mind now.
And of course if it's not settled,
If it's not at ease,
Then just pull out your skills that you've developed to abandon mental habits that aren't helping right now.
Oh honey,
I don't need to worry about that now.
And you put it down because you care,
Because you see that it isn't helping this particular mental activity.
But then when you do notice that the mind is looking good,
Feeling at ease relatively speaking,
Then allow for a natural simple appreciation to arise,
Kind of in inner rejoicing.
I go,
Yeah,
The mind's in a good place now.
And I appreciate that.
It's relatively beautiful and settled,
Calm,
Clear.
That simple appreciation or rejoicing really is a wonderful jumping off point to metta practice,
Loving-kindness practice.
Appreciating that the mind is capable of being wholesome,
Being settled,
Being clear,
Being kind.
It's so much easier to notice the basic friendliness of the heart,
Goodness of the heart,
And just sense the radiant quality of the heart,
This goodness of the heart.
Metta is the Pali word for this basic goodness,
This benevolence,
Friendliness of the heart.
And you can imagine it as a warm glow,
A warm light.
Carefully open the curtains and just let it shine forward and to the right and behind us,
To the left,
Above and below,
All around,
Everywhere and every way,
Letting the simple friendliness of the heart radiate out,
Abundant,
Expansive,
Boundless,
Free of any ill will,
Any tightness,
The sense of a radiant smile,
Every cell of the body,
The whole body and the mind glowing with a very simple friendliness for no good reason.
Not trying to make anything happen,
Just expressing this goodness of the heart,
The heart that's capable of being friendly and kind and open.
And if your practice needs a little structure,
You can simply repeat the word metta or use an English equivalent like kindness as you breathe in.
Then as you breathe out,
Without any word,
Just that sense of boundlessness,
So sending it out in all directions,
That natural expansive quality of the heart when it's abiding with these wholesome qualities of kindness.
Breathing in kindness,
Breathing out,
Noticing that boundless immeasurable quality,
Everything belongs,
Nothing left out.
Try that on your own for a while.
Paul Green bizarre E-book Laure Ouverture became this amazing book.
Quite naturally you might notice at times the heart having different flavors.
For example,
You might be breathing in just noticing that the heart cares.
Maybe because you remembered some suffering of your own or somebody else's challenges that they're facing.
You can breathe in,
Oh yeah,
There is this suffering and I care about it.
And we breathe out our simple,
Beautiful wish for ease.
May this person or may I be at ease with these challenging circumstances.
But you could just use the word ease as you sense this boundless quality of compassion,
This sense of caring.
Breathing in,
Recognizing that this heart cares.
Breathing out,
Wishing ease in all directions.
At ease with the conditions of life,
No matter how they are.
The Pali word for compassion,
If you prefer that,
Is karuna.
Repeat that or the word compassion as you breathe in if you need that structure.
Then again,
Just tune into the immeasurable or boundlessness of that simple wish.
May beings be at ease with the conditions in their lives.
Or some similar wish.
And then,
Just playing around,
Oh yeah,
This morning,
Yeah,
There is this feeling Remember,
This emotion of compassion is an enlivening,
Beautiful emotion,
Even though we're bringing to mind,
At times at least,
Dear ones who are facing difficult circumstances.
The caring about them,
The wishing well for them is beautiful.
Just allowing this wish for ease to go out in all directions,
Everywhere and every way.
May you be at ease.
And you can continue with the compassion reflection,
But sometimes the heart just begins to notice what's good and beautiful.
Breathing in,
Appreciating the beauty,
The goodness,
The simple things that are nice.
And we exhale,
Feeling this expansive appreciation.
May this goodness continue,
Increase,
Never end.
This capacity to appreciate what is good and beautiful,
However simple that might be.
Again,
As if each cell had a simple smile,
Radiant smile.
It doesn't matter so much if that smile has the effective tone of friendliness or compassion or appreciation or even equanimity.
What's most relevant is its expansive,
Boundless nature.
It's not afraid,
Totally inclusive,
Everything belongs,
Everything's included.
Everything remains untouched by this simple radiance of love.
Continue in silence for a while.
This is not something you specific條 So we're meditating on this expansive,
These expansive emotions,
Qualities of love,
Keeping them in mind beginning again.
And in particular,
Tuning into the boundless flavor of these emotions of friendliness and compassion,
Appreciation and equanimity.
This meeting may have been structured in order – it may go two tratments,
Do it in a Tank Julia experience,
Noticing the beautiful,
Refined balance that can develop with these reflections.
The mind that is very trustworthy,
Wholesome.
The mind that is very trustworthy,
Wholesome.
The mind that is very trustworthy,
Wholesome.
The mind that is very trustworthy,
Wholesome.
The mind that is very trustworthy,
Wholesome.
In many ways,
The emotion,
The Vina Boat of equanimity is the most refined expression of love.
Cooler,
More peaceful kind of love.
A love that flows from a heart that has a lot of humility,
Knowing that the world,
Things generally can't be grasped,
Can't be defined.
So we breathe in,
Acknowledging this balance of equanimity.
And as we exhale,
We sense this boundless quality of peace,
Sending out peace in all directions.
Peace,
Being at peace,
Not having to define,
Not having to grasp anything,
Letting everything be.
This is the expression of the love of equanimity,
The peace of letting everything be.
This is how it is now.
It really has that flavor of balance and also intimacy.
It's not a distant emotion.
Peace in all directions,
Above and below,
Everywhere and every way.
This heart,
This mind is capable of discernment,
Seeing clearly,
Capable of skillful action,
Capable of seeing things more and more clearly.
Seeing the way things are.
A way of being that's worthy of respect,
Worthy of remembering how it is that the mind came into this balance.
How the mind supported,
Allowed this balanced state to continue.
So may this wholesome balance of mind continue and increase and never end.
The parent reading the words
