Meeting The Buddha & Receiving Loving-Kindness

Establishing mindfulness,

Aware of the sitting posture,

Bringing our mindfulness,

Placing our awareness within this body,

Within the parameters of this physical body,

Knowing the sitting posture,

Knowing that we are sitting.

Trying to leave aside thoughts about the day,

Putting them down,

Setting the intention to be mindful of the in and out breath.

Throughout the day,

Our awareness gets absorbed into many objects.

So when we come to practice meditation,

We are trying to let go of the many and varied objects for a period of time.

Not so interested in sounds,

Or sights,

Or thoughts,

Or feelings.

Trying to be interested in one object,

Our object here being the physical feeling,

The natural feeling of the in and the out breath.

So we generate some gentle determination to really be aware of the in breath,

And really be aware of the out breath.

Trying to observe all the feelings of the entire in breath,

Coming in at the nose,

Through the chest and into the abdomen,

And then noticing being aware of all of those feelings when the breath leaves the body.

Mindfully aware of the in breath,

We can use mental noting,

Put,

Mindfully aware of the out breath,

Do,

Put,

Do,

Knowing,

Awake,

Alert.

We can use mental noting to restrain thoughts,

To help us be here in the body,

In the present moment.

Knowing the in breath,

And knowing the out breath.

Felt什麼 Sit,

While being reminded of these ideas.

Knowing thoughts as simply thoughts and not following them.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in and out breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in and out breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in and out breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in breath and mindfully aware of the out breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in breath and mindfully aware of the out breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing interest on the feeling of the in breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing attention,

Placing attention,

Placing attention on the feeling of the in breath.

Placing awareness,

Mindfulness,

Placing attention,

Placing attention,

Placing attention on the in breath and out breath,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Now you're standing in this grove and you suddenly notice that there's a yogi meditating at the foot of that tree.

And you can feel a certain quality of tranquility washing over you.

And there's a beautiful quality of stillness in the air.

And you're looking at that yogi,

A young man,

Very radiant complexion.

And it's as if there's a very beautiful quality of light,

An ineffable radiance,

Golden,

Coming through the pores of the skin.

You've never seen anything like it before,

But it looks very beautiful.

And you feel very peaceful.

You don't know why,

But when you're looking at that being meditating under the Bodhi tree,

There's this feeling of trust.

Something in you says,

You can trust this person.

And so you walk a little closer to this tree and to this meditating yogi,

Slowly.

And you come quite close and that sense that you had of the tranquility,

Of the well-being is even more powerful now.

And that silence.

And it's as if a deep peace is pervading the whole place.

And so you kneel down and you bow with faith to this being.

Now imagine then that this is the Buddha,

Not long after his enlightenment.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

And when we recollect the qualities of the Buddha,

It can sometimes seem intimidating because he's so powerful,

Such a warrior,

Who he had to be to defeat Mara.

But what we sometimes forget is the purity and the boundless,

Impartial loving,

Kindness and compassion.

And then also that he is the teacher of teachers,

Teacher of gods.

He's perfectly skilled at teaching beings,

Training beings.

So he knows beings with incredible intimacy at one glance.

And he doesn't look with a fault-finding mind.

He looks like a mother or a father.

And he looks as a teacher who is perfectly skilled in teaching.

And so imagine now that you've paid respects to the Buddha,

And now he opens his eyes and he looks at you.

And he looks into your eyes.

And what you see as you're looking back at the Buddha's eyes is that beautiful quality of impartial,

Unconditional love.

And you feel that profound kindness and that sense of trust.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

And then imagine that the Buddha is radiating his loving-kindness,

A quality that he cultivated for thousands of lifetimes.

The most pure,

The most subtle,

The most profound metta.

And all he wants from you is for you to be well and happy.

There's no selfishness,

No greed,

Impossible for him to have a harmful thought.

All he is capable of is wishing you well.

And so visualize that and imagine that the Buddha is wishing you well.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

And the reason that he strove for so many thousands of lifetimes was so that he would have the qualities and the skills to be able to help people like you.

People with little dust in their eyes,

People who love the good and who want to do better,

Who wish to be free of suffering and who wish others to be free of suffering.

He sees that goodness in you and he's radiating loving-kindness and he's wishing you well.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

And in your visualization you can pay respects to the Buddha one more time and you can say thank you,

Lord Buddha.

I'm going to try to train myself in the way that you've taught so that I truly can be well and liberated as you wish.

And just bringing that sense of having met with some blessing in your life and bringing this quality of faith and gratitude to the awareness as we train in cultivating buddha.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

Thank you.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

Breathing out,

Do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Aware of each in-breath and out-breath,

Breathing in,

Buddha,

Breathing out,

Do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Last minute or so of the meditation.

I'm bringing to mind now and recollecting the skillfulness of that effort with a confident heart that merit is produced through such activity and dedicating that merit to people who you think might benefit,

To beings which you may have harmed intentionally or unintentionally,

Or to all beings as easy fit.

Thank you.