Meditation On Cultivating A Compassionate Attitude

I'll lead the meditation,

And the first part of the meditation will be just a few minutes of settling down,

Relaxing the body,

And then we'll have some silence.

You can do the meditation on the breath.

I'll give a little bit of instructions on that.

Otherwise,

If you know another meditation practice you would like to do to calm the mind,

Have more mindfulness,

More clarity of mind,

Then you can do that.

Then for the last part of the meditation,

Maybe 15 minutes or so,

I'll lead a guided meditation,

Some thinking or contemplation type of meditation.

So people's ability to feel compassion and show compassion can be affected by certain factors in their life,

For example,

The way they were brought up.

So depending on how we were brought up by our parents or other caregivers,

We might find it easier or more difficult to feel compassion and to show compassion to others.

And Buddhism would add to that that in addition to factors in this life,

Like our family situation,

Our parents,

Our caregivers,

And so on,

Other experiences we may have had in this life,

We also bring with us things from past lives.

So Buddhism says we've had lives before this and our mind can be affected by experiences in our past life.

So the karma we created,

The actions we created,

As well as what kind of qualities,

Positive or negative,

Were strong in us in our past lives.

So if we practiced compassion in a past life,

Especially right before this life,

Then we would find it easier to have compassion in this life.

But on the other hand,

If we maybe we were more kind of unkind and even cruel and we kind of behaved in that way a lot in our past life,

Then in this life we might find it harder to be compassionate.

So anyway,

There's factors as well from past lives that can affect us in this life and our ability to feel compassion.

So it's good to know this because if we do have difficulty feeling compassion and showing compassion,

It's not really our fault.

It's not that we chose to be that way,

But rather we are the product of all these different factors,

Different causes and conditions,

Both from this life and also from past lives.

And Buddhism says everybody does have compassion.

Every living being has within their mind at least the seed of compassion or the spark of compassion.

So it does exist in everyone's mind.

And if we want to be more compassionate,

We can.

We can learn how to tap into that quality in our mind,

Even if it's just very,

Very,

Very tiny,

And then nourish it and develop it more and more.

And then we will be able to feel more compassion and show compassion to others.

So in this meditation,

The second part of the meditation I'm leading today,

We'll look at just our own situation with regard to compassion.

Do we feel we're as compassionate as we would like to be,

Or do we feel that it's lacking,

It's deficient?

And then just how to deal with that in a more healthy and self-compassionate way.

We also need to have compassion for ourselves and not beat ourselves up thinking,

Oh,

I'm so selfish and unkind,

And I don't have any compassion.

So that kind of thought doesn't help at all.

I need to stop that.

Okay.

So that's just roughly what we're going to be doing in this meditation session.

So when we meditate,

The way we sit,

The way we hold our body will have an effect on our mind and how well we're able to meditate.

So it's recommended to sit in a particular position.

If you can sit cross-legged,

That's fine.

Make sure your legs are crossed in a comfortable way that you'll be able to sit for about 30 minutes.

And if you're sitting on a chair,

That's fine too.

Either way,

Whether you're sitting on the floor cross-legged or you're sitting on a chair,

It's good to keep your back straight if you can,

If you don't have some problem with your back that doesn't allow you to sit up straight.

But if you can sit up straight,

That helps the mind to be more focused,

More clear,

Better able to concentrate.

And you can have your hands resting on your lap.

The usual way in our tradition is to have the right hand on top of the left hand.

So your left hand is below,

Your right hand is on top,

And the palms are facing upwards and the two tips of the thumbs are touching,

Making a kind of little peek above your hands.

So that way of holding the hands is said to be very conducive for the best state of mind for meditation.

But if you know another way of holding your hands that you're used to when you meditate,

It's fine to do that as well.

Don't press your arms against your sides,

But leave some space between your arms and your sides so air can circulate.

Otherwise the heat in our body can build up and if we get too hot,

That can make us sleepy.

We don't want to fall asleep when we meditate,

We want to stay awake.

And another thing that can help us to stay awake is to keep the eyes open a little bit,

Not close them all the way.

If we close our eyes,

There's a greater chance of becoming sleepy and nodding off.

So keep your eyes open a little and then have them looking down onto the floor in front of you or your lap,

Whatever is in your line of vision.

So that way there's a little bit of light coming into the eyes and that can help us stay awake,

But our eyes aren't fully open where we might get distracted by things we see.

So if you're able to do that,

Good.

If that's too difficult,

It is fine to close your eyes,

But just try to make sure you don't fall asleep.

And let your shoulders relax.

Don't have them tight and hunched.

So that's the recommended way of sitting.

And it's also important to be as relaxed as possible,

Not stiff and tense.

So if there is any tension anywhere in your body,

See if you can let it go,

Release it.

An easy way to do that is to just put your attention on the place in your body where you feel tension and just to tell yourself to relax,

To say to yourself,

Relax.

And that might help the tension to go away.

It's also important to have a relaxed mind.

And to do that,

Check to see if there's any thoughts in your mind left over from things you did earlier today or yesterday or last week or any time in the past.

So if you're still thinking about,

Worrying about some issue,

Some problem,

Some project you have to do,

Leave those thoughts aside for now.

Pick them up again later,

But just put them aside for now.

And do the same with any thoughts about the future things you have to do later today,

Tomorrow,

Next week,

Or any time in the future.

Now isn't the time to be thinking about those things.

So put them aside as well.

And just let your mind,

Your awareness be in the present right here,

Right now,

In this really beautiful,

Peaceful,

Quiet place.

And it is hard to stay in the present because our mind has the habit of jumping to the past and the future and other places.

So one way of keeping our mind in the present is by paying attention to our breathing because our breathing is happening in the present,

Right here,

Right now.

So if we watch our breath coming in and going out,

Naturally our mind is in the present.

So you can use that as the practice for this next period of time.

Be aware of your breathing,

Coming in,

Going out.

If you know another practice you prefer to do,

Then that's fine.

But otherwise,

The breath is a very helpful way of being in the present and calming our mind down,

Being more relaxed,

Both in our body and in our mind.

So just let your breathing be natural,

Not controlling your breathing,

But just letting your body breathe.

And then with your mind,

Your attention,

Be aware of each inhalation of the breath and each exhalation of the breath,

One breath after another.

And also continue being aware,

Even if there's a pause in between one breath and another,

Between the inhalation and exhalation,

Don't let your mind run away,

But stay right there with the breath.

You can also count your breaths,

That can be helpful to stay focused on the breath.

If you're relatively new to meditation,

You can just count up to five,

Five breaths,

Then start again at one when you reach five.

Just keep counting in rounds of five.

If you're more experienced,

You can go up to 10 or even up to 20,

21.

So counting is optional,

You don't have to do it,

But it can be helpful just to stay on the breath and keep track of what your mind is doing.

And at any time,

If you notice your mind has wandered away,

Is not paying attention to the breath,

But is thinking about something else,

As soon as you notice that,

Let go of that other thought and come back to the breath,

Bring your awareness back to your breathing,

And start again,

Start counting again.

And have patience with yourself,

Try not to get frustrated,

So be kind to yourself,

Understand it takes time to learn how to manage the mind and keep the mind settled.

So you can tend to just sit,

Breathe,

Be aware of your breathing,

And coming back to the breath whenever the mind wanders away.

Take some deep breaths.

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That's another factor making it difficult for us to be compassionate in this life.

So understand that you didn't choose to be the way you are,

But you are like the product of so many factors,

Causes,

Conditions from this life and past lives.

Don't blame yourself for having a lack of compassion,

Not being as compassionate as you wish.

And understand that it's possible to change the way we are.

We all have compassion in our mind,

Even if it's just a tiny spark or a seed.

So bring to mind a time when you did feel compassion,

Even if you didn't show it,

You may not have expressed it,

In your mind,

In your heart,

You did feel compassion for another person or another being.

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Another way of getting in touch with compassion is by observing it in others.

So think of a time when you observed someone else behaving in a compassionate way and really noticing that and being impressed with that.

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So remembering moments of compassion in our own mind and observing compassion in other people are ways that can help us to be more compassionate.

So one thing we can do is to really strengthen that wish,

Make it strong in our minds,

Affirming to ourself that we want to be more compassionate,

Just as we've been in the past and just as we observe in others.

So we can do that right now as we conclude this meditation.

Spend a few moments really feeling that wish to bring more compassion into your mind,

Into your life,

Into your relationships and interactions with others.

You can make this a kind of aspiration or even a prayer.

Spend a few moments doing that and really strengthen that wish to have more compassion as much as you can in your life.

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And on top of having that wish,

There's also lots of practical tools that we can use to have more compassion.

So there's lots of resources you can turn to that give you advice and tools on how to be more compassionate.

So really make a determination to do that.

Okay,

So let's make a mental dedication of what we've done so far,

This meditation.

We can just do that in our own minds and our own words like by having done this meditation,

May it help me to be more compassionate and bring more compassion into the world and help others to also be more compassionate.

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