So then we begin the meditation on love and compassion.
As always getting yourself comfortable and upright to begin with and taking those few deeper breaths,
Using them to calm yourself down,
To let go of all tension and discomfort within the body and mind.
One more long breath in,
Long breath out.
And then as always we set our intention to be here,
To create positive aspects in our own mind,
But not just for our own benefit,
Primordially,
Principally,
For the benefit of all living beings.
And then bringing the intention into the present moment,
Again by coming to the breathing and spend the first few moments mixing your mind with the breath and being there with the breath going in and the breath going out.
And then we start by imagining ourselves in the middle and imagine yourself surrounded in all directions by all other living beings,
In front,
Behind,
To the left and right,
Above and below,
As far as you can see in all directions,
Like a sea or an ocean of living beings.
And then we try to generate that equal feeling towards all these beings,
Recognizing that any one of them could be friend,
Enemy or stranger.
All of them wish to be happy,
None of them wish to suffer.
And try and let that equal feeling,
That feeling of equanimity to all living beings be in your mind,
No distinction,
No bias between one living being and another.
And then we go a step further and try and feel close to all these beings,
Just like they're our own mother,
Our own father,
Our brother or sister,
Our friends.
Whatever works for you,
Break down that feeling of distance and mistrust and separation between oneself and others and feel close to others,
Like one's best friend,
One's own mother,
All children of the same God,
One family of living beings.
Try to feel that sense of closeness to all living beings.
And then keeping that sense of closeness,
We try to recognize the kindness of others,
Just as our own mother is incredibly kind to us,
In the same way all living beings are so kind.
When they're our mother or father,
When they're our family,
Our friends.
Everything we have comes due to the kindness of others.
Our body comes from our parents,
Our education comes from our teachers.
Our clothes come about from the people who made them and sold them and so forth,
Our food,
Our medicine,
Our houses and cars.
Everything we use every day in our lives comes due to the kindness of others.
Whatever reason they may have done those things for,
From our point of view,
It's a kindness.
We only have those things because of other people.
And that kindness that others have shown us extends even to people who are difficult,
Because from those people we learn the most important things,
Patience,
Openness,
Connection,
Kindness.
Only difficult people can teach us these things.
So again,
From our point of view,
That's a kindness.
And even more fundamental than that is that other living beings are kind just by being there,
Just by existing,
Because they enable us to be more loving,
To be more connected,
To be more compassionate.
They enable us to generate the most wholesome,
Healthy qualities imaginable just by their existence.
So using these reasonings,
Try to let that feeling,
Not thought,
But a feeling of the kindness of others be there for a few moments.
And then naturally,
From seeing the kindness of others comes that wish to return the kindness,
To give back to them what they've done for us.
It's a natural human feeling when people have helped us and been kind,
To return that kindness.
And returning that kindness can be done materially or financially or through medical help or other sort of help,
Which all is very positive,
Beneficial things to do.
But the greatest way we can return the kindness of others is to bring true happiness into their life.
Internal,
Mental happiness.
To make them happy,
Truly happy.
Which brings us to the emotion of love,
Wishing others to be happy.
Again,
Try and let that be a feeling and feel that love as strongly as you can for a few moments.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings have perfect well-being and happiness.
And then when we see that although we wish these other living beings to be happy,
In reality all living beings suffer so much every day.
Physical sufferings of hunger and sickness and war.
But deeper than this and more difficult than that is the emotional sufferings of anxiety,
Fear,
Loneliness,
Depression,
Stress and worry.
Every day living beings are affected by these sufferings.
Use whatever works for you.
It could be someone you know that's suffering very badly.
It could be an animal that's suffering,
About to be killed or something.
Or it could be something from the news that you see.
Whatever it is that moves your mind.
Let your mind move to the suffering of others.
Feel that suffering and feel that compassion,
Wishing them to be free from suffering.
May no living being have to suffer.
And then imagine that that feeling of love and compassion takes the form of a white ball of light above your head.
Bright white light.
And that ball of light sinks down through your crown,
Filling your whole body with bright white light,
Which is the essence of love and compassion.
And immediately takes away all physical and mental sufferings and leaves you completely happy.
And then feeling again that compassion towards the other living beings around you.
Imagine that that white light goes out from the center of your chest like a torch or laser beam,
Touching all the living beings around you,
Filling them with this white light.
And as it does so,
It completely eliminates all their suffering and leaves every single one of them blissfully happy.
So stay with this feeling of compassion and the white light going out,
Giving complete happiness to all the beings around you.
Stay with that for a few moments.
If it helps,
You can say to yourself,
May they be happy,
May they be free of all suffering,
May everything be well with all living beings.
Visualizing the white light going out,
May all beings be happy,
May they be free of every suffering,
May everything be well with all living beings.
And we dedicate our practice,
May it actually be the cause to lead others to be free of their suffering,
And may it become the actual cause to lead all living beings into complete happiness.
Thank you for your practice.
