So if you'd like to start by finding a comfortable position for yourself in meditation.
With your right leg on your left leg,
Your right hand on your left hand.
With the index finger of your right hand touching against the thumb of your left hand.
With your hands palm upwards on your lap.
Find a position for yourself by which you feel alert and yet relaxed.
Not leaning too far forward,
Not too far back.
Not leaning to the right,
Not to the left.
Find a position of poise for yourself.
Make sure your eyes are only very gently closed.
Never squeeze your eyes closed,
But close your eyes gently in the same way you would close your eyes to go to sleep.
Make sure there is no heaviness on your eyelids.
If you notice that your eyes are closed too tightly or if there is any heaviness on your eyelids,
You may need to open your eyes and close them again more gently.
Once your body is completely relaxed,
You can turn your attention to relaxing the mind.
If you like,
You may like to think of all the merits which you have done in your past.
Whether it be the merits of generous deeds for the benefit of society around you,
Donations to the temple,
Offering of robes,
Keeping the precepts purely,
Even meditation and chanting in your daily life.
If you think about all the merits you performed,
In the end it will bring you a feeling of joy and happiness in the mind,
As if the merit moves you to the extent that you feel refreshed inside.
You should cherish such a feeling of happiness in your mind,
Just for a few moments,
As if all the happiness seems to come from the centre of our body.
And when we feel relaxed,
Both in body and in mind,
Very gently using no effort at all,
We allow our attention to settle and to centre to a point in the middle of our stomach,
As if in the middle of our stomach was just an empty space.
Maintain your mind at the centre of the body,
Observing as continuously as you can,
For as long as you can.
Keep your mind always at the centre of whatever arises there,
At the centre of the bright sphere of light,
Or at the centre of the Buddha image inside yourself,
If that's what you prefer.
Until eventually there are no remaining thoughts in the mind anymore,
And the mind can come to what we call a standstill at the centre of the body.
A standstill means that the mind comes to rest inside the body,
Without any thinking anymore.
Some people think that the mind is nothing without thinking,
But in fact,
In your meditation you will find out that the mind without thought is much more powerful than the mind caught up in concepts.
The mind which is free of all thoughts can start to draw upon consciousness at a deeper level.
Consciousness,
Which we call the gut feeling of the mind,
Consciousness,
Which we call the inner wisdom of the mind.
Once we switch on to these things,
Then it will be like a light within ourselves,
Which illuminates and literally sheds light on the mysteries of the world around us,
Because wherever there is light there is knowledge.
Wherever there is knowledge no ignorance can creep in.
All the other things,
Whether it is greed,
Fear,
Hatred or delusion,
No longer have a place to hide themselves,
Because once we have understood the reality of the world through inner experience,
No one can persuade us to understand the world otherwise.
Because we have already seen the nature of the world for ourselves.
So now for a few more moments in silence,
Each to their own meditation,
Cultivating the mind at the centre by the means of your bright object and the sound of the mantra if necessary until we come to the appropriate time.
Today as we meditate,
We are going to look at the important practice of spreading loving-kindness,
Because according to the Buddhist scriptures of the Anguttara Nikāya's Ekadasa Kani Pāta,
Spreading loving-kindness has the following eleven benefits.
It allows us to sleep in happiness,
Wake in happiness,
Gives us freedom from nightmares,
Makes us endearing to humans and non-humans alike,
Affords us protection by guardian angels,
Protects us against fire,
Poison and weapons,
Facilitates our attainment in meditation and gives us a radiant complexion.
It protects us from seeing our dementia and if at the end of our life we have still not attained enlightenment,
We will attain the Brahma world.
For loving-kindness,
It's important always to keep your mind at a standstill at the centre of the body as continuously as you can for as long as you can without letting your mind wander anywhere else.
If you find your mind is attracted away by the sounds around you,
Sensations in your body or thoughts in your head,
As soon as you realise,
Always bring your mind back again to the centre of the body and continue as before.
Cultivate your mind in this way as continuously as you can for as long as you can,
With or without the mantra depending on your chosen style.
Our mind remains always at the centre of the body,
At a standstill at the centre,
Whatever inner experience we have attained for ourselves.
For some people it will be like a clear bright sphere of light at the centre of the body.
For other people it will be like a clear Buddha image at the centre of the body.
For others still it may be like a feeling of warmth or wellbeing at the centre of the body.
Whatever sort of inner experience we have attained for ourselves,
We place our attention very gently at the centre of that experience,
At the very centre of the inner experience within ourselves,
Touching gently with the same lightness as a feather floating down to touch on the surface of some water,
So lightly that the feather doesn't even break the surface of the water.
In the same way,
We touch our attention at the centre of the inner experience within ourselves.
We touch our mind at the centre with just the right amount of attention.
What you will soon find is that the inner sphere of the mind will gradually expand outwards in size,
Expanding outwards in size until it is the same size as the whole of your body,
As if we were sitting inside a sphere of our own wellbeing or a sphere of our own light.
And we make the wish that may we ourselves be well and happy,
May we be free from all suffering.
And touching our mind again at the centre of the body,
The sphere of wellbeing or the sphere of light spreads outwards beyond our own body,
Spreading outwards in all directions,
Just like the moonlight shines outwards from the full moon in the night sky,
Or just like a block of ice,
Spreads coolness in all directions around itself into the surrounding atmosphere.
In the same way,
We spread our loving kindness in all directions around ourselves,
Spreading the sphere of loving kindness around ourselves outwards into the room in which we are sitting for meditation,
Making the wish that may all beings here in this room be well and happy,
Be free of all suffering.
And we spread our loving kindness further still,
Spreading it outwards from the centre of the body to encapsulate the whole of the building in which we are sitting for meditation,
With the wish that may all beings in this building be well and happy,
Be free of all suffering.
And now we spread our loving kindness further outwards still,
In all directions around,
Into the neighbourhood around us,
Again with the wish that may all beings here in this neighbourhood be well and happy,
Be free of all suffering.
And we spread our loving kindness further outwards,
In all directions all around,
Into the whole of the city around us.
If you find it easier,
You can imagine it as a map seen from above,
Then imagine the city so.
Spread loving kindness outwards to cover the whole of the map of the city in all directions all around,
So that there is no part of the city not touched by the coolness and radiance of loving kindness,
Again making the wish that may all living beings here in this city be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
And we spread our loving kindness further outwards beyond the city limits to the whole of the country,
Outwards to the very borders of the country in all directions all around,
Spreading loving kindness without exceptions to the very borders of our country in all directions all around,
Again making the wish that may all beings in this country be well and happy and be free of all suffering.
Now we spread our loving kindness outwards to all the neighbouring countries,
All the neighbouring countries all around,
Spreading loving kindness in all directions to all the living beings without exception,
Again with the wish that may all these living beings be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
And now we spread our loving kindness outwards again to the whole of the continent around us,
Every country on this continent,
So that our loving kindness spreads its coolness and radiance to every country on this continent,
Again with the wish that may every living being here on this continent be well and happy,
Be free of all suffering.
And now we spread our loving kindness further outwards,
Further outwards still to every continent of the world,
Whether it be Asia,
Europe,
Africa,
North and South America,
Australia or Antarctica,
So that there is no corner of the world not touched by the radiance and coolness of our loving kindness,
Spreading our loving kindness to every place on the surface of our planet,
Again with the wish that may every living being without exception,
Whether on the land,
In the air or in the sea,
Be well and happy,
Be free from all suffering.
May all living beings be able to co-exist in peace and harmony,
So that true peace may prevail on our planet.
And we spread our loving kindness in all directions all around,
Outwards into the universe,
To the front and to the back,
To the right and the left,
Above and below,
Putting our loving kindness outwards into the universe around us,
With the wish that wherever there may be living beings,
May they too be touched upon by our coolness and radiance,
Given by our loving kindness.
In such a way,
We spread our loving kindness without limits,
Without limits and without exceptions,
Outwards into the universe,
The galaxies and the cosmos around us.
Long ago,
In the time before the Buddha,
There was a hermit called Kapila,
Who used to retire to the seclusion of the forest for meditation.
It was his habit to favour the practice of meditation on loving kindness,
And this he would practice on a regular basis,
By day and by night.
Whenever his mind was at ease,
He would spread loving kindness facing east,
With the intention that,
May all living beings in the direction in front of me,
Even from the smallest creatures,
Whether two-footed,
Four-footed,
With many legs or no legs at all,
In the eastern quarter,
Be pervaded by my loving kindness,
Spread with the purity of my mind.
May all these beings enjoy happiness and be free from all suffering.
The next day,
He might spread loving kindness in the same way to the western quarter,
The northern quarter,
The southern quarter,
Upwards or below.
He would spread loving kindness in this way in all directions,
Consistently and regularly,
Until it became his habit.
Whenever he slept,
He slept in happiness,
As if slipping into deep meditation.
It would bring him joy the whole of the time,
And he would have a dreamless sleep.
If he ever dreamed,
It would be of auspicious things.
On waking,
He would feel refreshed,
Free of sleepiness.
He always had a very radiant complexion because of his practice.
And even if there was danger in his midst,
It could never harm him.
He was loved and respected by men,
Angels and the forest creatures alike.
He was able to enter upon meditation easily,
And attain the absorption quickly.
His mind came into a standstill swiftly,
Because he was able to let go of external events easily,
Bearing no anger or grudges towards anyone.
His mind was bright at the centre of his body,
Brighter than the sun at midday.
As a result of his practice,
The forest became abundant with fruit,
And as soon as animals,
Which were sworn enemies,
Like deer and tigers,
Came into the vicinity of the forest,
Miraculously they were able to co-exist in harmony,
Because even their minds changed to become filled with loving-kindness towards one another,
Following the example of the hermit.
However,
When those animals came close to death,
They would be unable to stay in the forest,
But felt compelled to pass away outside the forest,
So as not to pollute the pure atmosphere of the place.
Even the creepers and shoots of the plants in the forest coiled auspiciously in a clockwise direction.
Later,
After many eons had passed,
This place was to become the town of Kapilavastu,
In the present day in Nepal,
Where the Lord Buddha was to grow up.
These are some of the fruits of spreading loving-kindness,
Which appear even during the present lifetime.
So,
Having spread loving-kindness in this way,
We condense our awareness down,
Back to the centre of our body again,
Taking careful note of the brightness,
The clarity,
And the feeling of peace and joy at the centre of our body.
In particular,
We should take mental note of the feeling of well-being at the centre of our body,
Remembering this feeling as well as we can,
Because this feeling of well-being is very important for us.
It represents the state of progress in meditation that we have made up till now.
If we can remember this feeling as well as we can,
The next time we come to meditate again,
We can start again from this feeling,
And starting again from this feeling,
We can continue to make progress in meditation next time from where we left off.
So,
For the last few moments of this meditation,
Take a few moments to make a mental note of the state of your progress in meditation,
Remembering the feeling as well as you can.
Now for a few more moments,
Each of their meditation practice in silence.
