Let's start with watching our breath for a couple of minutes.
Let the mind settle down.
Then let's generate our motivation for doing the meditation.
And begin by imagining how you would feel if you weren't ego-sensitive.
If people could praise you and you didn't get attached and arrogant,
People could criticize you,
You don't get offended or angry,
What would it feel like just to have a peaceful mind that is not bashed around by always taking everything personally,
So imagine what that would feel like.
You would be able to listen to anything and everything without getting ruffled one way or the other.
But really,
You'd be able to take to heart what the other person said and respect them.
And then wish that that could happen to everybody,
That everybody could have an open mind that is not ego-sensitive and that cares about all others,
A mind of compassion.
And let's think that as we feel that compassion,
We wish it for all other living beings.
And let's take that as our motivation for doing the meditation.
To develop our own compassion so we can share that with others.
Okay,
So begin by thinking of somebody or maybe a group that you are angry at,
That you definitely don't like,
You want them to go away,
You want them to change.
Whenever you think of them,
You have just a ugh feeling.
So think of somebody specifically or a group specifically.
And then think about what it must be like to be that person.
How did they grow up?
What did they experience?
What was going on in the world when they were young?
How did that influence them?
What was happening in their family?
How did they grow up?
What did they experience in their country to whatever racial,
Ethnic,
Religious group they belong to?
In other words,
Look at the various factors that conditioned who that person developed into,
What they thought,
How they felt.
So take a few minutes and really go into this regarding the person that you're upset with.
Or the group you're upset with.
And then think,
If I grew up like that person,
If I had those kind of situations and circumstances surrounding me for the first part of my life up until this moment,
There's a strong possibility that I would feel very much like that person who I don't like.
If I had had the same experience as they did,
Heard the same things as a young person,
Lived in that same society,
I would probably be a lot like them and think like them.
So consider that.
Then ask yourself,
That person or that group of people,
Are they happy?
And really see that they are not happy.
And when people are unhappy,
They take it out on others.
It's not saying that what they did was right.
But it is a bad habit of human beings that when we're unhappy,
We lash out or we do things in our search for happiness that harm others because we don't realize that the real cause of happiness is kindness,
Not revenge.
So now consider that the person harming you was somebody unhappy and have compassion for their unhappiness.
Because you also see that if you had grown up or lived their life experience,
You might very well feel and think like they do.
And then let your mind stay.
Rest your mind in that sense of compassion for yourself and for the other person because our minds have very similar ways of functioning.
So compassion is simply the wish for someone not to suffer,
To be free of suffering and its causes.
So wish that for the other party,
Wish that for yourself.
And self here,
Self and others here are equal.
Then let's rejoice that we did the meditation and imagine sharing the beneficial energy that we created doing it.
You can imagine that as like a ball of light in the center of your chest and send that positive potential,
That good energy from doing the meditation,
Send it out into the world in the form of bright white light and imagine it touching all the living beings and calming their minds,
Purifying their minds.
Enriching their minds with good qualities.
Open your eyes and slowly come out of your meditation.
