Compassion Immersion

This slow-paced 30-minute practice takes us through the process of generating tenderness and compassion for ourselves, a friend, a stranger, and an enemy—and, eventually, all beings. Exercising the skills of compassionate attention, we strengthen our kindness, our ability to focus, and our connection to our own basic goodness.

Transcript

To begin this practice,

We can bring awareness down into the body by attending to the tactile experiences and the different parts of our body.

Starting with our feet and toes.

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Then bringing awareness up to our pelvic floor.

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Bringing awareness to our hands and fingers and relaxing them deeply.

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Then moving up to our shoulders.

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And finally bringing our awareness to the face.

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Relaxing the tactile sensations.

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And relaxing our facial muscles,

If that's available to us.

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Allowing our breath to move naturally,

Without any attempts at controlling it from our side.

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And then in this space of profound relaxation,

Establishing a positive motivation for this practice.

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By bringing our highest aspirations to mind.

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Our highest psychological and spiritual goals.

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And also our more immediate goals of,

For example,

Stress release,

Finding greater love and compassion for ourselves and our loved ones,

And so forth.

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Turning towards these aspirations.

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And then starting the actual practice of compassion by first bringing our awareness to ourselves as a person.

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Noticing the stream of our physical and mental experiences.

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And in attending to these,

Holding ourselves in tenderness.

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Being affectionately aware of this stream that we call ourselves.

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With an appreciation for our own existence.

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With a warmth that we would normally project towards a baby,

Or a puppy,

Or a kitten.

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Or a very close friend.

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Literally holding ourselves in this mental embrace.

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With a sense of appreciation,

With a sense of gentleness,

Not being hard on ourselves right now.

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And then,

While maintaining this experience of tenderness,

Also noticing that our existence,

Of course,

Entails different types of discomfort.

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Physical,

Mental,

Existential.

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There are different problems in our life,

And different types of suffering.

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And when we attend to ourselves through the lens of tenderness,

When we notice these types of discomfort,

Our tenderness crystallizes into compassion.

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And compassion says,

May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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That's our wish,

That's our compassionate aspiration for ourselves.

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So,

To strengthen compassion,

We work with this aspiration by generating it in our mind again and again.

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And breathing life into it with each out-breath.

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May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And so we're resting in this aspiration,

Strengthening it as we breathe.

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As if gently pushing ourselves towards greater freedom,

Every time we return to the aspiration,

And every time we strengthen it with the out-breath.

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May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And then for a few moments,

Perhaps,

Even imagining that we have attained freedom from suffering,

Or at least a greater degree of that freedom.

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And so,

A profound experience of ease,

Lightheartedness.

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A profound experience of peace.

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A type of radical serenity that is beyond all fleeting types of discomfort,

Especially inner or mental discomfort associated with disturbing emotions.

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And then to slowly expand our compassion,

We think of a loved one.

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We think of a person in our life that we deeply appreciate and love.

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We think of a person that we are perhaps grateful to,

Appreciative of.

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And yet someone who,

According to our information,

Does have different types of discomfort in their life.

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Physical,

Mental,

Financial,

Existential,

Whatever that might be.

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And so imagining this friend,

This person that we appreciate in front of us,

Facing us.

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And now holding this person in our tender,

Affectionate awareness,

With an appreciation for the very fact that they exist.

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And also with empathy,

Because we know that this person does sometimes experience discomfort.

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And,

Just like us,

This person does not want to suffer,

They want to be at peace.

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And through this empathetic understanding,

Our tenderness crystallizes into compassion.

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And compassion says,

May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And then,

Just like we did with ourselves,

We strengthen this aspiration.

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Breathing life into it with a child-breath.

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We return to this aspiration again and again,

Holding it in our mind as we attend to this very person.

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So similar to us in their primordial wish to be free.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And now holding this person in our tender,

Affectionate awareness,

With an appreciation for the very fact that they exist.

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And now holding this person in our tender,

Affectionate awareness,

With an appreciation of the very fact that they exist.

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It's as if we're gently pushing our friend towards greater freedom,

With this aspiration,

With the strength of compassion.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And now holding this person in our tender,

Affectionate awareness,

With an appreciation of the very fact that they exist.

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And then for a few moments imagining this friend in a state of greater freedom.

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Experiencing a profound state of peace.

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And then thinking of someone we consider a stranger or an object of our indifference.

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A person that we don't really feel close to,

And yet a person we're also not experiencing any aversion towards.

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Imagining them in front of us.

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And then,

As we attend to this so-called stranger,

Allowing our tenderness or caring or warm-heartedness to manifest.

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As we simply appreciate the existence of this person and project warmth towards them.

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And then also empathy,

Knowing that this person,

Just like us and our friend,

Wants to be free from suffering.

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Something deep inside of them,

Some aspect of their true nature,

Some spaciousness deep in their heart wants to be free.

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And with this understanding,

Once again,

Our tenderness crystallizes into compassion.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And once again,

We hold our attention on this person and we strengthen our compassion with each out-breath.

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Returning to the aspiration again and again.

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May you be free.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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May you be free.

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And then for a few moments actually imagining,

Envisioning this freedom for the so-called stranger.

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Seeing them abiding in an experience of peace,

Or at least a greater degree of peace,

If that's what we consider possible.

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And then releasing the image of this person and turning our mind towards someone we generally.

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Don't really like.

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What is sometimes called an enemy.

And what that word really means is just someone we don't feel particularly close to,

And perhaps have some negative perception of.

So thinking of a person we're not too crazy about.

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But if we are beginners,

Starting with a person we feel very mild aversion towards,

Not the object of our hatred or deep-seated resentment.

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Those would come later.

For now,

Just choosing someone we can realistically work with,

And imagining them in front.

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Imagining this person in front of us,

And once again extending our caring and tenderness towards them.

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Not because we necessarily approve of who they are or what they do.

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But just because we recognize you are also a bundle of physical and mental energy.

And just like me,

You want to be happy,

You want to be free.

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You're truly trying to do your best.

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Sometimes you are confused,

Well,

So am I.

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And it is actually through seeing your confusion,

Which in some cases is so similar to mine,

That I can allow my tenderness to manifest as compassion.

And so,

Mentally saying,

May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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Which of course includes all types of confusion,

Limiting views,

Destructive emotions,

Harmful actions.

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In a way,

Attending to the spaciousness and kindness at the heart of this person.

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And wishing for this beautiful potential to become truly free,

Free to manifest.

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And so,

May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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As if we're gently pushing this person towards greater freedom,

Through the force of our compassion.

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And yet,

Of course,

No expectations.

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This wish will bring results when all the conditions are ripe.

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And yet we're already creating supportive causes.

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May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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Imagining this person in a state of freedom and peace.

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And then expanding the field of our awareness,

Extending our tenderness to all beings,

All beings who feel,

All sentient beings.

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All humans,

All animals,

And all the other types of beings,

If we accept their existence.

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Being aware of their physical and mental energy,

Appreciating the fact that they also want to be happy and free from suffering.

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Holding them in this inner embrace as if we were a loving mother.

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And then expressing boundless compassion.

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May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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For this,

We don't even need to feel like we're projecting compassion from ourselves as a subject.

It's as if this compassionate wish,

Compassionate aspiration,

Is manifesting in the heart of each being.

It's as if it's an expression of their own true nature.

Their true nature wishing,

Seeking to be liberated.

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May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

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And then we release this wish,

Release the aspiration of compassion to simply rest in open,

Spacious awareness,

With no reference points.

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Simply the uninterrupted flow of awareness itself.

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And yet,

Because of our practice,

It would have the afterglow of kind-heartedness,

Of compassion and tenderness.

And it is this kind-heartedness that inspires us to dedicate the energy of this practice to our highest aspirations.

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And to the greater freedom and happiness of all beings.

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Dedicating the energy of this practice to any beings that might need help right now.

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To the healing,

The profound healing of this world.

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And to compassion continuously growing in our own heart and in the hearts of all beings.

With this,

We slowly conclude this practice and invite the bell.

Reviews

Opening up the heart with this meditation with the experience of grief and pain for all the suffering. The heartfelt guidance brought in this experience also a sense of relief and release. Indeed, a beautiful immersion.

Thank you.

Спасибо! May you be free of suffering and causes of suffering ❤️ may you be happy and experience causes of happiness!

Thank you for helping me develop a greater sense of compassion for myself and others

Very peaceful
Thank you

A challenging practice, but one that invites repetition to reinforce its lessons within me.

Invites to remain in silence when the practice is closed. Thank you

🙏🏻May you be free from suffering and the courses of suffering, may we all be free from suffering and the courses of suffering 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you 💓