30-Minute Guided Metta Meditation based on The Mind Illuminated (with ambient nature sounds)

A 30-minute guided metta (loving kindness) meditation based on Upasaka Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated." Used with permission. Recently re-recorded with much better vocal sound quality.

Transcript

This is a 30-minute guided meta meditation based on a Pasika Chuladasa's book,

The Mind Illuminated.

This meditation conditions your mind to readily enter a state of ease,

Peace,

Love,

And happiness.

It also cultivates loving-kindness and compassion towards all beings,

Including yourself.

Take a moment to make yourself as comfortable as possible with your back straight.

Close your eyes if you wish.

Relax and while maintaining a straight back,

Release any tension in your body.

Relax your mind and take some moments to appreciate the fact that you're gifting yourself with time away from the usual tasks and worries of your life.

Breathe through your nose as naturally as possible without trying to control your breath.

Bring your attention to the sensations associated with the breath in and around your nostrils or upper lip.

You can also focus on the sensations of breathing in your abdomen.

When you notice that your mind has inevitably wandered and drifted away,

Take a moment to appreciate this success and gently return to the sensations associated with your breath.

Let's enjoy the breath for a little while.

Now,

Let the breath sensations slip into the background of awareness.

They should remain there for the duration of your sit,

Which will help stabilize your attention.

Make the wish,

May I be free from suffering.

Call to mind,

As clearly as you can,

What it's like to be completely free of every kind of suffering,

Mental or physical.

Take note of the ways you are free from suffering right now.

Recall past times of ease and comfort.

Use your imagination.

Do anything necessary to generate a clear,

Strong sense of what it feels like to be free from suffering,

Completely comfortable and at ease in both mind and body.

Be free of functional Joint Agenda Get at splitting time in your withdrawals and in your 같 consummative matter.

Concentrate inThree- shirts.

Four- There are many things you can do to keep yourself sound.

Now,

Without losing the feeling of ease and comfort,

Make the wish,

May I be free from ill will.

Call to mind as clearly as you can what it's like to be completely free of every kind of ill will,

Completely at peace with everything and everyone.

Tune into the peace you feel right now.

As before,

Remember,

Imagine,

Or do anything else you can to generate a clear,

Strong feeling of being free from ill will with no residue of hostility,

Anger,

Or resentment in your heart.

Feel completely at peace with the world.

Now,

Without losing the feelings of comfort and peace,

Make the wish,

May I be filled with loving kindness.

Call to mind as clearly as you can what it's like to be filled with the wonderful,

Heartwarming feelings of love and kindness.

Think of someone you love and focus on the feeling of tenderness and caring it produces in you.

As before,

Remember,

Imagine,

Or do anything else you can to generate a clear,

Strong feeling of loving kindness and deep caring.

Now,

Without losing these feelings of ease,

Peace,

And love,

Make the wish,

May I be truly happy.

Call to mind as clearly as you can what it's like to be truly happy,

Contented,

Wanting and needing nothing,

Saturated with the simple bliss of being alive.

Make note of the happiness you already feel right now.

As before,

Remember,

Imagine,

Or do anything else that helps elicit feelings of happiness.

Now,

Let us bring it all together and sit for a little while,

Basking in the experience of the complete absence of suffering,

Being at peace,

And filled with love and happiness.

Without losing these precious feelings you have so carefully generated,

Say to yourself,

Just as I wish to be free from suffering,

Free from ill will,

Filled with loving kindness,

And truly happy,

So do all beings wish for these things.

Now,

Think of someone you care about deeply and have good feelings towards,

Someone who has helped and comforted you in some way.

Picture this person as clearly as you can,

Wherever you think they might be at this moment,

Whatever they might be doing,

Substituting their name,

Make the wish,

May they be free from suffering,

May they be free from ill will,

May they be filled with loving kindness,

May they be truly happy.

As you do so,

Send these feelings to them,

From your heart to theirs,

From your mind to theirs.

Visualize the expression on this person's face as they feel the sense of ease and comfort,

Peace and goodwill,

Loving kindness and true happiness welling up from seemingly nowhere.

Think of someone else you care about and do the same for him or her.

If at any point the feelings you have so carefully cultivated begin to fade,

Take a few moments to make them strong again.

Now,

Think of people you are not so close to and that you have less affection for.

These might be the people you know through your work,

Neighbors or casual acquaintances.

Choose one of them and imagine where they might be and what they might be doing.

When you can picture them in your mind,

Repeat the practice of making the wish,

Sending your positive feelings to them as a gift and picturing the expression on their face as they become aware of those feelings.

Once again,

If the feelings of comfort,

Peace,

Love and contented happiness fade,

Take the time to refresh them.

You Now,

Think of people you encounter from time to time but don't really know,

Such as cashiers,

Waiters or school crossing guards.

Choose one and perform the loving kindness practice for them.

When you are ready,

Think of people you have had difficulties with,

For whom you feel some kind of dislike.

It might help to remind yourself that they too are a subject to every kind of suffering as you or anyone else.

Recall that any ill will you feel towards them also creates suffering for yourself,

Robbing you of peace and contentment.

Likewise,

The ill will they may feel towards you only adds more misery to their own lives.

Whatever love they feel and whatever true happiness they enjoy can only benefit those around them.

Practicing loving kindness with someone you dislike can be hard.

So to start,

Don't choose someone you have really intense feelings about or with whom you've had a recent conflict.

Picture him or her in your mind,

Make the wish,

Send them your positive feelings and watch as they are moved by those wonderful feelings.

Do this with as many difficult people as feel comfortable.

Never forget if the feelings of comfort,

Peace,

Love and contented happiness start to fade,

Take the time to refresh them.

To go through the motions without having these feelings in your heart simply isn't effective practice.

You might have to practice loving kindness for weeks or even months before you are ready for the most difficult people in your life,

But this is your eventual goal.

It's important not to rush,

Though eventually you do want to work your way up to those for whom you have had the most intense dislike,

Your worst enemies,

The ones who have hurt you in ways you have not been able to forgive.

Now think about all those who live in your neighborhood,

Make the wish for them,

Send them your positive feelings,

Imagine everyone in your neighborhood simultaneously filling with happiness,

Love,

Peace and comfort.

Your heart is an inexhaustible source of these precious feelings.

The more you send them out,

The stronger they become.

Now think about all those who live in your city.

Imagine everyone in your city simultaneously smiling as they are filled with happiness,

Love,

Peace and comfort.

May they be free from suffering,

May they be free from ill will,

May they be filled with loving kindness,

May they be truly happy.

Now think about all those who live in your country.

Their faces radiate with delight as they are filled with happiness,

Love,

Peace and comfort.

Now think about every human being in the world.

May they be free from suffering,

May they be free from ill will,

May they be filled with loving kindness,

May they be truly happy.

Humanity glows as it is filled with happiness,

Love,

Peace and comfort.

Now think about every sentient being on earth.

May they be free from suffering,

May they be free from ill will,

May they be filled with loving kindness,

May they be truly happy.

They are filled with happiness,

Love,

Peace and comfort.

May they be free from suffering,

May they be truly happy.

Now make the wish and send these same positive feelings to every being of every kind in the entire universe.

May they be free from suffering,

May they be free from ill will,

May they be filled with loving kindness,

May they be truly happy.

Happiness,

Love,

Peace and comfort permeate every being of every kind throughout all of space and time.

Now turn all these feelings towards yourself.

Remind yourself that you are as worthy and deserving of peace,

Love and happiness as anyone else.

Loving and accepting yourself with all your own feelings and shortcomings is the most direct path to loving and accepting others.

Say to yourself,

As I am no less deserving than anyone else,

May I continue to be free from suffering,

May I continue to be free from ill will,

May I continue to be filled with loving kindness.

May I continue to be truly happy.

Conclude by holding strong wish for these feelings to continue to remain strong and resolve to live in a way that makes this possible.

Make it your purpose to embody these precious qualities of mind for the sake of sharing them with others.

Commit to using meta meditation as a model for the practice of loving kindness in daily life.

Thank you for sitting with me.

This has been a guided meta meditation based on entirely on a Pasika Chuladas book,

The Mind Illuminated.

It is offered with Chuladas's permission to be shared with all for the benefit of all sentient beings.

I hope to sit with you again very soon.

Reviews

Lovely guided meditation. Really useful and well-spoken.

Presented in a way I hadn't heard....vert effective. Lovely background. Motivating. Thank you. Please offer more.

Thank you - this was a wonderful Metta meditation! 😊😊 I would love it if you made more TMI meditations!!

Loved it! Will definitely be listening to it often!

Beautiful, thank you for sharing. May you be well, may you be happy and may your heart be filled with loving kindness!

Very nicely done with perfect pacing.

I am struck wondering what to do though if I have no experience to draw on of being completely at ease and at peace without wanting (I’m paraphrasing).

Beautiful otherwise though and thank you for making it.

Faithful to the book. Excellent if that is what you seek.

Thank you so much, Chris, for offering this meditation. Excellently done! Please record more - I am confident that many will. benefit! Do you know whether there are any other guided Culadasa/Mind Illuminated style meditations on insight timer?

Beautiful and intense. Worth revisiting!

Thank you for this great metta meditation. The explanations on imaging and remembering the feelings made it much easier to generate them for myself. Usually I have a hard time doing this. Also the part at the end when you wish these feelings again to yourself, because you are as worthy of them as all sentient beings is wonderful and generates selfcompassion 💖

Beautiful. Thank you!

Wonderful, thank you.

Beautiful. Thank you.

Awesome, centering, peaceful, loving and caring. I'll be back. Thank you

So gentle and loving!

I did this meditation on the train. So peaceful and great. Namaste

Very beautiful and helpful meditation. Thank you- will return to this often.