Cultivating Compassion

Venerable Sangye Khadro leads a guided meditation on compassion, getting us to use our imaginative skills to develop this wish to free others from suffering in whatever ways are possible within our personal capacity.

Transcript

So,

We'll start with a few minutes of sitting quietly and settling our mind and then generating a positive motivation and then we'll do a meditation on compassion.

So it's good to sit in a conducive position for meditation.

That doesn't mean you have to be cross-legged for lotus position.

If you can sit that way,

That's fine.

You can also sit in any cross-legged position that's comfortable for you.

You can also sit in a chair.

But if you do sit in a chair,

Try not to lean back,

Lounge in the chair.

Instead,

Try to sit up with your back straight and the same with those sitting cross-legged on the floor.

It's really helpful if your back can be straight if you don't have any physical limitations to doing that because keeping the back straight helps our mind to be more clear,

Focused,

Concentrated.

At the same time,

It's good to try to be relaxed as much as possible.

So just take a quick check of your body and see if you notice that there's tension,

Tightness anywhere in your body.

And if you do notice tension,

See if you can let it go.

You may not be able to let go of the tension,

But you can try.

One helpful way to do that is to just lightly put your awareness,

Your attention at that part of the body where there's tension.

Just sort of say to yourself,

Relax,

Let go.

You might also find it helpful to imagine the tension melting and flowing out of you,

Sinking into the earth below.

Or just imagine it evaporating and disappearing in space.

Another helpful way of letting go of tension in our body and also in our mind is to pay attention to our breathing.

Just let the breath flow in and out in a natural way without controlling it,

Manipulating it.

Just let your body breathe.

And just lightly be aware of the breath as it's flowing in and flowing out.

Be aware of the sensations in the body as the breath is flowing in and out.

Let go of any other thoughts there may be in your mind of the past or the future or problems,

Relationships,

Things you need to do.

Put all those aside for now.

Just let your mind be right here in the present moment and right here in the present place wherever you may be.

Just being aware of each breath flowing in and flowing out.

Let go of any thoughts that may be in your mind.

While doing this,

If any thought pops up in your mind or you get distracted by a sound or anything else,

Just let go of that other distraction and come back to the breath.

It can be helpful to be aware of how precious it is to be able to breathe.

Some people have difficulty breathing.

Each breath can be a challenge.

Breath is life,

So just having the ability to breathe in,

Nourish our body and then breathe out is something quite precious,

Quite wonderful.

Just really appreciate and have gratitude that we can breathe in and out and keep ourselves alive in this precious human body.

Good.

.

Now to make our time together as beneficial and meaningful as possible Let's see if we can generate a positive altruistic motivation for joining this session Some of you are probably familiar with the idea of bodhicitta the aspiration to become a Buddha fully enlightened fully awakened To be able to help all other living beings So if you've learned about that and thought about that meditated on that and you're comfortable with that as your motivation Then bring that into your mind think that you're here to Ultimately attain the state of a Buddha and the benefit of all beings But some of you may not be so familiar with that motivation that idea and May find it too big too vast not sure if that's really what you want to do or what you're able to do but Something similar to that that's probably more manageable would be just to get in touch with the wish to help others we all feel that way at least sometimes and Even if it's just for a limited number of people our family our friends We all want to be beneficial to them when they need help So we do what we can to bring them happiness and peace Get in touch with that feeling that wish to help others as much as you can And then you can Connect that with what we are doing in this session You can have the motivation the wish to learn things in this session That will enable you to be more helpful to others The people in your life family friends colleagues at work people you interact with each day of your life Wish that you will learn something here this morning that will enable you to bring more positive thoughts kindness compassion patience wisdom skill and knowing how to help others into your life into your interactions with others Okay So now begin the meditation this will be a guided meditation So I'll be talking part of the time and then leaving you space to contemplate these ideas now just do the best you can to stay focused and if Other thoughts arise that are not related to the meditation or if you hear sounds that distract your attention Let's do your best to put those distractions aside and bring your mind your focus back to the meditation So we hear a lot about compassion in Buddhism and also in other religious and spiritual traditions We also sometimes hear about it from medical and social workers And even from some political or business leaders It's an essential and beneficial quality in our lives and in the world To ensure that people are protected from harm Their needs are taken care of Their minds are peaceful and happy So what is compassion So Buddhism says it's the wish for others to be free of suffering a Somewhat expanded definition from Tipton Jinpa one of the founders of the compassion cultivation training program at Stanford University is that Compassion is a sense of concern that arises when we are confronted with another's suffering and We feel motivated to see that suffering relieved We all have compassion in our hearts in our minds it's a natural human quality But it doesn't always arise Sometimes it is blocked by other mental states like anger Aversion Irritation impatience Or by fear or anxiety By depression Resentment or envy The good news is that these mental states are temporary not permanent They come and go in our mind They are not who we are And there are remedies for them so we can learn to manage them and And not have our minds hijacked by them We can also train our minds to have more compassion there are practices meditations for doing this So let's begin by getting in touch with compassion and And recognizing how beneficial it is both for ourselves and for others Bring to mind a time when you were the recipient of someone else's compassion Maybe you were sick or in pain or injured needing help and comfort Maybe you were unhappy anxious stressed depressed grieving Or maybe you were just lost in an unfamiliar place and needed help to get where you wanted to go And in this situation of need someone even a stranger Became aware of you and your needs and kindly gave you the help you needed So try to remember that situation as clearly as you can and Try to recall how it felt to receive this other person's care and help You You Now bring to mind another situation An experience where you observed someone being compassionate to someone else May have been a medical worker or a social worker Teacher a therapist a Parent with their small child Again a stranger just helping someone in need on the street You again try to recall this situation as clearly as possible And try to remember your your feelings and thoughts when you observe this You You So most probably when we Observe someone being compassionate whether it's to oneself or to others.

We feel this is the right way to be This is how people should be We may feel inspired to be that way ourself So now bring to mind a time when you were compassionate The time when you noticed someone in need of help May have been an elderly or disabled person struggling to do something but being physically limited Or a small child or animal who was frightened or in pain No one else was around to help them and comfort them It could have been something as simple as giving someone a hand to get up or helping someone carry a heavy shopping bag or suitcase And try to remember that situation as clearly as possible including how you felt when you acted that way You So if you can remember Responding in that way that shows that you do have Compassion in your heart it is a part of you And ask yourself if you'd like to be this way more often You'd like to enhance this feeling of compassion Even in situations where it doesn't just pop up by itself spontaneously You you So let's look at some ways we could increase our compassion have it more often Bring to mind a person you know or Someone you've just noticed you might not know them Who appears to be in difficulties?

Physical or mental both See if the feeling of compassion of wanting to help them comes up in your mind And You you You you And if it doesn't check to see what might be preventing that I'm blocking that Now one reason might be fear not sure if your help would be appreciated by the other person Or uncertainty about what you could do that would be helpful Concern that if you do try to help it might backfire to Calm these feelings and give ourselves encouragement.

It can be helpful to put yourself any other person's shoes Contemplate that this is another human being not so different from yourself They have a physical body that sometimes experiences pain It just doesn't work the way we want it to You you You you They also have a mind filled with many thoughts and emotions some helpful and some not And basically they just want to be happy and free of pain and problems just as we do You You you You see if such thoughts enhance your compassion give you courage to at least try to help them And if you still feel fearful or uncertain you could simply approach them and offer your help ask them if there is something you can do to help them And then depending on how they respond you know if you should back off or step in and get involved And even if the person says no I don't need your help it's okay you still feel good about the fact that you did care you did wish to help and you tried to help That's the most important thing what is in our heart our sincere motivation And even the Buddha wasn't able to help everyone he met some people were suspicious of him or even negative towards him some rejected his advice So we can't expect to do better than the Buddha and help absolutely everyone But we can at least have in our mind and our heart compassionate concern the wish to help others the wish for others to be relieved of their suffering So see if as a conclusion to the meditation you can feel some kind of resolution to put more effort into cultivating compassionate thoughts and trying to be more compassionate in your daily life Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Umbles.