What Is Loving Kindness?

On your meditation journey,

You've likely come across these words.

Loving kindness.

You might be wondering what they mean.

In Pali,

The word for this is meta.

That's the original language of the Buddha.

So you may have heard,

It is meta.

Now loving kindness is a state of being.

That emanates from the heart.

Is a cleansed heart.

Purified through the practice called loving-kindness.

Now,

There are four Brahma Viharas in Buddhism.

Brahma Viharas means heavenly abodes.

And they're literally states which bring about a feeling of heaven being here already.

Now of these,

Loving kindness is the most widely practised.

There are three more,

Which are also compassion,

Equanimity?

And sympathetic joy.

But we're just going to talk about loving kindness right now.

The Buddha originally taught this.

To his monks.

Is an antidote to fear.

Legend has it that They went into the forest.

And they were.

You can believe this or not.

They were.

Chased away by the tree spirits.

They gave off bad smells and made loud noises.

The Buddha taught them this practice.

As an antidote to that fear.

As well as being an antidote to fear.

It's a practice that generates inner and outer harmony.

And so it worked.

Legend has it they went back to the forest in the very same spirit.

The wild animals.

They gathered round and protected them.

So that points to.

.

.

Something much deeper.

A realization that if we are well in the heart with ourselves and our world.

Our world responds in kind.

We're protected.

Will love.

And were cared for.

So loving kindness is a protective force.

To practice it.

We take our attention down into the hot space.

And we recite traditionally.

Four phrases.

And these phrases are healing phrases.

They're almost like a prayer.

Or a mantra.

And they're four phrases that are repeated.

Firstly,

Internally,

Towards ourselves,

Because we heal ourselves first.

Now that's quite important really,

Especially For Westerners,

We're told that to love ourselves,

Can be vain.

But it really isn't the case.

If we learn to love ourselves fully,

Then we're a joy to be around.

We bring joy into the world and into the lives of others.

If we don't love ourselves.

If we're not healed.

We bring misery to others.

So our whole being spills out into the world,

Whatever it is.

So it's quite important that we give this to ourselves.

So we practice by saying the phrases first to ourselves.

Secondly,

A benefactor.

Traditionally,

This is a spiritual teacher.

But it can be anybody who you feel has helped you.

In life,

Maybe a grandparent?

The teacher.

Or it can be someone or even some being that's easy to love.

We then move on to a neutral person.

And the importance here of working with a neutral person.

Is that we go about our day.

And we're oblivious to the people we share our lives with.

Postman.

The person at the checkout.

The receptionist.

We might pass these people every day.

But they become furniture.

So this is about awakening the heart to them too So we're now expanding it.

We work with a difficult person.

Traditionally this is called an enemy and you may well have enemies in your life.

I know this works because it literally Dissolve a deep enmity someone had towards me through no fault of my own.

So I know it works.

So we practice to someone who's causing us difficulties.

And people think,

Why would I give this person my loving kindness?

They don't deserve it.

But they're missing a key point.

And the point is this.

We're not really giving them anything.

We're freeing ourselves from the hatred that we feel towards them.

And we also reflect.

All beings suffer and they are the way they are.

Because of how conditions have been for them.

We would likely be.

Very similar.

If we were to have lived their lives.

So after that,

And one thing I would say about that is,

It's the most transformative.

Part I feel.

It's the part where nobody really wants to do it.

But after they've done it,

Breakthroughs come.

They realize it is so important.

To give this love to the people we struggle with.

And those struggles become far less.

We then expanded out to all beings.

We fill the room we're in.

The town.

The city,

The country,

And we spread it all over the world.

We spread it even beyond the world.

To the unseen.

We spread it deep into the ground,

To everything that lives there,

Into the sky.

And this is one of the phrases that's really quite powerful.

In the Metta Sutta that is a chant about this practice,

A Buddhist chant.

Is even as a mother protects with her life her child.

Her only child.

So with a boundless heart.

Should we cherish all living beings?

That's nobody left out.

No animal left out,

Nothing left out.

And the four phrases.

.

.

That we say.

We close our eyes and we take it inwards into the heart.

And we say.

.

.

The ones I use are,

May I be happy.

May I be well.

May I be safe and protected.

May I be free.

And for me that means the ultimate freedom.

Liberation.

But you can change these phrases to work for you.

And to say what really.

.

.

Brings up this feeling of loving kindness,

Because that's what the phrases are for.

They're to open the heart.

And they're intentional phrases.

These phrases and this practice can lead to very profound states of joy.

What sages call ecstasy.

The jawness.

Very deep states of absorption.

Witch.

A joy that we really can't feel in any other way.

There's nothing in the world that can make us feel quite this joyful.

And they're also practices of deep concentration.

Because we're repeating something over and over.

So we're strengthening our concentration.

Where bringing harmony into our lives and the lives of others.

And we're opening the heart to living with joy here and now.

But all the explaining in the world.

All the studying of what they are is useless without practice.

So we're just going to practice for two minutes now.

Just so you get the feel of it.

And we'll stop.

With ourselves.

So come into any seated posture in which you are comfortable.

And allow the eyes to gently close.

Relaxing them down.

Just breathe from the center of the chest.

Connecting with the heart space.

The heart center,

Right in the middle of your chest.

Connecting.

How you might feel emotionally.

With physical sensations there.

And you can imagine a lovely sunset beaming.

It's rays of healing and light into your heart center right now.

Warming it up.

And then very slowly.

And deep.

And meaningfully.

Repeat these phrases internally as if speaking from the heart.

May I be happy.

May I be happy.

May I be well.

May I be well.

May I be safe and protected.

May I be safe and protected.

May I be free.

May I be free.

Connecting with how you feel inside can generate really beautiful feelings,

Really caring feelings.

But it's an intentional practice.

Or simply planting seeds.

Each phrase being a seed.

That was Sprout.

And flower in its own time.

May I be happy.

May I be well.

May I be safe and protected.

May I be free.

And when you're ready,

Allow the eyes to open.

And bring back any.

Feelings of connection with yourself and your world.

And bring them out into your life.

That's a very tiny practice.

We do practice for much longer.

And if you want to explore that.

I've got two courses on here.

I've got both audio and a video course.

If you want to join me,

Maybe try one of them.

Thank you.