Along the road to awakening,
We have four companions that join us.
They wait for us within our hearts and minds to aid us in our practice and along the way to enlightenment.
Yet,
As with all things,
They manifest their opposite,
They manifest our enemies in practice.
Through our meditation,
We help to cultivate these four companions and cast out our enemies.
We abide within the presence of our companions.
Whenever we can open our hearts to clarity,
Our minds to wisdom,
A dedication to practice and the trust within ourselves and the Dharma.
We abide in the company of loving kindness,
Compassion,
Joy and equanimity.
All of these dwell within us but are shrouded and veiled by the darkness of our own detriments.
By pointing them out and focusing towards them,
We may begin to plant the seeds of growth and cultivate a true measure of each of these four profound qualities.
These four companions create security in our practice.
If they are cultivated to some extent,
We will,
As the Buddha said,
Not quarrel with the world.
The world will only try to quarrel with us.
This is part two of a four-part meditation series on the four companions.
We begin by getting into the meditation position,
Whether it be on a cushion,
On a chair,
Standing,
Lying down or in the cross-legged position on a cushion,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
Once we have done that,
Bring the awareness forward.
Come into the body,
Find a balance.
And for the time being,
Keep your focus and awareness on these words.
Let us now work with our dear friend,
Compassion,
And know its enemies of cruelty,
Of malice and of pity.
Pity is an enemy of compassion because it is so close to what we might know as compassion,
But yet falls into an ego trap.
Pity arises and is cultivated within us when we are sorry for someone and not with someone.
Compassion is empathy,
To feel with another,
Not for another.
Compassion arises within us when we realize the suffering and unsatisfactoriness that exists within the impermanent self.
While the pleasures of the material world can be enjoyable,
They are fleeting,
And the joy we feel only leads to suffering.
If we can see with great clarity all of these unsatisfactory states that arise in us constantly,
Our likes and dislikes,
Our regrets,
Resentments,
Fears,
Recognizing that everyone is subject to all of these,
We can cultivate compassion.
In all of this,
Ego is the root of our concerns and is the main enemy of each of the four friends and of compassion.
To be able to develop and cultivate a true spirit of compassion in our hearts and in our true person,
We must diminish the ego and see the ego for what it truly is.
We must feel love not for other people but with other people.
We must feel sorrow with other people.
We must feel joy with other people,
Not for them.
To feel it for them is the ego getting in the way and tainting an otherwise pure thing.
But when we learn to let go and direct our attention to this all-pervailing suffering and impermanence to which every living thing is subject,
Not only can we understand the universality of the entire practice of compassion but also that our own suffering has little to no significance other than as the object of our own impermanent ego,
Then compassion arises and is cultivated,
And our will and determination to bring an end to all of our suffering gains the necessary merit,
Insight,
Wisdom and strength needed to do just that.
Let us sit now on this,
This great aspect of compassion,
Of feeling with others.
There will be a bell at the end in just a few minutes that signifies the end,
And it will be followed by a short accord that I hope you listen to.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for sitting with me on this second of a four-part meditation on the four companions.
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Com slash Silas Day.
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And have a wonderful day.
