Metta Meditation Leading into Contemplation of the Body

In this meditation we brighten and calm the mind by generating metta first, and then take the good energy and even mindedness resulting from having generated metta, as the foundation for then investigating the true 'deeper' nature of the physical body.

Transcript

So just establishing the breath awareness,

Aware of the breath at the nose,

Chest and abdomen and whereas the breath leaves the body,

Abdomen,

Chest,

Nose.

When training in breath awareness,

It's very helpful if we can bring an attitude of both interest and care.

There's a sense of caring for the breath or attending to that awareness of the breath,

The perceptions of the breathing.

So in the very awareness that we bring,

Having a look at the attitude and trying to drop any kind of willfulness,

Any kind of excessive determination to squeeze the breath,

Hold the breath,

Control the breath.

What we're aiming for is just to know it as it is and so to know something as it is,

You just have a really good look at it.

You're just interested and if you have an attitude of being interested and then caring.

So when you care for something,

You take care of it.

You give a particularly attentive attention towards the things that you care for.

It's like suppose you have a friend comes to visit and you love your friend very dearly,

You meet them at the door.

You're very aware of your friend,

So try to bring that kind of care to the breath as it comes in and stays for a while and leaves.

And we can use the buddho,

Breathing in buddho,

Breathing out buddho.

This buddho,

An encouragement to be awake,

Mindful,

Not projecting into the future,

Content to be in the body in the present moment,

Aware of one in-breath,

Buddha,

Aware of one out-breath,

Buddho.

When we practice mindfulness of breathing,

We try to be aware of the beginning,

The middle and the end of the in-breath,

The beginning,

The middle and the end of the out-breath and also those spaces.

After the in-breath there's a pause,

A space,

And after the out-breath a pause,

A space.

So we attend to those feelings,

Knowing them,

Nose chest abdomen,

Abdomen chest nose,

And then we rest in the space,

Just staying still.

In a minute or so we'll be moving on to the metta,

Loving kindness meditation,

And then after that we'll do some contemplation of the body.

When doing contemplation of the body it is important to also have done some metta because it's a little challenging to the habitual way we perceive ourselves,

So it's important to come from an attitude of caring.

We're going to investigate the body because we want to be peaceful,

We want to be wise,

And we don't want to be pushed around by these energies of greed,

Hatred and delusion,

So we investigate the truth of the body,

But it can be a little confronting.

So it's important that we do it,

Not from any sense of aggression.

We actually do it with a healthy self-interest.

It's because we care for our well-being.

It's because we are fed up with suffering,

That we want to experience a reality not affected by delusion,

So we investigate,

Looking for the truth.

But we have to do this with an attitude of kindness.

We do it because we care.

So getting in touch with that attitude of caring,

Getting in touch with that attitude of wishing ourselves well,

And we use the breath,

We make the wish.

Just as when we're doing Anapanasati,

Breathing in,

Bhut,

Breathing out,

Do,

When we're doing the Metta,

Breathing in,

We use those words,

May I be well,

Breathing out,

We use those words,

May I be happy.

And when we use these words,

We're using them as a prompting,

As suggestion,

Simply to open the heart with goodwill.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Opening the heart with kindness,

Friendliness.

So often in life,

There's a lot of judgement,

A lot of criticism,

A lot of desire for things to be otherwise,

And this is internal as well as external,

So we're critical of our habits,

Critical of our thoughts,

A bit fed up with ourselves.

And so in Metta,

We need to bring this attitude.

Suppose you have a friend that you care for very much,

And they're going through some struggles,

And so you look at them with care,

And you want to hear about their suffering.

You're not going to be eager to judge,

Or super critical.

You're going to be quick to sympathise,

Offer some empathy.

And so with loving kindness,

You're opening that faculty that you already have,

That you share with so many other humans,

And sharing it with yourself.

So we use those words to stimulate that kind of opening of the heart,

Breathing in,

May I be well,

And just allowing friendliness as an energy,

Goodwill,

Acceptance,

Interest.

It was a lovely,

Warm,

Soft,

Open-hearted feeling,

Breathing in,

May I be well.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

We just allow the warmth of Metta to suffuse the chest area,

Just holding it in awareness,

The heart area,

The warmth of loving kindness,

Goodwill,

Friendliness,

Acceptance.

And breathing in,

May I be well.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

And so we use the Metta to drop the judgement.

As we've been talking about a lot,

The mind needs objects.

Sometimes the objects that we hold in mind are negative,

And so we pick up a wholesome object,

And the negative ones fall away.

And picking up Metta,

The mind becomes wholesome,

Dropping cynicism,

Self-aversion,

Grudge,

Any kind of habitual negativity that we hold in the mind,

And dropping all of that,

And allowing acceptance,

Goodwill,

Friendliness,

Kindness,

And simple kind good wishes,

Wishing the best for oneself.

And so we establish that as an attitude,

It's a divine attitude.

And then with that attitude,

We just condense,

That's the meaning of those simple words,

May I be well,

May I be happy.

And so breathing in,

We're sincere in our wish,

Sincerely wishing,

May I be well,

And allowing that warmth to fill the heart area.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

Metta is sometimes also described as unconditional love.

Sometimes that phrase means more to some people.

So with the Metta,

You're offering an attitude of unconditional love.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Allowing unconditional love to arise in the heart.

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

Radiating unconditional love,

Embracing,

Suffusing the whole chest,

Upper body,

Face,

Spreading out that attitude,

Divine attitude of loving kindness filling the body.

Turning in,

May I be almost finished.

Breathing in,

May I be well.

Allowing unconditional love.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

Radiating unconditional love,

Acceptance,

Warmth throughout the whole body.

Just holding it in the heart.

Just holding it in the heart.

So having established awareness of the breath,

Loving generators and loving kindness now we'll move into a mode of having a sincere,

Honest look at the body,

Just with a,

An honest sense of inquiry.

So it's important to understand that as we look at the parts of the body,

It's not like a biology experiment where you cut open a frog.

You don't bring that kind of dissecting attitude to it.

The attitude that we bring to it is the attitude of a love of truth and an interest in understanding what it's all about.

How does it all really work?

And what is this body?

Why am I attached to it?

These are honest questions that wise people ask.

And so just bringing your attention,

As we do this you still try to be aware of the breath,

But not in as refined a detail.

Basically aware as the breath comes in and out.

This is helping you to keep your mindfulness in your body,

But it's a broader awareness because we need to move the attention through the body,

Not just the nose,

Just abdomen.

So broadly aware of the in-breath,

Broadly aware of the out-breath and moving awareness.

And so bringing the awareness to your hair.

And just aware of the hair.

It's actually quite a dry part of the body.

So just having a sense for the dryness.

Whereas your skin might feel a little more moist,

There's more water element passing through the skin,

But on the hair it's very clear.

There's this dry element.

It's actually earth element.

And so just having a sense for the hair,

Looking at it as one thing,

As one part.

And then we just sincerely ask,

Is the hair self?

Is this hair then me?

Or should we just ask an honest question,

Making an enquiry?

We have to do it sincerely,

We really ask.

And then seeing this hair,

This earth element,

This dry earth element growing out of the skin,

We ask,

Is it really mine?

I encourage you now to move your attention to your nails,

Your fingernails.

Just moving the awareness,

Still aware of the in and out-breath,

But just moving the awareness,

The mind's awareness to the nails.

And we're not thinking about them so much,

Rather than just holding the awareness and that perception in mind and having a look just at nails.

And what are they like?

And once again you'll see that there's a dryness to them.

And compared to flesh,

They're quite hard.

And just looking at the nails as one part,

We just ask,

Are these nails self?

Are these nails me?

And are they really mine?

Still aware of the in and out-breathing,

Knowing one in-breath,

Knowing one out-breath,

Keeping the awareness within the body.

And now I ask you to bring your attention to the area of the teeth.

Just holding the awareness at the area of the teeth.

And getting a sense for teeth.

What are they like?

They're very hard.

The upper teeth,

The lower teeth are like rows of stones.

Little white stones.

Earth element.

And you can consider in the past,

Once a tooth fell out and you held it in your hand,

Could you consider it to be a part of you anymore?

And so just sincerely asking,

Are these teeth,

Are they self?

And really looking closely,

Bringing the awareness into that area of the teeth and having a look,

What are they really?

If they're not self,

What are they?

And once again asking,

Are these teeth,

Are they me?

Seeing them as an earth element.

And coming back to the awareness of the breathing,

Aware of one in breath,

Aware of one out breath.

I'm just going to ask you to investigate one more body part in a few more moments,

But just stabilising that awareness on the breath one more time.

Keeping the awareness in the body in the present moment.

Keeping the mind steady in a gentle steadiness.

Aware of one in breath,

And knowing the in breath,

Aware of one out breath,

Knowing the out breath.

I'd like you now to turn your attention inwards.

I'm just going to have a look at the bones in the rib cage and the backbone,

If you can just get a sense for,

You don't have to visualise it,

But just placing the awareness and bringing it to bear upon being aware of these bones in this body.

There's a rib cage that supports the skin,

And there's a spine that supports us sitting now.

I'm just getting a sense for those bones,

Part of a skeleton.

I'm just aware of the backbone,

This hard,

Straight.

And just considering if it wasn't surrounded by blood and lymph and flesh,

What's it like just as a part,

Separate from the other parts?

I have a sense that it would also be quite dry and hard,

A white colour.

And then asking once again,

Is this backbone,

Are these ribs a self?

And just making that honest enquiry and being receptive to the answer.

Is this backbone me?

And now once again coming back to the awareness of breathing,

Aware of one in-breath,

Aware of one out-breath.

And refining the awareness to be more aware,

More detailed of the in-and-out breathing now,

We can return to buddho,

Breathing in buddho,

Breathing out-dho.

Trying to be aware of the entire breath,

Beginning,

Middle,

End of the breath,

In-breath.

A pause,

A space,

The beginning,

The middle and the end of the out-breath.

And many people find if you do sincere investigation into the nature of the body,

The sense of self becomes significantly less and it can be easier to be with the breath,

Just the breath,

Not a self,

Not my breath,

Just one in-breath and one out-breath.

Breathing in buddho,

Breathing out-dho,

Investigating dhamma,

Investigating truth and maintaining the mindfulness in the present moment in the body to support our investigation.

Thank you.

Reviews

Always safe practices. Carefully created space to explore the illusury nature of self. Thank you.

Perhaps a chime at the end to bring us back? Other than that, absolutely lovely. Thank you.

Such a gentle entry into the body conversation meditation! It’s done with the sensitivity to the Western culture and mindset and is a real transformative piece. Thank you!

Ajhan, you turned me to a buddhist. Thank You! I practice twice every day and I try hard to keep the precept. I hope I can come to one of your retreats soon.
Thank You. Sending the merits of all my practices to you and Ajhan Chah.
With Mettha, From Iran
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💖💖💖💜💜💜💜💖💖❤️❤️❤️💖💖💜💜💖💖❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank you. Very helpful and i will use metta before body now. 🙏🏻

Great meditation to keep the mind free from distracting thoughts. Interesting contemplations. Very relaxing just what I needed this morning. Thank you …
Namaste🙏🏽💜

Wonderful guided meditation focusing first on breath, then the practice of metta, and then contemplation of the body. Very clear guidance throughout, wonderfully helpful. Thank you so much.

As I make small progresses on this path, meditations like this one that seemed intimidating seem even less so. This one mixes a little bit of cognition during the awareness, promoting you to investigate parts of the body. “Is this me? Is this myself?” I’m just now-I think—beginning to realize how radical that question is. You need to go beyond the reflexive, “of course it is,” and then examine feelings that arise as you contemplate. “If I lost this hand in an accident, would I still be me? Would I still be myself?” The choice of hair and nails is also important: biologically, these things are dead by the time they manifest as hair and nails. Bones? Now we’re getting personal... but also not self.

what a beautiful experience. thank you! 💞

Another gorgeous meditation!!

Thank you so much ajahn Achalo !

Thank you, Ajahn. As usual your meditations bring a unique level of insight that is very useful. Much appreciated.

Interesting, strange, new

Very inspiring, Ajahn Achalo. Thank you.

Really helped reduce my back pain as well as attachment to self. Calming voice and right amount of direction/input. Thanks

Very helpful meditation and good guidance as usual.
Thank you very much Ajahn.

Very good meditation, & contemplation! Thank you Ajahn!