Metta Meditation with Lotus and Gold Light Visualisation

After a brief introduction, the meditation begins with breath awareness followed by the Metta and golden light visualisation to assist in opening the heart.

Transcript

I lead guided meditation today,

Metta guided meditation.

Living with Ajahn Anand for periods of my life he does emphasize cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and having the Metta Vavana as a support because the Metta pacifies the aversion and hatred root chilesa to a significant degree.

If we have a daily Metta practice we find that there's less issues with irritation and anger and also because Metta is very pleasant the monks who cultivate Metta are more likely to be content in the holy life and stay rather than longing for something outside.

People cultivate the capacity to hold goodwill for a pure form of love in their own hearts,

There's less longing for things outside.

And then with the various irritations that come up in life if one has cultivated Metta it's much more easy to forgive.

Loving kindness sensitizes the mind and we,

Becoming more sensitive you can feel that hanging on to anger is painful,

Hanging on to grudge is painful and the one who hangs on to the grudge or the irritation or the anger is suffering,

Not the other person although they're suffering as well in different ways.

But if we hold on to our reactions we're the ones suffering.

So sometimes called replacement by opposite,

So if you've trained and somewhat adept in generating Metta citta,

The mind's getting a little bit irritated you can pick up the Metta and in picking up the Metta putting down the unwholesome mind object.

Some people have a gift for visualization and others don't but today I thought I might try to lead a visualization as a support to the Metta.

So it's the same breath meditation,

Breathing in being aware of the breath,

Nose,

Chest,

Abdomen and breathing out aware of the breath,

Abdomen,

Chest,

Nose.

Just doing that for a couple of minutes to prepare the mind for the Metta practice.

Bringing our awareness inwards,

Noticing the in and out breathing and the breath comes in at the nose,

Passes through the chest and into the abdomen and the breath leaves the body,

Abdomen,

Chest,

Nose.

And trying to be aware of the feelings of the natural breathing,

The entire in breath beginning middle end and knowing the feelings of the entire out breath and knowing the spaces in between.

It's good to bring an attitude of caring to the breath and we'll be moving into Metta so starting right away with offering the breath an attitude of interest and care.

Breathing in Bhut allowing the body and mind to be exactly as it is.

Breathing out though aware of the breath with an attitude of care or tenderness.

Caring for the breath giving interest to noticing those feelings,

Nose,

Chest,

Abdomen,

Abdomen,

Chest,

Nose.

So you're not trying to get anything and you're not trying to judge,

Analyse,

Scrutinise.

It's just offering a kind caring interest as you notice the breath coming at the nose,

Chest and abdomen and leaving abdomen,

Chest,

Nose.

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운 I often suggest that the best way to begin the metta-pavanah is establishing an attitude of loving acceptance first.

Feel aware of that breath,

In-breath and out-breath,

But placing the attention a little more in the heart area.

And however today has been,

However the mind is now,

Just offering acceptance of it as it is.

Whatever that felt,

Experience,

Mental feeling there.

So just allowing it as it is,

No judgement,

No trying to get rid of,

No pushing away.

And we can use words,

Affirmations,

Breathing in,

I lovingly accept the situation,

This mind,

This body as it is right now.

Breathing out,

Putting down judgement.

Breathing in,

I allow this mind and this body in this moment just as it is.

So often the mind is judging others and oneself in various ways,

Coarse ways,

Subtle ways,

It can feel quite oppressive to the heart.

And so loving kindness practice,

Replacement by opposites,

Allowing,

Accepting,

Embracing,

Loving friendliness,

Kindness,

Goodwill,

Unconditional love.

Breathing in,

Allowing this body and mind just as it is,

Accepting.

Breathing out,

Dropping anything that isn't loving kindness.

Offering a quality of acceptance.

And then also relaxing into that attitude of kind acceptance.

And now we generate warmth having established the coolness of loving kindness.

Offering acceptance,

Now we generate warmth of goodwill,

That's making a kind wish.

Just as we make kind wishes for parents or teachers or good friends,

We offer that same kind wish.

Breathing in,

May I be well.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Allowing a warm quality of kindness,

Friendliness to arise in the heart area.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

May I take care of my life,

Take care of my body,

My mind along this path to developing insight.

And now I'd like to ask you to use the visual capacity of your mind and just imagine a small white lotus,

A lotus flower in the heart area,

In the very centre of the chest.

Imagine this white lotus is made of light.

And just see that lotus opening.

This lotus is just floating there in that space,

Sustained by goodwill.

Try to see it in beautiful bright white light,

In the very centre of the heart.

If you're very skilled,

You can give it lots of petals if that seems too difficult,

Just a few petals,

Eight petals,

White lotus.

Now as you breathe in and make the wish,

May I be well,

Just imagine that golden light radiates from the lotus and surrounds the lotus.

Golden light held in the heart.

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

Just do that for a few breaths,

Visualising the white lotus,

Clear white light,

Floating in the centre of the heart area.

And as you breathe in,

Translucent,

Bright,

Gold light radiates from the lotus.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Just imagine that this is the gold of metta.

And as you feel the warmth of goodwill,

Loving friendliness,

Unconditional love,

Seeing it as this light,

And just feeling that,

Allowing it to bless the mind.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

The gold of loving kindness arising and radiating,

Shining in the heart surrounding the white lotus.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Golden light shining,

Soothing,

Warm,

Soft golden light,

Dissolving any tension,

Soothing any pains like a balm,

Just allowing it to shine gently,

Softly,

Radiantly in the heart.

And as you breathe out,

May I be happy,

Just allowing that golden light to shine a little bit further,

Filling more of that space,

Imagine it filling the whole chest area.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

The gold light shines around the lotus,

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

It spreads to fill the whole chest.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

And breathing in,

Maintaining the visualization,

Aware of the breath,

But also aware of this white lotus made of light.

And breathing in,

May I be well,

And the golden light enveloping,

Shining brightly.

The warmth of loving kindness and breathing out,

May I be happy,

And then imagine this golden light now fills the entire upper body and the head,

The shoulders,

The head,

The stomach.

Remember not to try too hard,

It's a subtle activity,

It's a wish,

And a visualization,

It's not something difficult.

It's simply related to intention and kind wishes.

And everybody has the capacity to radiate loving kindness.

It's part of being human.

So feeling confident and trusting and just allowing the mind's potential to radiate loving kindness,

Allowing it to shine forth.

And breathing in,

May I be well,

The golden light of loving kindness,

Suffusing a beautiful white lotus in the center of the heart.

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

And that golden light shines through the darkness,

Evaporates the darkness.

When the light is there,

The darkness is gone,

Shining in the upper part of the body,

Enveloping the face,

The head,

The ears,

The shoulders,

The chest,

The upper arms,

The abdomen,

And just holding that perception of golden light.

It's the golden light that accepts and allows and blesses,

That sees potential,

Nourishes potential.

And breathing in,

Aware of the white lotus made of light,

Golden light radiating.

Breathing out,

Not just allowing the light to shine,

Enveloping the entire body.

All clear white lotus,

Empty yet appearing,

Like see-through,

Like a crystal,

But white color in the center of the heart,

Eight petals,

Just floating,

Buoyed by the power,

Nourished by loving kindness,

And breathing in,

May I be well,

Golden light shines around from through that white lotus,

Effortlessly,

Brilliant gold.

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

It shines,

Embracing your entire body.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

We can make certain affirmations.

You see this golden light outshining the past,

The past is gone.

Whatever it was,

Whatever it's been,

It's the past,

It's gone,

It's golden light shining brighter than the past,

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

This golden light radiating from your heart,

Enveloping your body,

Your mind,

Your whole life.

Continuing you to leave the past behind,

It's gone,

And coming more and more into the present moment,

Seeing its potential,

And offering a blessing to that potential,

Breathing in,

Golden light shining brighter and brighter,

The very heart,

May I be well,

May I be well.

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

The golden light envelops everything,

From the toes to the hair,

Shining through the pores,

Washing away any darkness,

Darkness disappearing.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Breathing out,

May I be happy.

In what is within.

.

.

Now having bathed the entire body and mind in the golden light of loving kindness,

Loving friendliness,

Loving acceptance,

Allowing it to come back into the centre of the heart area,

Still very bright,

Gold,

See-through,

Bright,

Inexhaustible.

Breathing in may I be well,

Breathing out may I be happy and just holding that golden light around that white lotus in the heart.

And breathing in may I be well,

Breathing out may I be happy.

Now allowing that gold light to re-enter the lotus and then just seeing the white,

Pure white like crystal,

See-through white crystal lotus at the heart.

And just seeing that white lotus now radiating white light in the area of the heart,

Pure white light in the heart area.

Cool,

Peaceful,

Pure white light soothing the heart and mind.

If you train in these kind of visualisations,

Once you've generated that golden light you can bring to mind other people,

Teachers,

Friends.

On the in-breath you offer loving kindness to oneself and on the out-breath radiate that golden light and you can include groups of people.

As you train you can include people that you feel neutral towards and eventually even people that you find difficult,

Conventionally speaking.

But at first we train until we have skill in really holding that,

Understanding that in order to have metta for others we need to have it in our own heart and then we radiate it outwards.

And the practice of loving kindness supports very much the practice of developing insight because necessarily we have to come up with a lot of challenging mind states,

A lot of difficult habits.

And so the metta nourishes the effort,

Refreshes the mind,

Allows us to start again,

Clean things out and start again.

And so often we long for blessing from somewhere outside but if we learn how to generate a sense of blessing from our own extraordinary potential right there in the very centre of consciousness,

Just setting the intention,

Sustaining the effort,

Loving kindness arises and then you can radiate it,

Suffuse your whole body and mind.

You do it every day,

It becomes easy,

It becomes something that you will do every day.

It's so pleasant,

It's a gift that you give yourself.

And as we make these wishes,

May I be well,

May I be happy,

Then we're finding the resources,

Digging down and finding the resources that we do have if we just dig deep enough,

It's all there underneath the self-limiting beliefs that you don't have to believe.

You have the potential to become enlightened,

You have the potential to eliminate all delusion.

And so we make the wish,

When we make that wish,

May I be well,

May I have the energy,

The inspiration,

The determination,

The courage,

The patience to keep going in my practice.

And if you have loving kindness for yourself and if you train in radiating,

Suffusing,

Bathing the mind in loving kindness,

You can find the courage,

The determination,

The patience,

It's all there.

And you might feel at times,

I can't do it,

It's too hard and you come back to the metta practice and you really offer that blessing and after a half an hour of metta it's very obvious,

I can do it,

I'm going to do it.

And we just get on with it.

When we get on with it after blessing ourselves,

Acknowledging our potential,

Accepting ourselves,

Conventionally speaking,

Allowing the mind to be happy,

Not judged.

And then when we do that,

We get back to our investigation of not self.

And that's a gift to ourselves because we understand if we can put down the habitual grasping at the body and the thoughts as being a self,

It's a tremendous relief.

But we don't kill the self,

We don't attack the self,

We don't destroy the self,

We just see the truth of the body as a body.

Feelings as thoughts,

Feelings as feelings and the perception of self falls away because you're not picking it up.

Breathing in,

May I be well,

Breathing out,

May I be happy,

May I have all of the energy,

To continue with my practice,

Or may I never give up.

And you can dedicate that merit from that meditation to all of the yogis in the hall.

May we all continue with our practice,

Having the energy we need,

Inspiration we need,

Determination that we need.

Loving kindness meditation creates a lot of merit.

You might notice now if the mind feels much brighter and happier than half an hour ago,

That's merit.

And then we increase the merit by sharing it.

When you share merit,

It doesn't decrease,

It increases.

Stay in the merit of this meditation with everyone in the retreat.

And may we all practice consistently,

Developing a lot of mindfulness and wisdom.

Reviews

That was so beautiful!! So powerful and deep thank you!!

The metta practices are so great.

Today this metta meditation brought me back to center. Deep gratitude.

One of my all time favourite metta meditations. Just wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Beautiful and true. Thank you for sharing from the heart, from the teachings, from truth. ❤️

Beautiful as always. Just what I needed. I feel much lighter after that meditation and grateful for life. Thank you 🙏

Thank you Ajhan - may the light of the lotus continue radiating on all of us.

This meditation has really helped deepen and open up my practice. Thank you.

Superb visualization. Very heart-opening and warming. (Last 5+ minutes a talk to remind ourselves to keep on practicing, how metta refreshes us, and we don’t need to attack the self; we just don’t “pick it up.”). Thank you. Metta to all. 🙏🙏🙏

Simple caring and just what anyone needs. Wellness and Happiness. Many thanks for opening the light 🙏😊

Absolutely beautiful. Love the lotus and white light visualization!

Thank you for this beautiful meditation and your kind words. 🌺🌹🌷🌸

very helpful visualization

Beautiful. Great wisdom, wonderful guidance. 🙏

As always, Ajahn Achalo is a master at his craft!

Thank you so much for this guided metta

A surprisingly energizing and motivating meditation. Thank you for sharing this 😇🙏

5/5 I am grateful for your guidance, tender teaching and encouragement to continue with our practice. Thank you 🙏

Revitalising meditation from my favourite teacher.

Managed to reach one-pointedness thanks to this meditation.

Thank you. Buddho.