And so we start by settling ourselves down into a comfortable posture for meditation,
Closing our eyes as gently as possible.
We allow our breath to become slow and deep,
And make a check of the whole of our body,
To be sure each and every muscle is properly relaxed,
All the way from the top of our head,
Right the way down to the tips of our toes,
With nowhere in between,
Harboring any stress or tension anymore.
So the whole body feels light in weight.
And turning our attention inwards,
We focus on the inner state of mind,
Which again can be relaxed further,
If we are able to let go for a few moments of all the possible worries or concerns.
Gathering our attention back from any possible distractions in the outside world,
To a place of serenity on the inside,
Re-engaging with a sense of joy and happiness there,
And allowing the same feeling to spread throughout our body and mind.
Inside our body,
We imagine it's just an empty space,
Or as if our whole body has been transformed into a sort of bubble,
With nothing inside,
Or equally as if our body has disappeared completely,
Leaving a great empty space.
But we'll allow our mind to reconnect with that special place inside us,
Which feels like the point of greatest contentment,
Somewhere around the area of our diaphragm,
And maintaining our attention there as continuously as we can,
For as long as we can,
Not letting our attention slip away to anything else.
If you already have an inner object of some sort,
You can adopt that as the focus for your meditation.
If you don't seem to have anything obvious to focus upon,
You can always start by conjuring up one of your own,
A visual object or one that you can feel inside you.
If your attention wanders away to other things,
You simply bring it back again as soon as you realize,
And bring it back repeatedly until little by little,
Keeping the mind centered becomes second nature to us,
Remaining always at the center of whatever we can perceive inside us,
Not as if we were looking down on that point,
But as if we were actually there ourselves.
So if we have shifted the whole of our mental office down from the level of our brain to that place at the center of our stomach,
With all perception,
Memory,
Thought or cognition,
In the same place at our center,
Actually within the object that we perceive.
If thoughts return,
We do our best to ignore them,
To let them die down,
To leave a sense of silence in the mind,
Silence in which there is nothing but our inner object,
As the total focus for our attention.
If we rest our mind gently,
Continuously,
There'll be a sense in which it's almost like threading a needle.
So an extreme lightness of touch can allow the mind to reach through into the other side.
If we can achieve this level of finesse,
We will start to see the center of the body as much more than just being a point in the mind.
It's actually like the trailhead for a pathway that leads the mind deeper.
So we cultivate our attention in this way,
Lightly and gently,
Keeping our mind on track by means of our inner object,
Discouraging any thoughts from arising in the mind,
And touching gently at the center of our inner experience,
While allowing the mind to go deeper for a few more moments in silence.
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So we continue to keep our mind on track at the center of the body,
The whole of the time,
Lightly,
Gently and continuously,
Always at the center of whatever inner experience we've built up for ourselves,
As a result of our meditation so far this session.
For some people the inner experience will amount to a sense of brightness at the center of oneself.
For others it may be more of a feeling,
Something like a sense of well-being,
Again centered at the seventh base.
For others still it may be images,
Large or small,
Centered around the middle of our body,
Sometimes small like objects,
Sometimes much larger like whole vistas or panoramas,
Where we are actually smaller than the images we see.
But whatever inner experience we have,
We touch our mind gently at our center,
So gently that it's almost as if we are hardly touching at all,
Touching with the lightness of a warm fingertip,
Touching the surface of some new fallen snow,
Touching the snow so gently that there'll be a melting away at the point of contact,
Where solid becomes liquid and liquid becomes vapor,
Spreading outwards,
Rarefying outwards and spreading like the ripples on the surface of a pond,
Ever wider from the point of contact.
In this way we extend our inner experience initially to the whole of ourselves,
Filling ourselves with the light or that sense of well-being,
Or expanding the inner picture to fill the whole of our body by a process known as the spreading of loving-kindness,
And we make the affirmation at the center of ourselves that may I be well and happy,
Free from all suffering.
And then we extend the same loving-kindness beyond the boundaries of our own being,
Outwards into the room around us,
Extending outwards in all directions around us,
Like a halo or an aura,
To encapsulate all the sentient beings around us in the room where we're sitting for meditation.
And we start to return some of the benefits of meditation to the world around us,
By making the affirmation at the center of ourselves that all the living beings here in this room be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
And live together in peace and harmony.
Further outwards to the whole building,
Wider to the whole neighborhood,
Outwards to the whole municipality and the city limits,
Almost as if we are extending our loving-kindness across a map,
Seen in bird's eye view,
In ever widening circles around us,
Taking in all the sentient beings therein,
With the wish that,
May all these beings be well and happy,
Live in peace and harmony.
Especially at this time when so many people feel isolated or pinned down by negativity,
We extend our loving-kindness as a torrent of peace,
A cool tide extending outwards to bring happiness where there is suffering,
And increasing the happiness where happiness is scarce.
Even wider to the whole state of California,
Two neighboring states,
To all the lower 48 states,
Wider still to the whole of North America,
With the wish that all living beings here on this continent be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony.
And wider still to all the continents of the world,
As if we were extending loving-kindness across the entire face of this planet,
With the affirmation at the centre of ourselves,
That may all living beings,
Whether on the land,
In the air or in the sea,
Be touched by our loving-kindness,
That these living beings be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony,
That world peace become a reality within our own lifetimes.
And we can spread loving-kindness in all the six great directions,
Almost as if we were extending a beam of loving-kindness outwards into the universe around us,
To the front and to the back,
Without limits,
To the right and to the left,
Without boundaries,
Above and below,
Without end,
Extending loving-kindness to all living beings here in the universe,
So that no living being,
Without exception,
Is left untouched by our loving-kindness,
Again with the same wish for all living beings to be well and happy,
Free from suffering,
Live together in peace and harmony.
And for the last few moments of our practice,
We can extend the loving-kindness toward particular loved ones we may be thinking about,
By holding them close within the brightness or our sense of wellbeing at the centre of ourselves,
Thinking of their name or their face,
Extending loving-kindness to them in particular,
Especially if we are separated by huge distances,
Extending loving-kindness to those for whom we feel a particular debt of gratitude,
Toward those still living,
Or even those who have already passed,
Trusting that the purity of our loving-kindness can extend across the huge gulfs of space and time,
To reach those loved ones wherever they are to be found.
We extend our loving-kindness in this way for the last few moments of our practice together.
