Guided Compassion Meditation With Chanting

A guided compassion meditation, beginning with seven minutes of chanting and followed by a guided practice. This helps us in exploring and bringing about our inner capacity for compassion and tenderness to all experience. This recording is from a live teaching session.

Transcript

We would like to begin the meditation this evening with a chant that Debbie reminded us of,

Which has the words listen deeply in it and put the words in the chat in a moment.

Yeah,

It's a nice time to use this chant.

I don't know if many of you know,

But it's if you've seen the full moon where you are,

It's Wesak.

It's the holy moon in many traditions in Buddhism.

It's the date where the Buddha was born and also died on this full moon.

So the chant is and also got enlightened,

Awakened.

And this chant is to Kuan Yin,

A female element of Buddhahood,

Buddha of compassion.

So Nathan and I are in the same space so that you'll hear the two of us chanting and just feel free if you wish to chant along,

To listen,

To see what works for you.

Just put the words in the chant,

But I'll also say them before we begin.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

I return my heart to the one who listens deeply to the sounds of the world.

Resting,

Resting deeply.

So if it feels helpful,

You can feel free to continue singing.

And otherwise we can,

As we move into silence,

Those of us who move into silence,

And just feel the vibration of the chant of the sounds in the body.

Bringing,

Listening,

Deep listening to the body,

To the vibration,

To the sound.

Softly resting into the body.

Perhaps also feeling the heart.

Corrected in setting.

So I'm inviting deep listening to the body,

The heart,

The being,

The meta and the compassion woven into that listening.

So whatever is present,

Whatever is arising in the body,

In the heart,

In the mind,

Letting it,

Inviting it to be held in compassion and in meta.

Listening into the stability and the steadiness of the body.

From that steadiness,

Gently opening.

Opening the space to the whole body.

And inviting that space in the body,

That body field to be filled with,

To vibrate,

To resonate with that frequency of compassion and of meta.

If it's helpful to use phrases,

Then feel free to do so.

I'll offer some,

But use whatever phrases resonate with you,

Work for you,

Support you.

May I be held in compassion and tenderness.

May this body be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of this moment be held in compassion and tenderness.

So tenderly,

Softly,

Gently holding yourself,

Your experience in compassion and meta.

If it's helpful using the breath also.

And the flow of the breathing,

Spreading meta compassion in the body.

May I be held in compassion and tenderness.

May this body be bathed and filled with compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of this moment be held and filled with compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of this moment be filled with compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of this moment be filled with compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of this moment be filled with compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of this moment be filled with compassion and tenderness.

Widening the awareness from yourself.

Staying in tune with your own body experience heart and mind.

Widening the awareness.

And inviting a being that has been a support to you.

Someone who's supported you,

Who's benefited you.

Who's perhaps guided you.

In your life,

Someone who's looked at you with kind eyes.

In addition this figure is called the benefactor and benefactress.

Opening to feel,

To invite into awareness someone who has supported you in this way.

And including them in this field of metta and compassion.

Wanting you to be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of your body be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of your heart and mind be held,

Be filled and bathed in compassion and tenderness.

Finding your own rhythm.

And sharing and inviting compassion.

And metta.

For this other that has supported you,

Benefited you at some point in your life.

Knowing that they too know moments of joy and of sorrow.

May you be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of your body be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of your heart and your mind be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of your body be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the experience of your body be held in compassion and tenderness.

And gently inviting the space of awareness.

The space of awareness to grow even more.

To expand even more.

To include all of us practicing here together right now.

Letting our sense of each other be there.

And be filled with this intention and wish of compassion,

Of metta.

May we all be held in compassion and tenderness.

May our bodies be held in compassion and tenderness.

May our experience be held in compassion and tenderness.

May our bodies be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the space between us and within us be bathed,

Be filled with compassion and tenderness.

May our bodies be filled with this intention and tenderness.

So filling the space and feeling it fill up with this shared intention,

This shared wish.

This shared vibration of care and compassion.

Weaving us together,

Connecting us together.

Connecting us together in a network,

In a web of compassion,

Of care.

Of metta and tenderness.

And seeing if it's possible inviting space of awareness to grow even wider,

To spread even wider.

And to include more beings.

Or those around us who are experiencing some challenge or difficulty.

Inviting them into awareness,

Into this space of compassion.

Maybe those that we know are experiencing difficulty at the moment in pain.

It may be also all of those that we don't know,

We just know that they're there.

May we all be held in compassion and tenderness.

May our bodies be held in compassion and tenderness.

May all the range of our experience be held in compassion and tenderness.

May we all be bathed in compassion.

May we be filled and held in tenderness.

All of us.

And opening out the space even more.

To include all those that are acting with generosity and kindness.

Acting from compassion and wisdom.

Knowing that they too experience times of difficulty and challenge.

And opening out to include them and to hold them in this space of tenderness and compassion.

Of metta and care.

May we all be held.

Compassion and tenderness.

May our bodies be held in compassion and tenderness.

May the whole range of our experience be held in compassion and tenderness.

And opening out the space even more.

Opening the space within the body,

Around the body.

And reaching out into the world,

Vibrating.

With compassion resonating with tenderness.

And letting awareness expand and include all beings.

All beings of this earth and if they exist,

The beings beyond this earth.

All beings.

Those who are joyful right now and those who are struggling.

Those that are near to us and those that are far.

Those that are like us and those that are different.

Those that we know and those that we don't know.

May all of us,

May all beings be held in compassion and tenderness.

May we all be bathed in compassion and tenderness.

May we all be filled and suffused with compassion and tenderness.

May the threads that tie us to each other,

That connect us to each other,

May the threads of compassion,

Of matter,

Of wisdom.

May all beings in all directions be free from suffering and its causes.

And may our practice together nourish and support that freedom in all of us.

And for all of us.

Reviews

such tenderness!

Very beautiful. Thank you!

Thank you Zohar, so good to chant along and sit again with you and Nathan.
Sending you both metta.