Search results for: metta

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  2. A Quiet Spot
     … That’s what Ajaan Suwat liked to call Wat Metta: a corner of quietness. But he also talked about meditation as a corner of quietness, this place where the mind can really be solid and settled down and have a firm foundation, even in the midst of all the things that are infirm and unsettled in the rest of the world. After all, when … 
  3. The Courage to Set Yourself Free
     … As he says, fighting the elephant off with metta, with no holds barred. The elephant stares at him for a while, then lowers its ears and walks away. There are two lessons to be drawn here. One is the lesson if you’re afraid to die, your fear is what’ going to keep you dying. This is a theme throughout the practice. As the … 
  4. The Perception of Space
     … When the Buddha is talking about developing goodwill for people who have spoken harshly or lied to you, he said, “Make your mind like space, make your *mettā—*your goodwill—like space.” Space, he says, doesn’t have a surface; nothing can be written on it. In other words, when people abuse you, you don’t take it and keep it; you don’t … 
  5. Planting a Tree
     … The second guardian meditation is metta, goodwill. Remember that you have goodwill for yourself, and that’s why you’re practicing. The Buddha said that when you start feeling discouraged, remind yourself that you started this practice because you love yourself. You want to put an end to suffering. Have you stopped wanting to put an end to suffering? Well, no. It’s just … 
  6. Goodwill for Snakes
     … One, the quality of metta is not necessarily love. The snakes didn’t want my love. They wanted me to leave them alone, and I didn’t want to hang around with them, either. If I had tried to pet them, of course, they would have bitten me. And as Ajaan Fuang said, “We’re different species, and there are so many different ways … 
  7. Right Speech, Inside & Out
     … I’ve been told that, according to the Thai Wat Metta social media right now, the sala we’re in is apparently on the verge of collapsing with the slightest little tremor. Whether that’s true or not, the fact is that our bodies are designed in such a way that when they decide to stop, they don’t give any warning. Perhaps a … 
  8. Mange in the Mind
     … Is the dirt on the other side of the mountain different from the dirt over here? Are the rocks there different from the rocks here? The first month I came back to the States and settled down in Wat Metta, a group of lay people had organized a trip for the monks to go to Yellowstone. I didn’t go along. Ajaan Suwat went … 
  9. Easy to Instruct
    There are a couple of stories related to the chant we did just now, the Karaniya Metta Sutta. It starts out: “This is what should be done by one aiming at a state of peace.” I happened to be sitting in on a course one time that was focused on translating the sutta. They took it apart line by line, compared different translations, and … 
  10. Goodwill for the Breath
    We start each meditation session with chants on goodwill, metta, to remind ourselves of why we’re here. It’s because we wish for true happiness. As the Buddha once said, wisdom and discernment begin with that question: What can we do that will lead to our long-term welfare and happiness? The whole teaching comes out of that question. We practice generosity, we … 
  11. Page search result icon Shoulds & Desires
     … He’s not forcing this framework on you. ** There’s a passage in the beginning of the Karaniya Metta Sutta: “This is what should be done by one who appreciates the state of peace.” I was sitting in on another course on the brahmaviharas one time. They were going over this sutta line by line, and they started with the first line. As soon … 
  12. The Demands of Goodwill
     … And so metta has its difficult side as well, because it requires you to be very scrupulous, very thoughtful in how you deal with yourself and with other people. It’s often thought of as a nice “feel good” kind of practice—and it does create that energy of feeling good about yourself: that you don’t have any evil intentions toward anyone. You … 
  13. The Buddha’s Secret Weapon
     … Once, when I was in Barre, they were giving a course on the Karaniya Metta Sutta, the one we chant often. I had taught my course the week before, and I was staying on to do a little study, a little meditation of my own, So they asked me to sit in on this other course. The teacher got to the very first line … 
  14. Skilled in Aims
    That chant just now is called the Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta because the first words are* karaṇīya*, “what should be done.” The whole phrase is, “what should be done by one skilled in aims.” To be skilled in aims, you have to think about the long-term: What would be conducive to a true, long-term happiness? Much of the sutta is about goodwill. You … 
  15. Protective Meditations
     … contemplation of the unattractiveness of the body, and mindfulness of death. It sounds like a rather random collection and, in the sense that they focus on different defilements, they are diverse. Metta is usually used as the antidote to anger; contemplation of the body as an antidote to lust; recollection of the Buddha as an antidote to discouragement and nihilism; and recollection of death … 
  16. Wilderness Wealth
     … For lay people, when you’re here in the relative wilderness of Metta as opposed to your homes, that reflection gets you started in the right direction. You see that the problem of suffering is not anything “out there.” It’s largely in the way you perceive things, the way you fabricate things. And the process of meditation is a progressively refined understanding of … 
  17. In Heedfulness We Trust
     … When I came back to Wat Metta after all those years in Thailand, it was hard to get used to this, because over there, this is the time of evening when the mosquitoes are out. And it’s not just a matter of not liking the feel of the mosquito bite—the mosquitoes that carry malaria come out at this time of day, too … 
  18. Your Goodness is Your Protection
     … That’s a huge misunderstanding that comes from the passage in the Karaniya Metta Sutta about developing an unlimited mind of unlimited goodwill for the world in the same way you a mother would protect her only child. This doesn’t mean that you try to protect the entire world as a mother would protect her child. There’s no way you can do … 
  19. Volunteer Spirit
     … I’ve told you the story about the person who once complained about the first line in the Metta Sutta, “This is what should be done by those who want to aim at a state of peace.” He said, “Wait a minute. What’s this ‘should’ in here? I thought Buddhism didn’t have any shoulds.” The “should” there is conditional. If you want … 
  20. A Promise to Yourself
     … There’s that passage in the beginning of the Karaniya Metta Sutta, “This is what should be done by those who appreciate the state of peace.” I once sat in on a class being taught by someone else on that sutta, taking it apart line by line. As he got to the first line, a hand shot up, “I thought there were no shoulds … 
  21. Goodwill as Right View
     … Sometimes we think of metta as kind of weak and namby-pamby. It’s not. It’s a power. This is the power that the Buddha depended on in order to gain awakening, to teach his teachings. After all, the four noble truths: What are they but an expression of goodwill? Taking everybody’s suffering as the big issue and showing how we can … 
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