The light on here doesn't go on, huh? No, it says red. That's it. Is that attached to you, Ed? Oh, I see it. It looks like you got it on television. That's the kind of little microphone we have here. Yeah. You give it to the speaker, yeah. Yeah, and the kind we have at Green Belch. Yeah. Oh. I had to walk off with it. But that's what you did. You can't get very far, though. I'm pretty certain you have this little thing dangling behind you. So I was going to talk a bit about compassion or loving kindness. They're somewhat different terms in Buddhism, and I'm not... I'd have to go back and study up a little bit on the more precise difference between them.

[01:01]

And I'm kind of running them together. But did you try the meditation? Inhaling, letting your chest fill with compassion or pouring it over your head? How was that? The part where you talked about letting it come down and burn it early on. Yeah. I could feel that. You know? Uh-huh, yeah. Letting it come down. Yeah. Good. Mine turned in... It turned into maybe the thousand points of light that we haven't had. Oh, no. But that's the way it came out. Nice, warm sparkles of light. Hmm. Well, I worked with that meditation for a couple of years.

[02:11]

I think it's quite a good meditation. And there's various... There's various kinds of... Well, there's variations of that meditation, which I can describe to you. I think about it as a loving-kindness meditation, a very simple, direct kind of, as I said, non-verbal loving-kindness meditation, which you'll understand as I talk more about the more traditional kind of verbal loving-kindness meditations, which are maybe more analogous in some sense to prayer. Sometimes people think about Buddhism as being philosophical, or, you know, last week we talked about wisdom, and we've talked about concentration, and so at some point people say, well, where is, you know, love or kindness or whatever in Buddhism?

[03:16]

I think in some sense it's there. There's aspects of that in each of the things we've talked about. But if you just, in a very simple way, if you... You know, one of the basic kinds of ideas in meditation is just to observe what is and not be trying to make it one way or another. So in terms of mindfulness, the Buddha said, if your breath is short, then, you know, observe a short breath. If your breath is long, you observe a long breath. You're mindful that the breath is long, mindful that the breath is short, mindful that when you're lying down, that you're lying down. When you're sitting, that you're sitting, and so on. And this is actually a very kind of, you know, in a certain sense can be seen as a practice of kindness

[04:21]

or generosity or compassion. You know, because you, at the time at which one is practicing like that, you're not then imposing, you know, some outside idea onto your own being, onto your breath or onto your body, you know, telling it to be some way other than it is. So it's very kind just to be with your body as it is in that sense. And when you practice like that, at that time, there'll be times when a kind of joy or gratitude will arise spontaneously, which is just the joy of finding, you know, there's not somebody, whether it's you or mom or dad or your boss or somebody,

[05:22]

there's not somebody there who's bossing you around anymore, right? There's not somebody telling you anymore, be this, do that. And it's such a relief, it can be such a relief, and then very naturally a kind of joy or gratitude will arise. But anyway, just that basic practice of Buddhism can be seen as a kindness, to be mindful of things as they are without trying to make them other than they are. And then what we were just doing is a different, you know, and maybe, you know, I'm thinking, for in my own thinking,

[06:24]

at least the next level of a kind of loving-kindness practice of inhaling, letting your chest fill with compassion, exhaling, pouring it over your head. And just in some very simple way, you know, compassion is rather a large word, I'm not, I don't think of myself as being very good at what is it to let your chest fill with compassion. So I have to use something else like letting my chest fill with warmth or kind of a joy or light, or I was, you know, at another level, just a kind of softening. Compassion is a kind of softening rather than hardening. It's, because that softening then is then a very analogous to then just touching things as they are.

[07:24]

So as you inhale, letting your chest soften. And as you exhale, you pour it over your head and you let your head soften. You let literally in some sense, almost literally, you let your mind or you let your mind soften. So that in a certain sense, then you're receiving, tending more to receive experience rather than being the creator of experience. Or the shaper of experience, just receiving and experiencing, letting it flow. So that, that I see as a kind of next kind of level. And as I was mentioning, there's other very similar meditations to this.

[08:32]

One is, there's a tradition of vipassana meditation, which is a practice known as sweeping. And in the practice of sweeping, it's not coordinated precisely in the same way with your inhale and exhale, but you make a practice of taking your awareness through your body, starting at the top of your head, and then bringing your awareness down very carefully and going through your body. And, you know, there's a little slight difference. If you just bring your awareness through, you'll notice some change. And you can also bring your awareness through and soften. And just bringing your awareness through, there'll be a kind of soften or there'll be a kind of response to the fact that your awareness is there. So that's a rather similar practice,

[09:37]

just this practice of bringing your awareness through your body. And you go all the way down to the floor and then you start over again. And in that kind of practice, you also then, you're not... You know, somebody asked one of the vipassana teachers who teaches this kind of meditation, well, aren't you... isn't that just as much a habit as what you were doing anyway? It's what you would do if you weren't doing that. It would be some kind of a habit or your natural tendency. But the answer for that was that... But when you do this, you're actually very carefully and consciously going through each part of your body. You're not leaving anything out. Whereas normally our awareness would tend to come to one part of our body rather than another part of our body. In that sense, maybe it's...

[10:43]

There's some similarity in that sense with some yoga practices of having your awareness be throughout the pose, throughout your body. And again, when we do that, then there's a certain power to that because we're not... Normally we would tend... our awareness tends in a certain direction, so we're developing awareness so there's not... And in that sense, reincorporating the dark places, bringing light to the dark places or reuniting the dark places with the light places, bringing everything into the light. So again, there's a certain... That can be seen as a kind of kindness also to bring your awareness to a place which is not usually... where there's not usually any awareness.

[11:44]

. And there's other kind of traditions in Buddhism and other Hindu traditions too. In Buddhism, you can have... You can visualize a Buddha or Bodhisattva, Kuan Yin, like the statue, or anyway, some image of Kuan Yin above your head and then you can have a light coming down from the Bodhisattva into your head and then down through your body. So that again is very similar to inhaling that in your chest filled with compassion and pouring it over your head. But sometimes, you know, it's easier to have... Since it may not feel like I have that kind of warmth

[12:52]

or compassion in me, it may be easier in terms of, you know, to receive it from your visualization, right? And if you can feel or visualize Bodhisattva, then you can receive light or warmth or release from the Bodhisattva. And a simpler version of that is just to have a large globe over your head which radiates light and warmth into the top of your head. And very... You know, that's less... Again, then that's simpler than... Some people like me, I'm not particularly good at visualizing figures, but I can imagine or visualize a large globe and receive the light or warmth or joy from that.

[13:57]

And it can be very, you know... And you try to keep it, you know, modest and simple and not be too... How do you say? Ambitious or idealistic about the possibilities, but something... Receiving some energy or sustenance in that way. And... Something very simple and sweet, pure. And just let it come down into your being as you... And if you want, you can do that as you inhale and exhale. It seems especially effective on the exhale. And interestingly enough, when you do this, although your energy is going down and you're... Although this... You're receiving, in a certain sense, some warmth or light or release,

[15:03]

softening that's coming down through your body, same time your body's lifting up to receive it. Anyway, that's my experience. So all of these are kind of, in my way of looking at it at least, in a certain sense of kindness, loving-kindness meditations. There are now more traditional kinds of... kind of formulas or... I guess you could say formulas or... forms for doing loving-kindness meditations. And for the most part, or oftentimes, you start with a very simple wish for one's own happiness. Because the understanding is that

[16:06]

if you want to wish others happiness, that you yourself are happy. And sometimes it's easier for us to wish others happiness, but we don't... we kind of forget ourself, and we think sometimes, I'm not especially worthy of being happy, I don't deserve to be happy, but I want others to be happy. And sometimes we work very hard, in a certain sense, for others to be happy, and we kind of forget about being happy ourself. So this form is very simple. You can sit, and you don't need to do it all the time, but perhaps at the beginning of the sitting or after a few minutes, you make a simple kind of a wish, where, very simply speaking, may I be happy.

[17:10]

All beings want to be happy. May I be happy. Just as others wish to be happy, I wish to be happy. Just as others, just as all beings, I wish to... not to suffer. I wish not to suffer. May I be free from suffering. May I be peaceful. May I be content. May I be happy. And then, whether it's at the same time or over some period of time, then you can bring to mind

[18:13]

the image of a friend or loved one and extend this same kind of feeling towards that person. May you be happy. May you be peaceful. May you be free from suffering. May you grow in wisdom and compassion. May you attain complete liberation. And, you know, in the same way you can, as you wish this for yourself. Generally speaking, it's, you know, it's considered then that you start with yourself and then someone you find to be your friend or loved one.

[19:20]

And then you take someone who's perhaps neutral and wish, may you be happy. May you find some relief from your suffering. May you enjoy health and ease of well-being. May you grow in wisdom and compassion. And in this way you let your heart go out to another being. And then you can extend it to someone who is, you might think of ordinarily as your enemy and wish them well. May you be happy. May you find peace and joy in your life. May you be relieved of suffering.

[20:28]

May you grow in wisdom and compassion. And then you can also take, you know, this room and the people in the room you're in and wish, may you be happy. May you have joy in your life, peace and harmony. May you have ease of well-being. And then may you grow in wisdom and compassion. May you attain complete liberation. And you can wish for, you know, everyone or, you know, the president or

[21:39]

all the beings in the world. And you can wish for trees or plants or animals. May you be happy. And this kind of wish then is, in some sense, then, you know, in the background of your practice, of one's practice all the time. And then you can wish for, you know, it may be useful to renew this wish at times or to, in that sense, come back to it or renew it, revitalize it. Because we don't just sit for ourself

[22:50]

or our own understanding or or to have some kind of, you know, power or accomplishment. And we have to remember in some, you know, very simple way. We want to, each one of us, all beings want to be happy. May I be happy. May all beings be happy. You know, may we find some way to live in peace and harmony. And it doesn't mean, obviously, that we'll, you know, be able to act this way all the time, that we won't lose our patience or lose our temper. But, again, we can come back to this kind of wish or, in a certain sense, this kind of vow

[23:52]

or in another way. Another way of looking at it, just what is our deep intention or best wish? So this is one way that Buddhism has described our best wish or deep wish. This kind of loving kindness. And a kind of gratitude. And warmth that is in our being. Thank you.

[25:24]

Thank you. Thank you. So, again, it's quite easy. We're all quite, you know, we're all pretty familiar with how easy it is to get caught up in conflict in our own life or emotions or accomplishments or attainments, responsibilities. Sometimes the responsibilities that you know, to be responsible for others.

[26:30]

We do it because we take on the responsibility out of some genuine love and appreciation and yet at the same time it can be so burdensome that we forget we do it for that reason. So anyway, one way or another, it seems useful and appropriate to remind oneself of this kind of basic intention. And if it's useful for you to use this particular kind of language then now and again, or to use it for a whole period of meditation, or at the end of the day, when you first wake up or when you're going to bed or whenever you want to use it, then you can use this kind of language or you can make up your own kind of wish for your own life and

[27:35]

the lives of those that you share your life with. ... ... ... This kind of practice is not always so simple, you know. If it's somebody you're in conflict with, it's not so simple to awaken these kind of feelings of loving kindness, of may you be happy, and yet if we're able to do it, it can be powerful healing, at least for us, if not for the other person. I heard a story when I was at a retreat a while back of

[28:39]

a Tibetan teacher had come to their retreat the year before and it turned out that he had been, in Tibet he had been a guerrilla fighter when the Chinese invaded Tibet and he had killed many Chinese and fought against them and then finally he was captured and imprisoned for some time and tortured. And when this happened he made a decision not to, never to hate the Chinese or the person who was torturing him. So this is the kind of extreme kind of case, you know, of taking on this kind of practice in a difficult circumstance. And the people who met him said he was a very unusual person in this way

[29:50]

and had a very powerful kind of presence and he said this is what the one thing that saved him. In that sense, you know, it's not something that we're making up. It's acknowledging something that's in our being, that there is a level of our being where we don't hate and where we do wish our happiness for ourselves for our friends, for our enemies and well-being for everyone. There's a level in our being that wishes that and wants that very deeply. So this kind of practice isn't, you know, if we're sitting in this room

[30:54]

it may be simple enough for us to wish this but this is a obviously very challenging practice and a kind of endless practice to take up. And also then as in that example a practice that has tremendous power to transform one's life. So that's about all I have to say tonight.

[31:56]

Unless you have something else you want to talk about. And this is my Thanksgiving wish for you. . [...]

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