METTA MEDITATION

A REMINDER TO SELF

METTA MEDITATION – THE PRACTICE OF COMPASSION
(Origin and explanation of these virtues are from the Hindu Texts, the “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”)

Metta is a Pali word meaning loving kindness.
The Buddha originally taught this meditation. It is a practice of mindfully cultivating love and kindness toward the self, loved ones, friends, strangers, and all sentient beings.

In this meditation, one recites specific words and phrases in order to apply generosity and kindness to all beings and as a consequence, find true happiness in another person’s happiness no matter who the individual is.

Practitioners of Metta meditation offer this meditation for an hour or more; however, to start with we can do it for just ten minutes a day and still be blessed with immense happiness and peace.

The practice of Metta endows the Four Universal Wishes – to live happy, to be free from hostility, affliction, and distress.

This can be done as a sitting meditation everyday for ten minutes, and it can be done as a walking meditation during morning walks while blessing the Planet, or it can be done while doing chores every day.

Start by offering Metta for yourself first. Recite the following phrases to yourself in a pace that keeps you focused and alert:
May I live in safety.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
Continue reciting these phrases until you feel comfortable.

Now offer Metta to someone you know in this way. It may be a loved one, a friend. or neighbor. Visualize the person in your mind’s eye and say:
May he/she live in safety.
May he/she be happy.
May he/she be healthy.
May he/she live with ease.
When your Metta has easily flowed to this person, offer Metta to a stranger (perhaps someone you met in the store),

Then you may offer Metta to a difficult person in your life.

Now offer Metta to all beings (every man, woman and child on the planet, the animals, birds, plants, elemental beings, all beings above and below the earth, and all seen and unseen everywhere).
Your Metta can be offered this way:
May all beings everywhere live in safety.
May all beings everywhere be happy.
May all beings everywhere be healthy.
May all beings everywhere live with ease.

Metta meditation, when practiced regularly, is powerful to release negative feelings and replace them with our true nature of loving kindness.
Blessings!
Premlatha Rajkumar

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