Metta Meditation

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
Individual
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Individual »

Element wrote:
Individual wrote:My above statement, though, sounds arrogant, doesn't it? And I am a beginner myself, right?
In the Dhammapada, Buddha taught:
379. By oneself one must censure oneself and scrutinize oneself .
Yes, but I also remember Sariputta once saying (in one of the suttas -- can't remember the specific reference), "Two things are necessary for wisdom: Mindfulness and the voice of another."
The best things in life aren't things.

The Diamond Sutra
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Dhammanando
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Dhammanando »

Hi Individual,
Individual wrote:Yes, but I also remember Sariputta once saying (in one of the suttas -- can't remember the specific reference), "Two things are necessary for wisdom: Mindfulness and the voice of another."
You are probably thinking of the Mahāvedallasutta's two conditions for the arising of right view: the voice of another (parato ghosa) and proper reflection (yoniso manasikāra).

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
Individual
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Individual »

Dhammanando wrote:Hi Individual,
Individual wrote:Yes, but I also remember Sariputta once saying (in one of the suttas -- can't remember the specific reference), "Two things are necessary for wisdom: Mindfulness and the voice of another."
You are probably thinking of the Mahāvedallasutta's two conditions for the arising of right view: the voice of another (parato ghosa) and proper reflection (yoniso manasikāra).

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Yes, thank you. :)
The best things in life aren't things.

The Diamond Sutra
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halwilson
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by halwilson »

Here's link to Sayadaw U Pandita's helpful instructions for Metta meditation, an excerpt from his book, The State of Mind Called Beautiful.

http://www.dharmanet.org/wisdomweek5.htm

Cheers, Hal
"We had the experience, but missed the meaning" T. S. Eliot
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Cittasanto
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Cittasanto »

Here is something attributed to Ajahn Chah regarding Metta Meditation
Practice it like this.

When you get free time, just sit on a comfortable place (not really on floor) and start analyzing previous situations where you got Anger, Hate, Sorrow, Disappointment and Fear...

Think about the your own mind, how it reacted on those situations... Not about people or the situation. Just how you reacted! Then think, "Am I still in that situation or Has it faded away?", then, "Why I made all that fuss?", Give yourself a thought, "That was a situation, which occurred due to a reason and faded away when the reason fades away." And now, "I treat myself a peaceful from that situation, happy because I am not in that situation, contended because I am not living in that situation"

Analyze previous incidents in which you got Anger, Hate, Sorrow, Disappointment and Fear...

After analyzing each situation, give yourself a thought, "If I reacted to that situation in a different way, much of a peaceful way, with letting go, my own ******** thoughts (******** means the situation, Anger, Hate....), how different it would result in?" And make yourself, ready to check your reaction in awkward situations.

In your everyday life, observe your own mind! Check yourself in every free time. "How I have been doing?".

This is the practice of mindfulness, the beginning. It would be wonderful.
this is actually quite close to how I describe my practice Metta from time to time,
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Ben
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Ben »

Hi Manapa

It looks to me more like mindfulness rather than metta meditation. Metta meditation is more focused on generating feelings of metta, upekkha, mudita and karuna and projecting those feeling outward, to other beings. Metta also sometimes incorporates the sharing of merits with others.
Kind regards

Ben
BTW, nice avatar pic!
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
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Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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Cittasanto
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Cittasanto »

Ben wrote:Hi Manapa
It looks to me more like mindfulness rather than metta meditation. Metta meditation is more focused on generating feelings of metta, upekkha, mudita and karuna and projecting those feeling outward, to other beings. Metta also sometimes incorporates the sharing of merits with others.
Kind regards
Ben
Well mindfulness is active practice, and what better way to generate and project Metta than to find our own flaws and work out ways to not do them when faced with circumstances which typically lead us to act with them? as the Buddha advised Rahula, reflect before, during, and After acting.
Sn 1.8 Karaniya Metta Sutta Good Will Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings.
With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart: Above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without enmity or hate.
Whether standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, as long as one is alert, one should be resolved on this mindfulness. This is called a sublime abiding here & now.
Ben wrote:BTW, nice avatar pic!
it is a cross between a canadian sangha emblem (the one with 10000+ talks)with a tad bit of editing and the emblem of where I am from
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Rui Sousa
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Rui Sousa »

Here is another article on Metta meditation, by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana: http://www.bhavanasociety.org/resource/ ... ess_metta/

He makes an interesting etymological exercise around the word Metta, and presents an nice analogy between Metta and the sun's warmth:
“Mitra” in Vedic literature and “Mitta” in Pali literature means the sun. The nature of the sun can be called “Maitri” or “Metta”. Maitri or Metta also means friendliness or loving-kindness. Perhaps the reason why loving-kindness is called so is that it generates very warm feeling towards all beings. Like warmth comes from the sun, one who has loving-kindness has a warm heart towards others. Just as the sun shines indiscriminately on any object in the world, “Metta” or “Maitri” pervades all beings without any discrimination. Just as the sun dispels darkness, loving-kindness destroys the darkness of hatred.
With Metta
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cooran
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by cooran »

Hello Rui Sousa,
"Perhaps the reason why loving-kindness is called so is that it generates very warm feeling towards all beings. Like warmth comes from the sun, one who has loving-kindness has a warm heart towards others."
At the monastery I attend, we've asked Bhante Dhammasiha to include more guided metta meditations in our Sunday meditation and sutta study group. Most westerners seem to have an aversion based mind, so one of the things I've found most helpful at the beginning of a metta practice is to generate warm feelings towards a particular being initially (with all the safeguards about 'love' and 'sexual desire'). Mostly I use the mental image of a cute baby or an engaging puppy. Once the feeling has been generated the rest of the practice follows traditional patterns with Teachers, Mother, those close to me, and moving ever outward to include insects etc. and then other geographical areas and finally all the directions.

metta
Chris
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mikenz66
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi Chris,
Chris wrote:Most westerners seem to have an aversion based mind, so one of the things I've found most helpful at the beginning of a metta practice is to generate warm feelings towards a particular being initially (with all the safeguards about 'love' and 'sexual desire'). Mostly I use the mental image of a cute baby or an engaging puppy. Once the feeling has been generated the rest of the practice follows traditional patterns with Teachers, Mother, those close to me, and moving ever outward to include insects etc. and then other geographical areas and finally all the directions.
Those are good points.

In his book "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond" Ajahn Brahm suggests puppies and kittens. As I recall he said he had one student who had trouble with aversion to all animate objects and they finally got her started by sending metta to plants....

I believe I've also heard him state in talks that he finds Westerners have a lot of difficulty with Metta, and he'd like to teach more of it, but he's afraid of driving too many people away...

When Bhante Aggacitta visited us last year he ran us through all the possibilities then went round the room asking which particular person (self, respected person, etc) or geographical view (outwards, overhead view, etc) was easiest. And of course, the responses were all over the place. His advice was to try all the possibilities to figure out which one was easiest, and then use that to start in future.

Metta
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Rui Sousa
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Rui Sousa »

Hello Chris,
Chris wrote:generate warm feelings towards a particular being initially
The sequence I follow is, towards me, then my son *, my wife, my parents and brother, my whole family and friends, then some co-workers and neighbors to whom I have mostly neutral feelings, and then to those people a hold some kind of aversion, then people I do not know but who committed horrible crimes, the beings in the hell realm, the beings in the celestial realm, everywhere.


* at this point usually I remember the Karaniya Metta Sutta passage:
As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
With Metta
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Dhammakid
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Dhammakid »

Rui Sousa wrote:Hello Chris,
Chris wrote:generate warm feelings towards a particular being initially
The sequence I follow is, towards me, then my son *, my wife, my parents and brother, my whole family and friends, then some co-workers and neighbors to whom I have mostly neutral feelings, and then to those people a hold some kind of aversion, then people I do not know but who committed horrible crimes, the beings in the hell realm, the beings in the celestial realm, everywhere.


* at this point usually I remember the Karaniya Metta Sutta passage:
As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
Wow, Rui Sousa, that seems like a very extensive and comprehensive practice! How long does your session usually last? How often do you practice it?

:namaste:
Dhammakid
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Rui Sousa
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by Rui Sousa »

Dhammakid wrote: Wow, Rui Sousa, that seems like a very extensive and comprehensive practice! How long does your session usually last? How often do you practice it?

:namaste:
Dhammakid
Well... :D

I may only take one minute, or less... I don't have any kind of routine, I just do it when I feel like it.

Sometimes I don't do the whole sequence, I may jump directly to the last step, sending that warm good feeling everywhere.

Another interesting thing is how, after sending Metta, Mudita may arise based on the idea that the Metta you are sending is working and all beings are already well. Then thinking again on those who are suffering, Karuna will arise. And finnaly thinking that beings suffer because of their ignorance, and that their kamma prevents them from developing wisdom any time soon, Equanitmity arises.

In my understanding these moments of consciousness are very beneficial to the practitioner, establishing a tendency to be friendly and maternal with all beings.
With Metta
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m0rl0ck
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by m0rl0ck »

retrofuturist wrote:Greetings Manapa,

I don't do it very often, but when I do I use (or based it on) Malcolm Huxter's guided MP3 meditation, downloadable at http://www.buddhanet.net/audio-meditation.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Metta,
Retro. :)

Wow :) I just listened to the 3rd of the 3. Thank you for the link.
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salaatti
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Re: Metta Meditation

Post by salaatti »

How often the person who metta is sent to, should be changed?
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