Best metta teachers, talks and guided meditations?

[rolling_boulder]

Hi friends,

I would like to make metta bhavana (universal loving kindness) the primary focus of my practice for the foreseeable future.

For some reason there don't seem to be many English speaking teachers that focus on this practice, but I have seen firsthand the amazing benefits it can bring. It's hard when all you have is the suttas.

So can we have a thread where we conglomerate all the best resources on metta bhavana?

I'll start: Here are 12 really wonderful talks from Ajahn Sona about metta bhavana.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz49B ... UNQRnpUWGs

May we all progress on the Path,
RB

[JohnK]

https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/abunda ... measurable
Based on talks given at Ajahn Pasanno's 2008 Metta Retreat

[rolling_boulder]

Thank you John!

Here are some guided meditations by Ayya Khema.
I have found these to be life changing.

I always find she is able to help me dig under the old emotional armour and start to really shine.

Collection 1
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/334/talk/8011

Collection 2.
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/334/talk/8012/

RB

[dandeedo]

Sharon Salzberg is a wonderful teacher of loving kindness.

[Crazy cloud]

Suggestion: http://www.audiodharma.org/retreats/103 - (Dhammaruwan)

friendliness ..

[JiWe2]

Bhante Sujato's 2007 Metta Meditation Course, based on Ajahn Maha Chatchai's method:

http://santifm.org/santi/downloads/Retr ... pfb-cat-33

[santa100]

I would like to make metta bhavana (universal loving kindness) the primary focus of my practice for the foreseeable future.

For some reason there don't seem to be many English speaking teachers that focus on this practice, but I have seen firsthand the amazing benefits it can bring. It's hard when all you have is the suttas.

If metta bhavana is the primary focus of your practice, then sorry to break it to you, you've been looking in the wrong place for the best metta teachers. The best ones aren't those English speaking teachers, they're the senior citizens in nursing homes, the terminally ills in hospitals, and the miserables in homless shelters. Spend some times there and I guarantee you'll learn tons more about metta than listening to your speaking teachers. You see, without those true teachers, all your suttas and all your English speaking teachers' talks would be meaningless. Sort of like the recent story about that terrible hurricane Harvey in Houston Texas. Who's the best Christian "metta" teacher over there who can recite every single verse from the Bible? Joel Osteen. But is he the real deal? NO! The real metta teacher is a mattress and furniture sales guy named Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale!

[Maarten]

Very good to hear you are making metta your primary subject.
I've been doing this myself and have benefitted a lot from making this change.
It is a very powerful and underrated practise.

My favorite Metta teachers are : Ajahn Brahm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jb72-QgXOc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvpd6Zms3-I&t=21s

Aya khema:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc0YNsY_Xdc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOPRBIq9Bt8 (forgiveness : metta to those who you have a grudge against)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJF3__fs-kI (gratitude : metta to your life )

Ajahn Sona:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGueKOcvfaE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt8bAIdP5A4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gN1O75ORY0&t=729s

Much metta

[jespada]

Here is a list of my favorite talks on metta. It includes the 2008 Metta Retreat talks by Ajahn Pasanno.

Here are the transcripts,issued as a free book.

And here is a guided meditation by Ajahn Pasanno, from that retreat.


My favorite books on the subject are

Curbing Anger, Spreading Love, by Bhikkhu Visuddhācāra.

Loving Kindness, by Sharon Salzberg

A State of Mind Called Beautiful, by Sayadaw U Pandita,

and

Living in Beauty - Buddhist Loving Kindness Practice.

A few articles:

Metta as the most useful method of meditation for people in the West today

The Method of Loving Kindness Practice

Mindful Breathing as a Loving Kindness Practice

The Great Bridge to Universal Love - audio

and, text

and

The Metta of Martin Luther King

Best wishes to you in your practice.

Jason.

http://abuddhistlibrary.com

[salayatananirodha]

http://seeingthroughthenet.net/wp-conte ... _Heart.pdf
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/aut ... el365.html

[apophenia]

My favorite approach to metta is Rob Burbea's:

https://dharmaseed.org/retreats/1084/
https://dharmaseed.org/retreats/1265

I also like Ajahn Achalo's guided metta meditations on Insight Timer or on his website:
http://www.peacebeyondsuffering.org/

[sentinel]

I would like to make metta bhavana (universal loving kindness) the primary focus of my practice for the foreseeable future.

For some reason there don't seem to be many English speaking teachers that focus on this practice, but I have seen firsthand the amazing benefits it can bring. It's hard when all you have is the suttas.

If metta bhavana is the primary focus of your practice, then sorry to break it to you, you've been looking in the wrong place for the best metta teachers. The best ones aren't those English speaking teachers, they're the senior citizens in nursing homes, the terminally ills in hospitals, and the miserables in homless shelters. Spend some times there and I guarantee you'll learn tons more about metta than listening to your speaking teachers. You see, without those true teachers, all your suttas and all your English speaking teachers' talks would be meaningless. Sort of like the recent story about that terrible hurricane Harvey in Houston Texas. Who's the best Christian "metta" teacher over there who can recite every single verse from the Bible? Joel Osteen. But is he the real deal? NO! The real metta teacher is a mattress and furniture sales guy named Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale!

I suppose he is aiming at Meditation of metta not Living the metta .

[befriend]

You could chant the karaniya metta sutta.