Happy All-entine’s Day! The Who-, What- & Where-Methods of Loving-Kindness Meditation | Ajahn Kovilo

I learned a phrase this morning which I
had never heard before, but it could
have been around since 2011, but I've
been at a monastery, so I'm not totally
up on all the the slang, but Palentine's
Day. Has anybody heard that? Like for
your pals, your friends. Okay, I got
some headshakes. All right, so it's
something everybody knows. Valentine's
Day. Yeah, I love it. I wished Ajan
Nisbo a happy Valentine's Day this
morning.
And then I made the mistake of going on
the internet and searching for other
rhyming words with Valentine's Day. So
if you've got love for all your
girlfriends, that's Gallentine's Day.
And for your bros, that's Malentine's
Day.
For your dogs, it's either Valentine's
Day or Tailentine's Day.
Maybe I should stop.
But one of them which I didn't find on
the internet but which is very much in
line with meta this uh
in a way indiscriminate indiscriminate
all embracing love is alline's day.
Valentine's Day and we actually got a a
request last week. Um, someone realized
that today will be Valentine's Day and
they requested could you give a talk on
agape which is the Greek word for
basically it's it's a good translation
of meta you know it's I think it's the
word that's translated in the Bible for
the Hebrew
and both of them are used in the Bible
in different versions of the Bible to
mean this kind of all embracing loveid
and uh agape are used and in the King
James version that weird English word
loving-kindness
which is like Buddhist hybrid English
nowadays like that is found I think 20
or 30 times in the in psalms so that was
kind of the the origin when Buddhism has
make as it's making its way to the west
um oftentimes will take Christian
terminology Christian phrasiology and
repurpose it um so loving dashkindness
or loving kindness uh as what King James
chose for this agape. And it is, you
know, it's a different type of love. Um,
Valentine's Day really is about romantic
love. And hopefully what all of us are
tapping into and more and more able to
to see and and feel is this broader love
which isn't dependent on uh certainly
isn't dependent on looks, isn't
dependent on any kind of special feeling
about a particular person but is uh very
very big. It's a it's a bigger mind.
It's a a softer mind. Uh,
and yeah, it's a good thing to think
about on on Valentine's Day. So, uh, we
did go a little bit into these three
different almost meta methods of the who
method of meta, the what of meta, and
the where method of of meta.
And this Buddha's words on loving
kindness. And I'll say the page number
again. It's page 37 for people online or
in person. Um we'll kind of be using
this as a kind of syllabus for the talk.
Uh because in this one suta the Buddha
does
speak into or give some kind of
suggestions for how to do each one of
these methods. And he doesn't say okay
now I'm going to say the who method and
then I I just said it and now I'm going
to say the what method and okay here it
is. And now I just said it, but this is
um poly poetry. So it's very very
concise. Uh Bonte G, the abbott of
uh the Bavana Society in West Virginia.
He points out that the language here is
very very succinct. It's like the Buddha
is giving these uh a handful of of seeds
and it's up to us like pretty much every
single word here except for the maybe
the ch the ands are very very meaningful
and it's us up to us each of us to take
that seed kernel that seed thought and
plant it in our own hearts our own lives
our own families our own relationships
and see how it might grow. There's a lot
to be uh pulled out from this this suta.
So the who method I think uh a lot of
people who here has practiced uh loving
kindness meditation before either on a
retreat or um great a lot of a lot of
people um this is one of the main ways
that people it's very easy to teach. Um
so here we find the who method
exemplified in that uh fourth paragraph.
Whatever living beings there may be
whether they are weak or strong omitt
and none the great or the mighty medium
short small the seen or the unseen those
living near or far away. May all beings
be at ease. So he's listing these
different categories and you say that
and it doesn't even you read it in poly
and it doesn't even take 10 seconds. Uh
and you read it in English and it's not
that much more. But each one of these
categories especially if the mind is
peaceful if you've been sitting with the
breath or if your body is comfortable to
sit into if you've been resting in some
spaciousness. Any one of these
categories can be fascinating. Any one
of these categories can be fascinating.
just those first two uh whether they are
weak or strong either one of those. I
actually even thought about doing a
guided meditation this morning spending
half the time on those who are weak.
That is the underprivileged
those who are living unfortunate lives.
The weak, those who are several
generations younger than us or several
generations older than us. The very
young and the very old. You know, these
are periods of dependency and periods of
relative weakness. And ourselves, we
have periods of relative strength and
weakness. So in a guided meditation, if
you've been to one at a retreat center,
oftentimes the groups, the who's that
they will bring people to is okay, uh
the friend. So this is the first group.
So you think about friends, okay?
Opening the heart to friends and then
benefactors. Opening the heart to
benefactors. That circle of who's. And
then you bring it to neutral people.
Those who, the people in the grocery
store who you don't yet know the name of
or who you're only starting to know the
name of. The people who you see on the
subway and might never see again. So all
of the neutral people. So friends and
benefactors who are typically easier to
feel this loving kindness towards.
Hopefully everybody when you put your
hand on your heart or just come into
this space you know can feel that that
softness of of of kindness that softness
of of loving kindness and wanting to
share that. So the weak among us and
that can be often times you'll hear uh
Ajan Braum or other teachers uh your pet
especially if you've got tiny dogs
they're weak they're kind of weak you
know compared to bigger dogs nothing not
saying anything mean I like little dogs
but they're weak they need they're
dependent on us and we need to look
after them and because they're they're
weak because they're dependent on us
it's sort of easier to have uh have meta
towards there's actually something
called the Benjamin Franklin effect
where there's this story uh maybe uh
yeah Benjamin Franklin had a someone who
was kind of was at odds with an enemy of
his and they had mutual acrimony they
disliked one another and Benjamin
Franklin got the great idea to create
some feeling of mutual warmth to ask
this other person he knew the other
person was uh very much into books was a
big voracious reader So he asks this
enemy to he asks him for a book. Can I
borrow a book? And with that ask, it
kind of opened up this place of okay,
it's kind of artificial dependency, but
it's an artificial it's it's a real way
to create connection. Oh, you care about
books. I care about books, too. Um, and
similarly with with pets, it's you're
kind of opening this uh space of
transaction. rather than holding beings
at at arms length you're pulling pulling
them in. So letting the those who are
weak into our lives uh in our lives into
our hearts. So that's often easy but
those who are strong sometimes it's hard
to do that. So this who of the
benefactor. So the word impali so you
have tasa which is the weak and tavaras
which are the strong. And actually in
Pali this is a synonym for an arahant.
So here it's talking about spiritual
strength and oftentimes that's also easy
to do. So my teachers, your teachers in
your life, can I open my heart? Heart of
gratitude, you know, heart of gratitude
with uh the weak. It's easy. The heart
of compassion. They're on some level uh
they're open to the elements. they're
open to um
yeah some form of of weakness. Whereas
teachers, people who we care about
spiritually
awakened or spiritual teachers, even
just our regular teachers, it was very
sweet hearing Peter on the land talk
about Mike uh the ecologist as being his
his teacher. Hopefully, it's easy for
all of us to open our hearts to uh those
with academic strength, educational
strength, intellectual strength.
And the next group which in monasteries
you'll or meditation centers in this who
method of meta they'll say the enemy who
are the enemies and oftenimes these are
people of great worldly strength and
this is a lot harder
a lot harder to do. So once the heart is
softened a little bit um you can even
bring the heart can be big enough can be
soft enough to even let those people who
are uh problematic who are powerful and
really who are creating suffering for
others
uh in a Buddhist sense if they were
wiser if they had the wisdom to see the
suffering that they're creating they
wouldn't do that
so can we open our hearts even to that
level of who
And at some point it is good to include
ourselves in this list of who's here
when we're starting with uh the heart
and would recommend this this practice
putting your hand on your heart, hand on
the on the wrist, tapping into the heart
pulse that way.
It can be powerful. It's an embodied
practice. It's bringing you back into
the present moment. You might notice
that the heart rate is a bit if you're
excited or if you're a bit afraid. If
you're a bit anxious, the heart rate
will be a bit uh excited, a bit
elevated. And you can actually with a
mantra like kindness, kindness,
loving, loving, meta, meta, soft, soft,
soft. You can actually have an effect on
your physiology. Actually calm the body
down with that way. And it is a mudra.
It is a mudra to connect with the yeah
anatomical coralate the the heart space
internal which is symbolic of the heart
of of loving kindness. So you can do
this anytime because it's easier
sometimes to go like this to move the
hand from whatever you're justiculating
in the world to just on the heart.
Sometimes that's easier than actually
generating meta. You say teacher,
somebody says, oh yeah, okay, practice
meta and it might take you 15 minutes to
kind of wind down and soften the heart
to a place where you can actually do
that, but it takes less than a second to
actually put your hand on your heart.
So those are all who based practices
starting internally, starting with this
self that more and more and hopefully
more and more quickly you can tap into
that that actually I do I do wish myself
well.
And even if I can't immediately feel
that so readily, I wish that I could
feel that readily. I wish that I could
love myself so quickly and immediately
just as I love my Chihuahua or whatever
it is. So tapping into that the who of
yourself and then expanding that
expanding that to greater and greater
who's. So one of my who's was all of
you. Ajan Nisbo mentioned a practice
where um one of our teachers who visited
a Sri Lankan monk named Bontes Sumita.
Anytime he goes into a room, he will
remember before going into the room who
might be in this room. And then okay,
loving kindness for them. All the who's
in this space, may they all be at ease.
May they all be at ease.
So that's who based meditation. And you
see that and be as creative as you want.
I remember uh I sat at a Gwinker retreat
recently and I found it fascinating to
just be creative, super creative with
your who's it can be all of my first
grade teachers,
everybody with big ears,
all animals with short feet, you know,
whatever it is. All the birds of the
world. All the birds of the world. all
the animals who feed on mushrooms
whatever and you can be creative with
this and it's a fun way to actually yeah
keep meditation alive you very much
don't want your meditation to become
wrote so it's good you might be very
comfortable with a meditation object but
it's good to learn others because karma
kama in a Buddhist sense is happening
all day long it's not just while you sit
on the cushion you are the word karma
just means action And we're creating
action. We're doing action by body,
speech, and mind all day long. So
realizing how we're doing that and
finding more and more ways to tap into
loving kindness. So who based methods
can be great and keeping it alive,
keeping it playful and whatbased
meditations. So in this suta, we have
the actual quote which comes up twice in
poly and English. Wishing in gladness
and in safety, may all beings be at
ease. And then the very next chant on
page 41, we have other phraseology,
other words, the what. And you want to
keep it personal. You do want it to be
personal, but you also want to memorize
it so it comes up. Often times, not all
of us are spontaneous. Not all of us are
creative. So to have stock phrases which
you can bring to mind in a moment, like
if you say, "Okay, I'm going to be
spontaneous." Have a creative metaphrase
now.
Yeah, maybe some of you could do it.
Anybody have a spontaneous metaphase
now? Creatives among you, say it out
loud. We got to have some creatives
here.
>> I love you world.
>> Noise.
All right. I love you world. So, but
sometimes we can't do that. So, having
what's that are stock. So here we have
the uh
Amarvati chanting book translation of
this. May I abide in well-being. May all
beings abide in well-being and freedom
from affliction and freedom from
hostility and freedom from ill will.
This is on page 41 and you can memorize
these or if you like the Ajan Jeff the
Damayute chanting book. May
all beings be happy. May all beings have
good will. Whatever your translation and
do figure out a translation or make up
your own. Figure out one word. When I
asked you all to say what of meta, what
does meta want to say? One word
phrasings can be good as well because
they are easy to to say. They're easy to
say with the breath. Meta
loving
soft soft.
But so is may all beings be happy.
May all beings be free from hostility.
On that recent Goinka retreat that I sat
that is really powerful for me that is
very interesting. May all beings not be
angry. And for me I love that I loved it
then that day and I've loved it every
day since. That is very easy for me to
want. That is very easy for me. I just
don't want you guys to be angry. At
least at me. Don't be angry at me. Start
with that. Start with That's great. I I
wish it for everybody right now. May you
all be free from anger at me right now.
So good. So good.
And the Buddha, it's right there. Ao
homie sat a honu. May all beings be free
from ill will. It's it's great. So this
is the the what and taking time. You
know, I I say it every week or every
time I come in at the end of any
meditation sit, it can be good to
practice loving kindness, especially in
a group sit for at least the five
minutes, if not the whole of the
session, at least the five final
minutes. It you're priming yourself,
you're priming the heart to feel this
softness, to create, you're creating a
relationship before you say a single
word to the people around you. Even
before potluck, you're inviting
everybody to the heart's potluck.
So what what does uh what does meta want
to say? So that's another good question
that you can ask yourself and do spend
yeah the next time you do your your
meditation session suggest spend the
whole of those five minutes just asking
meta what it would want to say and then
write it down. keep a a notepad near you
to actually write it down because there
might be some stroke of insight. Um
oftentimes that's how insight works and
if you write it down um you're helping
yourself to remember that sati or
mindfulness is uh its root is actually
sar or sarati to remember. So part of
mindfulness is remembering remembering
the insights that we have. It's great if
we have insights that strike all the way
to the core, all the way to the marrow.
We don't need to remember them. They
create lasting change. But most of the
insights that we'll have most days are
just on the level of thought. Okay,
that's a beautiful thought or that's
something which really clicks with me
and maybe it will tomorrow as well.
Okay, non-ill will. So encourage all of
you if you have one takeaway from this
spend your next five minute meditation
session just asking what asking
meditation what it wants to to think
loving kindness what do you want to say
and the final method of meta that we'll
talk about today is the wear of
meditation and in that suta on loving
kindness it's in that line spreading
upwards to the skies and downwards to
the depths
outwards and unbounded, freed from
hatred and ill will. That's the third
paragraph on page 39. But also it
appears on page 43 in the susion with
the divine abidings. A lot of the the
same language is I will abide pervading
one quarter with a mind imbued with
loving kindness. Likewise the second,
likewise the third, likewise the fourth.
Above, below, around, and everywhere.
into all as to myself I will abide with
the mind a heart uh encompassing the all
all-encompassing world uh abundant
exalted immeasurable freed from hatred
and ill will. So this is the wear of
meditation
and that's great if you can feel into
this is a for me uh this is terravada
nonduel
this is hinted at in satipatanasuta
where the Buddha says you can focus on
feelings internally or externally or
both internally and externally you can
practice loving kindness in a way which
just feels like it has a limit. Okay, I
just Okay, I can feel the warmth of the
heart. I can feel the heart beating.
It's surrounded and being hugged by the
lungs, but then I go out a millimeter
more and then the mind stops at the
skin. I'm like a skin balloon and the
mind just kind of you reach the end of
the balloon and then you just okay, I'm
a skin balloon. What can I do? So, but
uh the more you meditate, I think the
more you'll start to feel that the mind
isn't just trapped uh on one level, at
least certainly on the felt level, the
sensation level, isn't trapped within
the body. You come up to what would seem
to be the edge of the skin balloon and
okay, it actually more feels like a
cloud. It feels more like an ephemeral
flux.
You know that there's a there's just a
vibration there. So above, below, around
and everywhere. And in that meta, the
next words are asangapang,
which is translated here as freed from
hatred and ill will. But that first word
asadang means not crowded. It means not
crowded. Uncrowded.
What would it feel like for your loving
kindness to feel uncrowded?
Even just asking your qu your heart,
asking your meta that question, what
what might you feel like if you weren't
crowded? And so much of the time for
many of us certainly our internal felt
sense of the body or our internal felt
sense of the mind feels like a knotted
mass of steel or of earth or of ice. And
here uncrowded ice to water, water to
space.
Ice to water, water to space. And a lot
of the language especially in that
susion with the divine abidings chant is
liquidous. It's liquid language. Ice to
water, water to space
spreading. It's the same language that
the Buddha uses in his similes of the
Janna. You drench, steep, fill, pervade
the mind with loving kindness. What
would that feel like? Ice to water.
water to air, water to space.
And as you do reach in your heart,
because I think most of us do have walls
that we've put up or it feels like
someone else has put up in our hearts
based on being hurt or based on atrocity
or whatever it is, okay, that's that's a
wall. And you come up to that wall and
we want space. I want to have a spacious
heart. And just coming up to that wall,
I don't want to push it down. I don't
want to knock it down. That's not the
movement of meta. Even sometimes you
hear about fierce meta. But fierce meta,
even fierce meta meta is not the meta of
pushing. So you come up to that wall in
your heart, your father or that guy or
that girl or whoever it is. Okay, that's
a wall. Okay, ice to water, water to
space. And however long it takes for
that wall to be dissolved or even if it
never absol dissolves. Okay, at least my
mind is getting getting softer, getting
warmer.
So spatial dimension
uh in
the sphere of theater there's a concept
of three circles. So they'll teach this
to actors. I don't know where I picked
this up but uh teach actors that you
don't want to speak from the first
circle. The first circle is when you're
talking, you're on stage and you're kind
of, you know, self- collapsed.
It's almost exactly like that.
Wow.
I don't know what that was. Was that me?
Whatever. That's the first circle.
That's me me. But just self-closed. It's
the me circle. And the third circle is
totally
outwardly exuberant or outwardly
obsessed. We've talked about this before
about when you're in a conversation with
someone, am I we're not you don't
usually use this language, but giving
away my power. How much what percentage
of my attention is on the other person
versus how much of it is embodied with
with myself? That third circle is
totally externally focused. I am the
circle is external. That's the third
circle. And the second circle is
inclusive of both. So speaking from that
space is more powerful and certainly
loving from that space is more powerful.
Ponte Sajato does use the word love to
translate meta and some people don't
like that. I think Bikubodi uses loving
kindness.
Others will use Ajan Jeff uses goodwill.
But the phraseology, the words don't
really mean that much.
It's the the feeling. It's the who, it's
the what, it's the the where. And can we
inhabit this second inclusive circle
that yeah really does want what's best
for us. This isn't a fasile. This isn't
a dopey. This isn't a stupid meta.
Really, there's no stupid meta.
um all meta all loving kindness does
have this aspect of internal wisdom.
So how do we embody that and and share
it? If you like the language of
ajamasano of inviting people, you create
that soft warm heart space in the center
of the chest and then invite anybody you
want.
Shrink you all down.
just shove them in the heart or just
invite. You're all invited into this
warm heart space or you go the language
of of bigness just all-encompassing.
All of those those work. So figuring out
what works best for you.
And one final share, I learned this from
the guy sitting next to me at the Goanka
retreat. If none of these methods work,
you can do what he did, which I termed
in my own mind is like Robocop meta,
where you go like this. You put your
hands out like this
and you just shoot your meta. It's like
lasers, full body.
So figure out whatever skillful means
works. And yeah, I wish you all a lot of
a lot of love.
All right. So, uh, if anybody has any
shares there or, uh, has any questions.
Yeah. And, uh, yeah, we have a few.
Let's go. Please. Scott,
thank you for your talk and it's always
great to hear the things you have to
share with us. Um,
so I as someone who has done the goenko
retreat and I'm sure there's others here
who have done it. I was curious how it
was for you. You you've done it before
you became a monk and then you've done
it now as a monk. I was wondering if you
could talk about your experience this
time and how it was for you. Now thank
you Scott. Uh, who here knows
Goinka? What a Goinka retreat is. And
who has been to a Goinka retreat? Okay,
just some people. That was my kind of
dharma door. There are these 10-day
meditation retreats that they don't even
let you pay until after you've sat a
retreat. There's no cost. Um, and yeah,
the last one I did was 20 21 years ago.
And so they're the same all over the
world. There's one in on Alaska,
Washington. That's do with with Matt.
And they're the same all over the world.
The same technique, the same videos.
You're learning it from Guinka. That's
the name of the Burmese Indian gentleman
who teaches it. And yeah, it was the
exact same experiment, same setting
almost to run that 21 years ago and then
to run it after I've been sitting been a
monk for living at monasteries 20 years
was fascinating. And yeah, and I think
it does the the principle extrapolates
that we sit
however long we sit every day, whether
that's 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 45
minutes, an hour, 2 hours a day, which
is what after you've done a Ginka
retreat, they suggest you sit, which I
really took on religiously after that
first sit.
You know, we sit from one day to the
next and we don't see that much change.
It seems like okay same level of greed,
same level of anger, same level of
delusion, same level of tiredness from
one day to the next. So to run the
experiment 21 years ago and then to run
it after being in robes where we're
doing all these things that are fully
supportive of the Buddhist teachings and
it was fascinating ext
the ice uh a lot less confusion. Um so
yeah we just encourage everybody the
Buddha has this simile of an all awl
where the uh carpenter will use the all
every single day and then puts it down
at the end of the day and looks at it
the next day and it looks exactly the
same but then you after 30 years
you look at that all and you can
actually see the handprint of the
carpenter in the all itself and that's
kind of how it felt. So we just
encourage everybody, you're probably not
seeing the changes, but hopefully your
family who you see once a year does see
and does tell you that they see the
changes. Um, yes. So that's just a very
tiny run through. Aaniso and I were
thinking about doing a conversation
called to go or not to go Inca.
We haven't done that yet. I don't know
if you will, but uh so many so many
things and ask Matt as well or anybody
else. Any other Goinkas raise your hand.
Yeah, these people can all talk about
it. So, they are fascinating and for
people who are up to it, I would very
much recommend it. And if you're not up
for it, I actually probably wouldn't
recommend it. So, yeah,
but do look look inside look inside
yourself. Um
uh yeah please. We got up here Charles
a start of the uh discourse on loving
kindness Buddha says this is what should
be done by one who is skilled in
goodness who knows the path of peace. It
sounds like there's a behavioral
prelude here. Could you say more about
how keeping the precepts and
understanding and engaging the age-old
noble path may affect the development of
these uh Brahma vaharas?
>> Yeah, thank you Charles. Such a good
suta. Uh would love it. Who here has
memorized? I know we have some people
who've memorized the metauta. All right,
a good number of hands. That's that's
wonderful. Um it is very much
behavioral. Um the first word sometimes
this suta is even called there are a
number of discourses on loving kindness
but this is sometimes called the caria
meta suta and that car is cognate with
karma it has the same root which means
doing this is what should be done and
it's good to note that a lot of you know
people in America coming new to uh to
Buddhism a lot of us don't want any
shoulds we don't want any should me
don't shudd me Um,
so it's good to note that in poly there
aren't shoulds. In the same way, this is
what's called a future passive
participle. And what's important to note
about that is that it's passive.
What these future passive participle
shoulds have in common is that they have
a goal. If you want to be one who has a
heart of love, if you want to be one to
who receives the happiness of the
Buddhist teachings, then this is what
you should do. It's like cause and
effect. It's karma. if you do this, if
you want these results, this is what you
should do. And it's passive. It's not
like, you know, you should do this or,
you know, they're going to be
consequences for me, but very much
behavioral. And you'll notice that that
first paragraph, second paragraph, um,
third paragraph are all very much,
they're not meditative in in the narrow
sense of that word. They're all things
that we do in the world. be straight uh
be able and upright, straightforward and
gentle in speech. And these are words
which both have behavioral aspects and
mental aspects. U is uh or sucka is uh
able in one's work. It's like capable.
It's you have skilled skilled in um
skilled and craftsman skills even. So uh
it's a very practical suta. Uh so would
encourage everybody to memorize at least
well these first three are wonderful for
just this purpose because the Buddhist
training is one of body and speech and
mind learning how to be gentle in
speech. And here the word gentle is also
both bodily and mental and it's not just
reserved to that qualifier of speech.
It's not just you're not just one who's
gentle as speech but you're one who's
gentle period. Um, so figuring out how
to do all these things. But thank you
for pointing to that, Charles.
And before before going on, I would like
to just ask if anybody has any who's or
whats or where's that they would like to
share with the group. Any interesting or
or non-interesting who's like what who
would you like to share with the group?
Jim
Yeah. So, I just learned one this
morning that touched my heart and it was
Joanna Massie um and how she views
anyone in the world and she said, "You
know, at any moment I could die. We
could be in some big event and the
person next to me who I haven't known
before this point might be the person
who gives me my last sip of water or um
or pats my head or does something and I
just thought that was a very beautiful
who. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Jen. Yeah, thank you very
much. And uh we won't have to pass
around the mic for these, but um so Lei,
please if you want to just stand up and
please
get
and experiences.
And then as I was
saw,
>> so you have so much sun energy. You have
so much sun energy. Thank you.
So Lelay was talking about sharing with
uh with the heart of humanity and with
the sun itself. So yeah, thank you. So
Lelay
and yeah, what Jen said, opening this to
the scene and the unseen. So people
who've passed um our ancestors, bringing
them allowing them to be a who as well
because in the Buddhist cosmos that is a
thing. It's not death and then just
elements. It's
a continuum. So,
and feel free. We can have more who's
and whats and where's please.
>> Okay.
>> One of the
user
and then I just say and to all beings
who suffer from cancer and to all beings
who are affected by
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah. So that was Yeah. Just specific
categories to a friend who has cancer
and into all beings opening up that
category letting down the walls, you
know, opening up that that space
unboundedness. Thank you. Very
beautiful.
>> I use the most
around
I also use melodies
to anyone including myself.
>> That's beautiful. An inclusive you
singular and plural that goes to all
beings. That's beautiful. Thank you. and
we can share more of those but let's go
to Christine.
>> So I was listening to a lecture by Will
Duncan and he referenced Joan Halifax
and how she's done some research and um
compassion is the one state of mind that
doesn't take any energy. It kind of like
and then I did I researched Joan Halifax
and you guys came up because you just
interviewed her. So uh you know I got a
little distracted. I didn't really I
haven't did you get any insight into
that whole idea because it seems to me
that the all the the the mind states the
four Brahma viharas that like all of
those are like they don't suck you dry.
They kind of like fill you with
something that's beautiful or something.
I don't know energy. That's
>> that's beautiful. Yeah. No, thank you
very much. We've had some people bring
it up to us. We've sometimes mentioned
compassion fatigue which is a a term
some people use whereas other people
will take exception to that like
actually you can call that empathetic
distress because compassion as you're
saying is something that that gives it
gives energy and hadn't realized it. We
didn't so much lean explicitly. I hadn't
seen that research from her before we
interviewed her. But just as you
mentioned it, the Mahayana and Vadriana
Bikunis
and monastics who we've interviewed all
have so much energy. Tukden children uh
Jetsuma Tins and Palmo who've been
practicing compassion in caves you know
for 11 years and then coming out and
really bringing that that care creating
whole uh institutions and groups to you
know live that and practice that into
the world. Um yeah they have so much
energy it's amazing that you could just
they look like light bulbs. Um, so yeah,
would love to hear more if you look into
that research and feel free to share it
with us. So, thank you and would
encourage everybody. I think that was
two weeks ago that we aired that. Um, so
yeah, with Joan Halifax Roshi of the
Upaya Zen Center. So, thank you.
>> We uh we have um could we do uh someone
on Zoom next? Um
>> the first person with their hand raised
seems to be uh Eugene.
Eugene, please.
>> Uh, sorry. I need to uh do something
really quick.
>> Okay. Uh, Eugene, you should be able to
unmute now.
>> Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. Uh,
thank you Aan for the talk. I I greatly
appreciate it. Um I wanted to ask you um
so in my meditation practice which um
includes loving kindness, what I think
um is PT arises and and feels wonderful
but at times causes my mind to become
excited and my body also becomes very
sensitive. I wanted to ask how I can
work with that skillfully so it uh
matures instead of destabilizes my
concentration.
It's good that you see it. So, some
people won't know that word. He's talked
about PT arising and he's not talking
about physical therapy. He's talking
about the the poly word PT which means
joy which can uh it can translate as
rapture or even ecstasy. And it is this
spectrum and you can change it. And
Eugene, it seems like you do have a a
good sense that it can be matured. You
can learn how to as the suta on
mindfulness or breathing in this
chanting book uh chants the fifth way of
relating to the breath is to one trains
oneself I will breathe in experiencing
pi experiencing rapture experiencing joy
experiencing ecstasy
and that's allowable that's allowable in
Buddhism and why a lot of teachers won't
talk about it they don't talk about it
at all on a ginka retreat is because on
a 10day session which is such a pressure
cooker environment. You don't want to be
you. We're all so ham-handed when we
start off with this way of relating,
speaking to, touching the mind. We're
all so clumsy that if we were try to try
to force joy into a 10-day retreat,
you're going to go to the hospital. You
know, something weird is g the steam of
the pressure cooker is going to explode
all over the kitchen walls. Um
so yeah being tender with it and it
sounds like you are you've got you've
got this initial flavor of it and Ajan
Jeff in a really good article called
Janna not by the numbers Tanisiku Janna
not by the numbers talks about uh as his
teacher Ajan Fuang and many Thai forest
ajons will talk about rather than
putting a hard and fast like metal label
on this mind state pt suka
onepointedness this like a sticky note.
Okay, this this this is joy. This is
joy. This is it's even rapturous. Okay,
sticky note. Maybe it can get better.
Maybe this joy can turn to rapture. It
can turn to ecstasy. And I think you're
doing just the right thing in terms of
if it's not solid yet, this is the
instruction is to drench, steep, fill,
and pervade your mind with that rapture.
And it does start off as a little spark
that comes up uh a little bit like
goosebumps even. There's five different
types of uh PT which are talked about
like PT which is just like goosebumps,
PT which elevates where you almost feel
like you're floating, PT which is like
the ocean just lapping the mind, PT
which is like a thunderclap. So you have
all these different levels and flavors
of of joy and starting off small. Okay,
you've got multiple sticky notes and
learning and listening at this phase
that you're talking about. Listening
will be a huge part of practice. We come
into our meditation so
manipulative. We we try to tweak and
twerk and turn things uh so willfully,
but it just doesn't work. You can't
force the timeline uh very much. It's
really just listening a lot. Okay, what
is that? What did I just say that
brought her about this feeling? Where am
I feeling it? Okay, what does that feel
like? How can I bring that up again? And
then training in that and sometimes yeah
certainly on the level of mind you know
as monks we do keep the uh precept of
not singing but what goes on in my heart
I also
have melodies in my heart which do uh
engender that. So like a note even will
bring about that goosebumps which is a
flavor of of py.
So yeah, leaning into that, seeing what
it is and uh listening and being open to
what the answer is because there are
lots of books written about meta, but
there has not been enough written and
there's been almost certainly nothing
written about your meta. So yeah, what
is what is your meta like? And how do
you feel it in the body? And how do you
where do you feel it in the body? What
does it say? So I think you're doing
great, Eugene, and just keep doing it.
keep paying attention.
Okay. Yeah, please. Maybe this. Yeah,
please.
>> Hi. Um, in situations that, you know,
atrocities are being committed against
people in the world, for example, Iran
right now. I find myself, you know,
thinking about that multiple times a
day. And my first reaction is you know
the anger, the hate, the despise against
uh the government that is doing all
these atrocities against people
and then turning myself back around to
go to meta
like literally you know change the
direction of that energy into meta for
the innocent people. and then the next
level farther than that for the people
that are committing this very difficult
right and so I'm doing this loop
multiple times a day
and it's taking a lot out of me
so what is your name I've seen you but
don't know your name yet
>> Neta
yeah
>> thank you thank you very very much for
sharing Yes sir.
>> That's very very powerful and starting
with that you know whether they are weak
or strong and when you start off
Yeah. I I would hope everybody can we
can all let our hearts be be that big.
Uh to certainly include what seem like
the weak you know people on the uh being
oppressed side of things. Um opening our
hearts that big and that is compassion.
and noticing your own capability. So
that uh empathetic distress when it
starts to you know as Christine was
saying compassion can give energy but
when it starts to suck energy like if
you're thinking about it too much then
then stepping back you know and if that
second step that you said actually
seeing the weakness of the oppressor the
oppressors are weak and that's why
they're oppressing if they were really
strong then they wouldn't need to
oppress.
and being able to take that next heart
step or turn the heart around that.
Yeah, that's very very Thank you for
sharing that. And
yet stepping back having this uh what's
called like taking one step up or a
little bit of meta awareness singlet mea
just a little bit up to see actually is
this way that I'm letting others into my
heart this sharing of my heart with
others is it is it giving energy is it
making me be able to participate in a
more whole way with the world or is it
actually encumbering and kind of
uh disenabling my capacity to be with
the world. And if watching news does the
latter, then watch less news. But if
watching news to some extent in some
channels, in certain ways actually does
give the former, then yeah, pay
attention to that. So thank you Nada.
Na. Thank you.