Loving Kindness As The Foundation Of Practice

0:00 Okay. There are so many, I cannot really see you all, but anyway. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:09 I would like to talk a bit, to keep talking about the topic of mettā, and I would like to read out a little sutta text that also talks about mettā. Not only, it starts with a completely different topic, but you will see, maybe you will know that it's the sutta of the horn blower. Report an error in the passage at 0:09 Highlight the passage at 0:09

0:34 It's one of my favorites. At one time, the Buddha was staying near Nalanda in Parvarika's mango grove. Then Asipandaka's son, the chief, who was a disciple of the Jains, went up to the Buddha and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him, Chief, how does the Jain ascetic of the Nyataka clan teach his disciples? Sir, This is how the Jain Nyatika teaches his disciples. Everyone who kills a living creature, steals, commits sexual misconduct or lies goes to a place of loss, to hell. Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

1:18 You are led on by what you frequently live by. This is how the Jain Nyatika teaches his disciples. You are led on by what you usually live by. Report an error in the passage at 1:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18

1:36 If this were true, then, according to what the Jain Nyatika says, no one would go to a place of loss to hell. What do you think, chief? Take a person who kills living creatures. If we compare periods of time during the day and night, which is more frequent? The occasions when they are killing or when they are not killing? The occasions when they are killing are less frequent. Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

2:08 While the occasions when they are not killing are more frequent. You are led on by what you usually live by. If this were true, then according to what the Jain ascetic of the Nyatika clan says, no one would go to a place of loss, to hell. What do you think, chief? Take a person who steals. Take a person who commits sexual misconduct. Take a person who lies. Report an error in the passage at 2:08 Highlight the passage at 2:08

2:38 If we compare periods of time during the day and night, which is more frequent, the occasions when they are lying or when they are not lying? The occasions when they are lying are less frequent, while the occasions when they are not lying are more frequent. Report an error in the passage at 2:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38

3:00 You are led on by what you usually live by. If this were true, then, according to what the Jain Nyatika says, no one would go to a place of loss, to hell. Take some teacher who has this doctrine and view. Everyone who kills a living creature steals, Steals, commits sexual misconduct or lies, goes to a place of loss, to hell. Report an error in the passage at 3:00 Highlight the passage at 3:00

3:26 And there's a disciple who is devoted to that teacher. They think my teacher has this doctrine and view. Everyone who kills a living creature steals, Commit sexual misconduct or lies goes to a place of loss to hell. But I have killed living creatures. I have stolen, committed sexual misconduct or lied. They get the view I too am going to a place of loss to hell. Report an error in the passage at 3:26 Highlight the passage at 3:26

4:00 Unless they give up that speech and that thought and let go of that view, they will be placed in hell as if delivered there. Report an error in the passage at 4:00 Highlight the passage at 4:00

4:11 But consider when a realized one arises in the world, perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those fit for training, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed. In many ways, he criticizes and denounces killing living creatures, saying, stop killing living creatures. Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

4:41 He criticizes and denounces stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying, saying, stop lying. And there's a disciple who is devoted to that teacher. Then they reflect, in many ways, the Buddha criticizes and denounces killing living creatures, saying, stop killing living creatures. But I have killed living creatures to a certain extent. That's not right. It's not good. And I feel remorseful because of it. Report an error in the passage at 4:41 Highlight the passage at 4:41

5:11 But I can't undo what I have done. Reflecting like this, they give up killing living creatures. And in future, they don't kill living creatures. That's how to give up this bad deed and get past it. Report an error in the passage at 5:11 Highlight the passage at 5:11

5:28 In many ways, the Buddha criticizes and denounces stealing. In many ways, the Buddha criticizes and denounces sexual misconduct. In many ways, the Buddha criticizes and denounces lying. Saying stop lying. But I have lied to a certain extent. That's not right. It's not good. And I feel remorseful because of it. Report an error in the passage at 5:28 Highlight the passage at 5:28

5:53 But I can't undo what I have done. Reflecting like this, they give up lying. And in future they refrain from lying. That's how to give up this bad deed and get past it. They give up killing living creatures. They give up stealing. They give up sexual misconduct. They give up lying. They give up backbiting. They give up harsh speech. They give up talking nonsense. Report an error in the passage at 5:53 Highlight the passage at 5:53

6:23 They give up covetousness. They give up ill will and malevolence. They give up wrong view and have right view. That noble disciple is rid of desire, rid of ill will, unconfused, aware and mindful. They meditate. Spreading a heart full of love to one direction and to the second and to the third and to the fourth. In the same way, above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of love to the whole world. Report an error in the passage at 6:23 Highlight the passage at 6:23

7:01 Abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will. Suppose there was a powerful hornblower. They'd easily make themselves heard in the four quarters. In the same way, when the heart's release by love has been developed and cultivated like this, any limited deeds they've done don't remain or persist there. Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:31 Any limited deeds they've done don't remain or persist there. Then that noble disciple is rid of desire, rid of ill will, unconfused, aware and mindful. They meditate spreading a heart full of compassion. They meditate spreading a heart full of rejoicing. They meditate spreading a heart full of equanimity to one direction, to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

8:02 In the same way, above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of equanimity to the whole world, abundant, expansive, limitless. free of enmity and ill-will. Suppose there was a powerful hornblower. They'd easily make themselves heard in the four quarters. Report an error in the passage at 8:02 Highlight the passage at 8:02

8:25 Nothing. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:48 It's just... the heart's release by equanimity has been developed and cultivated like this, any limited deeds they've done don't remain or persist there. Report an error in the passage at 8:48 Highlight the passage at 8:48

8:49 A participant forgot to mute herself. I thought someone said something. Let me just read the last sentence. When he said this, Asitbandhaka's son, the chief, said to the Buddha, Excellent, sir, excellent. From this day forth, may the Buddha remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:14 So that's this sutta. Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:20 And I like it so much because it has helped me a lot, even before I encountered it. But it puts the message into words that the effect that Buddhism had on my life since the time I encountered it. So it has taught me that there is a way out of of wrong deeds, of bad deeds. So it's not that I have been raised as a Catholic. And in Catholicism, we have something like eternal condemnation. Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

10:05 You have to go to hell for eternity and there's no way out or something like that. And the Buddha, he says, there's always a way out. I mean, if you did something wrong, okay, everybody does something wrong at some point, but you stop it. And in future, you... You train yourself in order to do better and then that improves your life. And when you are really firmly grounded on that ethical foundation, then that paves the way into deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 10:05 Highlight the passage at 10:05

10:41 And here it's the example of Mettā and the other so-called Brahmavihāras, these meditations that Start with loving kindness, love for the entire world. And that has such a power that any, as it says here, any limited deeds that have done don't remain or persist there. So that love is just much stronger. And that's how we can get out of that trap, so to speak. Report an error in the passage at 10:41 Highlight the passage at 10:41

11:19 So that has changed my life. A whole lot, really. So that's the reason why I like this sutta. Report an error in the passage at 11:19 Highlight the passage at 11:19

11:57 Perhaps we can do some meditation. Someone wants to say something? I see a hand here. Christelle? Is that correct? Sorry, I realized maybe that's not the right time to ask the question. But I read that sutta not long ago and I did not understand the part when it says Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:27 If you were to do that, do you do that bad deed more or less? You know, like, do you kill more or less? And I did not understand. Does it mean that in one day, if you look at one day, you're going to kill less than not kill? No, no, no. Yeah, you're going to kill less than kill. Nobody kills 24 hours. Report an error in the passage at 12:27 Highlight the passage at 12:27

12:53 Yeah, okay. Is that what that meant? Nobody kills 24 hours a day. I mean, it happens that perhaps you kill a little mosquito or whatever, but that takes one second, and then you have 23 hours and a lot of seconds when you don't kill. That's what it means, but what that chief here... Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:23 Quotes that is actually a teaching or it resonates a teaching that exists in the Jain text, in fact, but it's distorted. It's not exactly how it is in that text. Either that chief didn't understand the teaching correctly. It's much more coherent in the original Jain text than it is here. Or else the Buddhists didn't really quote it correctly. So we don't know. Report an error in the passage at 13:23 Highlight the passage at 13:23

13:54 Thank you very much. It comes across as a little bit incoherent here, that teaching. But yeah, so in the original Jain teaching, it sounds a little bit different. I don't want to expand on that yet now too much. But yeah, so thank you for the question. Yeah, thank you very much. It's clear now. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 13:54 Highlight the passage at 13:54

14:27 So if there are more questions at this point, we can do that. Otherwise, we can start some meditation. Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:39 Okay, so we have more time for questions later. So Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

15:14 let's just sit comfortably, turning Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:25 our attention inwards into the body. We Report an error in the passage at 15:25 Highlight the passage at 15:25

15:58 find a posture that's as comfortable as possible so that we can stay for a while. Report an error in the passage at 15:58 Highlight the passage at 15:58

16:08 We Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:30 turn our attention inwards and just check how our body feels like. Report an error in the passage at 16:30 Highlight the passage at 16:30

16:39 Are there tensions somewhere? Maybe we can relax them still a little bit more. Go Report an error in the passage at 16:39 Highlight the passage at 16:39

16:58 through all parts of our body, starting Report an error in the passage at 16:58 Highlight the passage at 16:58

17:06 with the head, forehead, Report an error in the passage at 17:06 Highlight the passage at 17:06

17:26 the back of our head, the face. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:37 There Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

17:42 are lots of small muscles in our face and maybe there are some tension there and maybe we can still relax a little bit more. Report an error in the passage at 17:42 Highlight the passage at 17:42

· · · silence, 1 minute

18:35 We move on to our neck and Report an error in the passage at 18:35 Highlight the passage at 18:35

18:44 shoulders. There's Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

18:50 quite often tension in the shoulder region. Maybe we can relax a bit more the Report an error in the passage at 18:50 Highlight the passage at 18:50

19:12 arms and hands up to the fingertips. We Report an error in the passage at 19:12 Highlight the passage at 19:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

19:59 move on to our torso, the spine and the ribs. Report an error in the passage at 19:59 Highlight the passage at 19:59

20:20 Maybe here we can also feel The movements of the breath, just Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:35 observe what is here. Then Report an error in the passage at 20:35 Highlight the passage at 20:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

21:43 our lower spine and our belly, Report an error in the passage at 21:43 Highlight the passage at 21:43

22:14 wherever we feel some tension, we see if we can still relax a bit. Report an error in the passage at 22:14 Highlight the passage at 22:14

· · · silence, 1 minute

23:16 Hips and legs and feet down to the toes and we Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

23:37 can feel the seat where we are sitting on. Report an error in the passage at 23:37 Highlight the passage at 23:37

23:43 We just notice what is there, notice how it feels inside. And Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

24:44 after a while, when we have gone through all the parts of our body, we take the view of an overview of the entire body from the inside. Report an error in the passage at 24:44 Highlight the passage at 24:44

25:17 We Report an error in the passage at 25:17 Highlight the passage at 25:17

· · · silence, 2 minutes

26:58 may also perceive our feelings and Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:09 we may notice that they tend to change. They come. And they go, they increase, and they decrease. Report an error in the passage at 27:09 Highlight the passage at 27:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:35 There are also coming thoughts up, which is normal. We just notice that they are there. We are not interested in the content of our thoughts. We just see them, let them come, and let them go. They Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

29:01 don't really interest us. Just thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 29:01 Highlight the passage at 29:01

· · · silence, 2 minutes

30:48 And all of the time, we keep our attention inside our body. After Report an error in the passage at 30:48 Highlight the passage at 30:48

31:19 a while, we may notice that things calm down to a certain degree. They become a bit more peaceful and a bit more equanimous. It's Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:43 not an extremely deep equanimity that we are aiming at here, just a certain degree of equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 31:43 Highlight the passage at 31:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

32:45 When we've reached that point of a certain degree of equanimity, Then we can start a more specific mettā meditation. We start saying in our mind the mettā words. They are may I be happy, may I be happy, may I be happy. And we repeat them over and over in our own rhythm. May Report an error in the passage at 32:45 Highlight the passage at 32:45

33:30 I be happy. Report an error in the passage at 33:30 Highlight the passage at 33:30

33:34 And we make sure we pronounce them in our mind very clearly and Report an error in the passage at 33:34 Highlight the passage at 33:34

33:55 we find a rhythm that's flowing well for us. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

35:07 May I be happy. May I be happy. May I be happy. We Report an error in the passage at 35:07 Highlight the passage at 35:07

35:22 also allow the meaning of these words to become clear. So we really mean every word that we say. May I be happy. May I Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

36:16 be happy. May I Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:39 be happy. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

36:43 May I be happy. and spiritual happiness. Report an error in the passage at 36:43 Highlight the passage at 36:43

· · · silence, 1 minute

36:40 May I be happy. Report an error in the passage at 36:40 Highlight the passage at 36:40

· · · silence, 3 minutes

40:05 May I be happy. May I be happy. Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:12 I be happy. So after a while, it may be that we start noticing the meta feeling. We have the meta words and we have the meaning of these words. And maybe we can feel how that feels like. It Report an error in the passage at 40:12 Highlight the passage at 40:12

40:38 can be an emotional, a purely emotional feeling, but it can also be felt in some physical way, like an inner light. It's a happy... Simple, happy, clear and bright sort of feeling. And sometimes it's perceived as an inner light or some other physical perception. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

41:06 But it can be different. Everybody is different and so it can be perceived in different ways. And sometimes it's found at some point inside, in the body, at a specific point of the body. Like the region of the heart or it can be anywhere. We just can look out if we perceive that meta feeling somewhere, in some way. Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:35 It can be very soft, can sometimes also be strong. It can vary a lot. Report an error in the passage at 41:35 Highlight the passage at 41:35

41:53 If we don't find it immediately, that's not a problem. So we are still having... Mettā thoughts and wholesome thoughts all the time. That's good. Report an error in the passage at 41:53 Highlight the passage at 41:53

· · · silence, 1 minute

43:01 May I be happy. Report an error in the passage at 43:01 Highlight the passage at 43:01

43:06 If we do feel the mettā feeling, we can hold it softly in our mind. According to the Buddha's simile of the little bird, you don't hold it too strong not to crush it and you don't hold it too loose so that it doesn't fly away. And in this way, We hold that mettā feeling in our mind, not Report an error in the passage at 43:06 Highlight the passage at 43:06

43:37 too strong and not too loose. And Report an error in the passage at 43:37 Highlight the passage at 43:37

43:54 with a bit of practice, that mettā feeling can then spread across our entire body bit by bit, spread Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:07 across and slowly grow stronger until Report an error in the passage at 44:07 Highlight the passage at 44:07

44:16 finally the entire body is filled from inside with that mettā feeling. And we can imagine like a crystal Buddha statue that is standing in front of a soft light and is filled with that light in its entirety and it's very softly glowing. And Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

45:20 if our body and our entire being is filled with that light of mettā, then any limited deeds we've done Don't remain or persist there. So Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

· · · silence, 2 minutes

48:00 we are slowly coming towards the end of the meditation. We Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:07 let the meta words go and let the meta feeling fade away and Report an error in the passage at 48:07 Highlight the passage at 48:07

48:18 come back to that neutral feeling of equanimity. And Report an error in the passage at 48:18 Highlight the passage at 48:18

48:32 we take a moment to look back over this meditation. How Report an error in the passage at 48:32 Highlight the passage at 48:32

48:41 did the meditation go? How did my mind respond to it? What was helpful? What was difficult? And Report an error in the passage at 48:41 Highlight the passage at 48:41

48:59 how does my mind feel now compared to the beginning of the meditation? And Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

49:13 finally, we dedicate the merit of our meditation. May all beings be happy. May all beings be well. And may all beings realize Nibbāna. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. We come out of meditation, mindfully open our eyes and come back into this virtual room. Report an error in the passage at 49:13 Highlight the passage at 49:13