Meditation Retreat Up North - Tum Woa Monastery, Thailand

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'The Gentle Way of Buddhist Meditation' is back on popular demand

'The Gentle Way of Buddhist Meditation' by Godwin Samararatne, one of our popular books to give away has been reprinted. If you are interested, please order a FREE copy through the catalogue website below. Postage applies.

Other titles about buddhist meditation

      

Basic Metta Meditation Instructions by Visu

Metta is a Pali word that means goodwill, lovingkindness, friendliness, benevolence, non-hatred, non-anger, and non-resentment. Metta meditation is very helpful in checking the unwholesome tendency to hatred and anger in us and promoting and strengthening the wholesome states of non-hatred, non-anger, non-resentment, patience, tolerance, calmness, coolness, goodwill, lovingkindness, benevolence and friendliness.

In addition to Vipassana (Insight) meditation the Buddha often exhorted us to practise metta as one of the four divine ways of abiding. The other three divine abidings are karuna (compassion), mudita (appreciative joy) and upekkha (equanimity).

We offer simple instructions below on how to practise metta meditation. Please try to do it on a daily basis in the sitting posture as a formal meditation and also casually every now and then as you go about your everyday activities. As you do so you will find a great improvement in your life by way of an increasingly warm, loving, kind, friendly, understanding, patient, helpful, and happy disposition.

***

RADIATING OF METTA

You may sit cross-legged in a comfortable manner on meditation cushions on the floor or you may sit on a chair. It doesn’t matter whether you sit on the floor or on a chair as long as you are comfortable and can stay in a position for some time without having to move or fidget.

Initially you can sit for 15 minutes progressing to 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour, or even longer as you become more skilled in the practice.

Begin radiating metta by mentally reciting the following lines, which express goodwill and warm wishes for the person you radiate to.

When radiating to yourself, recite:

May I be happy.

May I be safe.

May I be peaceful.

May I be healthy.

May I take care of myself happily.

When radiating to another person, say, John:

May John be happy.

May he be safe.

May he be peaceful.

May he be healthy.

May he take care of himself happily.

You can also address the person directly saying, “John, may you be happy. May you be safe….”

Wish for this person for as long as you like and then change to another person, wishing, say: “May Mary be happy. May she be safe,” and so on.

When you like to switch to somebody else, you may go on to yet another person, say: “May Richard be happy. May he be safe,” and so on.

You can radiate to one single person (and also to yourself, of course) for a long time – even for a whole session. Or you can keep changing persons, now this person, now that person.

You can also think of a few persons, grouping them together, and wish, “May they be happy,” and so on. Or you can radiate to all beings in general, saying “May all beings be happy. May they be safe…”

If we radiate to one person or all beings for a long time or a whole session, our concentration (samadhi) can become very deep because we don’t need to think of which person to wish for next. However, with practice we’ll find that even when we change persons frequently we can also gain a deep state of concentration.

Sometimes instead of reciting the five lines, you can just think, “May this person be happy. May that person be happy.”

So there is no fixed one way. If you feel like reciting all the lines recite them; if not, just say, “May he/she be happy.”

You can also make specific wishes for the person, what you think or observe he/she may need. In the case of a person suffering from a serious illness you can wish, “May he be healed. May he be able to bear up with the suffering. May he recover fully and quickly. However, should he not be able to recover, may he be able to bear up with the suffering, may he have mental strength, patience and endurance,” etc.

You can think of their loved ones and wish, “May they also be able to bear up with the suffering of seeing their loved one suffer. May they be calm and strong.” When we say “May he be healed”, we understand healing not just as a physical cure, but also as mental healing, that the mind may be healed in the sense of being able to accept and reconcile with the illness if it cannot be cured. And, of course, the mind can be healed of a lot of other mental wounds and anguish.

Naturally you can radiate to your spouse or partner, wishing, “May he/she be happy,” etc., and also say “May I love him/her well and true, May I take good care of him/her,” because we want to love our spouse/partner/lover well, ever improve on our love, grow and learn how to be an even better and more loving partner. Of course “well and true” can be defined further in many ways: being faithful to one’s spouse, showing gratitude and appreciation, understanding, forgiveness, being nurturing and caring towards each other, helping and supporting each other along the spiritual path.

Equally we include our children, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and all other family members and close friends.

Say, if you want to have a good working relationship with somebody, you can think of that person and address him or her directly, “May you be happy. May we relate well with each other. May we have a good collaboration. May we have lots of goodwill and harmony. May we work together for the greater good of all beings.”

When you wish for yourself, “May I be happy,” you can also wish for specific things, making positive resolutions, such as, “May I have faith and trust in myself and the Dhamma,” “May I be patient,” “May I have strength, confidence and courage to face all the challenges in the life,” “May I be focused and concentrated in all that I do,” “May I be hardworking, diligent, disciplined,” etc., whatever is relevant or meaningful at the time.

So sometimes you can just keep on repeating the five lines, or one or two of those lines, and sometimes you can add in more specific wishes or affirmations, and then go back to the standard lines.

Meaning of the phrases

As regards the standard lines, the meanings are as follows:

To be happy means not being sad, miserable, unhappy, or depressed; it means being happy, joyful, cheerful, lighthearted, content. We can feel happy by counting our many blessings and considering how fortunate we are to have the Dhamma or Good Teachings as our guide; that we have loved ones who love and care for us; that we have friends who are good and kind to us; that we have enough for our basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter in life; that we have reasonably good health; etc.

We can put a little smile on our face as we wish for ourselves, “May I be happy.” A smile is a way to make us feel immediately lighter and better.

To be safe means to be free from harm and danger, both internally and externally. Internal danger refers to our own mind when it is out of control and causing us suffering. External dangers are accidents, mishaps, calamities, disasters, misfortunes and people that may be hostile or have ill intentions towards us.

To be peaceful means to be free from mental suffering such as worry, anxiety, fear, hatred, anger, irritation, annoyance, sorrow, unhappiness, depression, misery, despair, envy, jealousy, miserliness, mental agitation, confusion and delusion.

To be healthy means to be free from physical suffering such as bodily pain and sickness. However, we do know that we can’t be free from physical suffering all the time and we have to face sickness at times and even death eventually. At such times when we have to face sickness and death we wish that we can be able to face them calmly, peacefully and cheerfully even as we try to find a cure for our ailments. Generally though we wish that we can be as healthy as possible.

To take care of oneself happily means to be able to take care of one’s mind and body; take care of one’s work, responsibilities, tasks and duties, that is, being able to carry them out well; take care of one’s relationships, that is, cultivating and maintaining as far as possible skilful, healthy, happy, harmonious, loving, kind, understanding, meaningful, beneficial and constructive relationships; take care of all aspects of one’s life.

For your information, Visu's new book 'Metta Meditation and Positive Attitudes' is available for free. You can either order through the website http://www.inwardpath.org/ipp2u/catalog/ (Postal charges apply) or collect a free copy from House of Inward Journey at the following address

52 Level D (3rd Floor)
Rangoon Road, Off Burma Road
10400 Georgetown
Penang, Malaysia

You may also find other titles on Loving Kindness

        

Visu's Europe Trip

Dear Friends,

Our teacher in residence, Visu Teoh, will be leaving for Europe on July 1. He will be leading Metta and Vipassana retreats at various centres and will return to Malaysia in December.

Visu has been leading meditation sessions two evenings a week at our Inward Path Centre at No 52D Rangoon Road since February. His last meditation session at Inward Path will be on Tuesday June 22.

We are delighted with the good and regular attendance and trust that many people have benefitted from Visu’s teachings and guidance.

Visu will also be leading a weekend metta retreat at the Mudita Buddhist Society in Klang from June 11 to 13.

We will attach in the next post about Visu’s metta (lovingkindness) meditation instructions so that those interested in taking up the practice can do so at home. Visu says he will be happy to give guidance via email to anyone who writes to him. His email address is visu@mind-at-peace.net.

We wish to express our gratitude to Visu for his teaching and wish him and his wife, Barbara, a very pleasant and successful Dhamma tour of Europe. We attach below his itinerary and look forward to his return and resumption of meditation classes at Inward Path.

With Metta,
Samurai Beng

***

Visu’s teaching schedule in Europe this year:

July 9 - 11 weekend and July 16 - 18 weekend: Meditation workshop at Adula Health clinic in the Allgaeu, Germany.

July 23 - 25 conducting study on Satipatthana Sutta at Marjo's centre in Ireland (www.passaddhi.com), followed by ten-day Metta Retreat from July 30 to Aug 8.

Aug 20 - 29: Ten-day metta retreat in Czech Republic organised by Libor and Julie (email: julhonysova@volny.cz)

Sept 18, 19: Metta weekend in Nijmegen, Holland, organised by Marij Geurts (email mj.geurts@hccnet.nl)

Oct 3 to 10: Vipassana retreat at Nooderpoort Zen Centre in Wapserveen, Holland (http://www.simsara.nl/retraites)

(Possibly conducting a weekend metta retreat in Amsterdam in October and a day retreat in Rotterdam in September but dates yet to be confirmed.)

Nov 6 to 20: Vipassana Retreat at La Salindre (website http://www.lasalindre.eu/e/kalender/index.html) in Southern France.

Return to Penang Dec 1.

In Malaysia Visu will lead a ten-day retreat (five days metta followed by five days' vipassana) in Matang, Sarawak, East Malaysia, from Dec 14 to 23 organised by Bro Wong Teck Hua (email: w.teckhua@gmail.com).

***

Matthieu Ricard on the habits of happiness

About this talk

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfillment.

About Matthieu Ricard

Sometimes called the "happiest man in the world," Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer.

After training in biochemistry at the Institute Pasteur, Matthieu Ricard left science behind to move to the Himalayas and become a Buddhist monk -- and to pursue happiness, both at a basic human level and as a subject of inquiry. Achieving happiness, he has come to believe, requires the same kind of effort and mind training that any other serious pursuit involves.

His deep and scientifically tinged reflections on happiness and Buddhism have turned into several books, including The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. At the same time, he also makes sensitive and jaw-droppingly gorgeous photographs of his beloved Tibet and the spiritual hermitage where he lives and works on humanitarian projects.

His latest book on happiness is Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill; his latest book of photographs is Tibet: An Inner Journey.

     

The Significance of Understanding Sattipathana Sutta In Meditation Practice

From the last posting about Joseph Goldstein's Dhamma talks, there was a quote by a psychologist cum Dhamma teacher, Chien Hoong mentioned about 'Anyone who is serious about meditation should have a good understanding of Satipattana Sutta.' Let us go a bit more into why the comprehension of the Satipatthana Sutta or the Discourse of Four Foundation of mindfulness is so important in the practice of mindfulness meditation.

It is important to understand Buddhism as a discipline or process rather than as a belief system. The Buddha did not teach doctrines about seeing enlightenment by mere faith, but rather taught people how to work their way through gaining enlightenment themselves. Furthermore, Buddha taught satipatthana as the direct path to Enlightenment. 

Image from http://naturalpp.exblog.jp/i8/

The Satipatthana Sutta and the Mahasatipatthana Sutta are two of the most popular and important discourses in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. Both content of the discourses relate the meditation practice with the right approach to the development of 'satipatthana', which is a term for mindfulness or the awareness at the present moment. The only different between these two discourses are Mahasatipatthana Sutta is longer and more detailed. With the constant and proper maintaining of the moment-by-moment mindfulness, one can gain discernment through the direct experiences of his or her meditation practice based on the four foundations of mindfulness.

These four foundations are no other than mindfulness of the body (kaya), mindfulness of feelings (vedana), mindfulness of the mind or consciousness (citta), and mindfulness of mental objects or qualities (dhamma). Based on these four factors, one can contemplating any of these objects when they are practising meditation. By paying close attention to the present experience, one begin to see both inner and outer aspects of reality as aspects of the mind.

For example, one sees that the mind is successively having chattering communication with commentary or judgement. By noticing that the mind is successively making commentary, one has the ability to carefully observe those thoughts, seeing them for what they really are without aversion or judgement. Those who are practising mindfulness realise that 'thoughts are just thoughts.' One can be free to release a thought when one realises that the thought may not be concrete reality or absolute truth, thus one is also free from getting caught in the commentary. The purpose of such mindfulness practice is recognising different types of experience from the context or the mind within which they occur.

According to the Satipatthana Sutta, everyone is able to realise enlightenment through direct experience. It is through mindfulness that we experience directly, with no mental filters or psychological barriers between us and what is experienced. Any activity such as preparing food, cleaning floors or simply just walking which is done mindful can be a form of meditation, and mindfulness is possible practically all the time. So be mindful with your life, just a famous Zen saying 'If you miss the moment, you miss your life. How much of our lives have we missed?'

Samurai Beng

----^^---- 

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Inward Path Publisher 

would like to wish 

all Dhamma seekers 

'A Happy Vesak Day'

In conjunction of Vesak Day, Inward Path Publisher is releasing a book about mindfulness meditation based on satipatthana with the title of 'Comprehensive Instructions on Mindfulness Meditation' by Sayadaw U Silananda.

To order a FREE copy, please visit 

http://www.inwardpath.org/ipp2u/catalog/

(postage charges apply according to your country)

We also have other new releases 

this Vesak Day for free

 

Towards The End Of Forgiveness: The Story of Angulimala

by Bhikkhu Bodhidhmma

(Book with audio CD)

Numerical Dhamma I
A compilation of Buddhist quotes from Anguttara Nikaya and other discourses
(Book only)

 Metta Meditation & Positive Attitudes
by Visu Teoh
(Book with audio CD)

Also find other titles on Mindfulness

Dharma Seed - Joseph Goldstein's Dharma Talks (Website Link)

About the speaker

Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and lovingkindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization's guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

Joseph first became interested in Buddhism as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand in 1965. Since 1967 he has studied and practiced different forms of Buddhist meditation under eminent teachers from India, Burma and Tibet. He is the author of A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom, The Experience of Insight, and co-author of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and Insight Meditation: A Correspondence Course.

Follow the link below and listen to great talks from Joseph
http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/6162/



'Anyone who is serious about meditation should have a good understanding of Satipattana Sutta.' - Chien Hoong




Other titles by Joseph Goldstein