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Happy Hour: Metta Changes Karma

Introduction

All right, so hello and welcome everyone. Lovely to be with you, to be in community. It warms my heart to be with the Happy Hour Sangha^[1].

For tonight, or this moment, whatever time zone you might be in, I'd like to invite us into a practice, into reflections, and into a guided meditation to consider karma^[2] and metta^[3].

The theme of karma is something that—by the way, I've been subbing for Gil^[4] for those of you who show up to the 7:00 a.m. sits. Yes, some of you are here, I see you. This morning I talked about karma, and I wanted to bring that in, in the spirit of Happy Hour, the way we practice with metta and all the heart practices.

I want to say something first, briefly, about karma. It's not really a teaching about what we've inherited from a past life, or somehow to explain why we're having poor fortune here. "I must have done something terrible in my past life," or "This other person must have done something bad in their past." Ouch, ouch. That is not a helpful way to use this profound teaching. Unfortunately, it's co-opted in the West and misused in these very painful ways. That's not really helpful, it's not appropriate, it's not serving. It's not really a practice; it's just a baton or a rod for self-flagellation.

Instead, one way to understand the teaching of karma is that there are three aspects to it, and they're all intertwined. One aspect is the intention, the wanting to do an action. The second part is the doing of the action. The action could be an action of the mind, an action of speech, or an action of the body. A thought is considered an action of the mind. The third aspect is the result. What is done, the result of what has been done, is the karmic disposition that we are left with.

All of those aspects—the leading aspect which is the intention, the doing, and what is done—that is karma. That is what we are left with. That's what shapes us. We are a product of our karma because of the intentions we have taken, all these moments of the doings we have done, and the results of those actions. This is also concordant with neuroscience.

How I want to relate this to the practice of metta for us in this community is: if you want to be kinder to yourself and to others, then intend to be kinder. Lead with the intention. Have the intention to be kinder. Part two: do an act of kindness. An act of kindness could be thoughts of kindness, words of kindness, physical acts of kindness towards yourself, towards others. Part three is that you will be shaped little by little to have a kinder disposition. Wow. Pretty cool, hey?

Karma is powerful. We can produce our own karma. It's not this magical thing; we produce our karma moment by moment by the way we think, the way we intend, the way we act, and the result that we're left with. And then we tend to do those more and more. So, if you find yourself not being kind, just pause. Change, just shift a little bit. Probabilistically speaking, through accumulation over time, you will be changing your karma. You'll be going down a different path that will become your habitual way of being in the world.

Karma is profound, especially when it comes to practicing loving-kindness. So let's produce some good karma for ourselves. With the definition I've given, it's not something magical. Let's intend towards kindness with our intention. Let's engage in thoughts, words, and actions of kindness and see what kind of a result we are left with. We will be left with a different karma, with wholesome karma instead of unwholesome karma.

Such an empowering teaching is karma. It's not a matter of fate or destiny: "Oh, poor me." It's like, "No, I can change my karma. I can." So let's produce some wholesome karma together.

Guided Meditation

With that, I'd like to invite us all to land. Land in your seat, land in your chair or cushion. If you need to shift and move to be comfortable, it's okay, this is the perfect time to do it. Arriving in this body, at this moment in time. Landing, landing, landing.

Oh dear body, I intend to be kind. I intend to be kind to you. Oh dear heart, dear mind, dear me, I intend to be kind in this moment. In this moment of creating and producing wholesome karma because I can. I'm alive, I'm awake, I'm here.

I intend to be kind, thinking thoughts of kindness and care towards ourselves. Let's start with the body. Oh sweet dear body, you have worked hard today. You have digested. You have kept me safe from viruses as much as you've been able to. You have been working as hard as possible in ways I can't even imagine. Thank you. Thoughts of kindness, appreciation towards this body.

An act of kindness: releasing, letting go of any unkind thoughts, any judgment. Thank you, judgmental thoughts. Thank you, you're not needed right now. I'm intending to be kind. It's a powerful practice. Intending to be kind. Engaging in thoughts, words, actions of kindness.

Letting the breath be received in the abdomen gently, kindly, with appreciation. Maybe with a smile, as if your belly, your abdomen, the cells of your body are smiling with kindness. We're bowing to the breath. Thank you breath, giving oxygen to us. Such a wholesome, beautiful exchange.

And if you notice thoughts arising, challenges in the mind and heart, connect with the intention to be kind towards whatever arises. The intention to be kind to whatever arises. Radical kindness. The intention for radical kindness. Experiment. See what happens if you're radically kind to your mind, to your heart. When you notice it's been distracted, thinking, if you're kind, do thoughts become less sticky? Do they release more easily in the heart that's spacious with ease, with kindness? Experiment.

And can we engage with thoughts of kindness for ourselves? Perhaps with the metta phrases:

May I, may this person who is me, be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May my life unfold with ease.

Offering these words of kindness to yourself, to ourselves, as a gift without any expectation. Not clingy karma we don't want to produce. Expecting, wanting karma, but one of generosity. May I, may this person who is me, may they be safe, happy, healthy, have ease. As if you're offering blessings to a good friend. Words of kindness, wishing them well on their travels. Not clingy or tight, but spacious and generous. Let yourself enjoy the phrases of kindness to yourself, producing wholesome, kind karma. Intention, to action, result. In this moment, right here.

Offering yourself the words of kindness, either in the phrases of metta or however is appropriate for you right now. Maybe holding yourself as if you're a baby with kindness in your mind's eye. A physical action, physical movement of metta, of care.

And now, if you wish, extending the intention to be kind to another being in your mind's eye. Someone who is dear to you. You have an uncomplicated relationship with them. Greeting them in your mind's eye with kindness. I intend to be kind. Loving, generous in your mind's eye with this being. It could be a person, an animal, a pet, a child.

Maybe see yourself doing acts of kindness. It could be active speech. Maybe you're telling them kind, encouraging words, or maybe you're sharing the phrases of metta in your mind's eye. Or seeing yourself caring for them, maybe patiently listening to them, sharing acts of generosity and kindness, without attachment to reciprocation. Without attachment to outcome. Not producing clingy karma, just generous karma. Kind, spacious in the heart in this moment, and in the next moment.

May you be safe from inner and outer harm, dear one. May you be happy and have joy in your heart, dear one. May you be healthy and strong as much as possible, dear one. And may your life flow with ease, dear one.

It's okay to use your imagination. See yourself in acts of kindness and care, or maybe simply holding patient presence. An expression of kindness.

You can stay with this dear being or extend the intention to be kind to more beings, many more beings. May all of us be well, including yourself. Letting your body be soft, be relaxed.

And if challenging or difficult thoughts and emotions are arising, can there be kindness as a response? Not believing, not falling into the judgments, the grief. In this moment, I just hold it with kindness. Even if a thought is annoying, or if someone comes up in the landscape of your mind and you're annoyed or displeased, can you still be kind to yourself? To this being who doesn't know any better? Who is acting out of confusion, delusion, having dust in their eyes, a lack of wisdom?

Planting seeds of kindness. Planting seeds of wholesome karma.

And for the last moments of this practice period, can we be kind to ourselves? Kindness in this moment for whatever arose or did not arise. We've done our best to be kind to this being who's me, here and now. We've done our best to cultivate goodwill for others. Whatever came up or did not come up, it's an unfolding of causes and conditions, past thoughts, actions, karma. It's okay. You can forgive it, let go, forget, and intend in this moment to be kind. One moment of kindness is infinitely more powerful than zero moments of kindness.

May all beings be well. May all beings be free.

Reflections & Q&A

Thanks everyone. Thanks for your practice and planting all these moments, all these seeds of kindness together. Wholesome karma. What a beautiful field.

If you wish, you're welcome, you're invited to share reflections, questions, comments. Richard, I see your hand.

Richard: I wonder if you could help me briefly. For a long time up to this moment, I sort of think of the brahmavihāras^[5] as warm and squishy, and bare awareness as neutral and chilly and dry. I think that's causing a split down my personality.

Nikki: Yeah, well said. You're not alone, Richard. Yes, metta is warm, comforting, nourishing. Vipassanā^[6], or open awareness, is neutral, cool. And then this feeling is split in your personality. I think you already know the answer yourself!

The sense of kindness and gentleness has to be imbued, it has to be part of our awareness when we do vipassanā, when we do insight practice, when we do open awareness. If that kindness isn't there, it becomes so dry. It can become a grim duty. It lacks gentleness. I often quote Joseph Goldstein^[7]. I love what he says: wisdom practices, or vipassanā, without metta is like riding a bicycle without air in the tires. So Richard, please put air in your tires. Please bring kindness and gentleness into every mind moment. It can be imbued, and in higher teachings, this sense of goodness is imbued in every moment of awareness, of sati^[8].

They are not separate. Here is my humble opinion: many practitioners practice for many years without fruition, with a lot of challenge, because there isn't enough metta, care, ease, and gentleness imbued in vipassanā. I'm so grateful you brought this question up. It is so important and it's not so difficult. You know how to practice metta. The problem arises from Westerners often thinking of metta practice just as the phrases, May I be well, may you be well. That's just one expression of metta practice. A lot of times, it's without words. It's resting in the feeling, resting in the care and the gentleness. When thoughts come, for example, just smile at them. Be kind to them. All of that is metta. All of that is bringing metta into awareness practice. So there is the infusion. I hope that helps, Richard.

Richard: Thank you.

Nikki: You're welcome. Thank you for that very important question. Let me read a reflection for the benefit of many beings.

Catherine says, "I was one of those practitioners. The Dharma only started actually landing for me when I opened my heart to metta practice. It has changed everything." Yay! Thank you, Catherine. Thank you so much for sharing. That makes me so happy. Apparently others too, I see hearts.

Any other questions or reflections about today's practice as we engage together? Nima?

Nima: I really appreciated this, because I had never looked at it from that angle. The way you explained it is empowering. It's not like I'm a victim to my own ignorance. It can change today, right now, like this practice. I never looked at metta and coming to Happy Hour as planting seeds of that karma to change my constitution, or however I am. So this was a really helpful way of looking at the practice. Very soft, very tender, kind. Thank you.

Nikki: Thank you, Nima. So well said. I'm rejoicing in your insight and in the beauty of your expression of your insight. Thank you for that gift, that's so lovely. Indeed, yes, we are changing our karma every moment through every intention, thought, and action. It's so powerful, empowering. Happy Hour is a way to shift, to plant seeds.

Any other reflections you'd like to share? You can also type them in chat. If you type them to me privately, I'll only read the reflection. If they're typed to everyone, I will read your name also, it'll be public. Silence is always welcome too. Complaints, questions, if something didn't work, it's all warmly welcome.

Tell you what, let's shift and turn and engage with each other in small groups. The invitation for the small groups is, you can share about your practice if you wish, any insights, aha moments, challenges, or maybe about karma and metta—this relationship of exploring karma in this new empowering way. Again, as always, you're asked to just share from your own experience. Not serving as a facilitator for the group, just speak from your own experience. Let other people speak from their own experience or say pass. People can say pass and hold presence. It's all okay, they can be silent. Perfectly fine. No one is forced to say anything. You can hold that with kindness.

So each person will share one nugget. Let's go reverse alphabetical order just for the fun of it, according to your first name. Say one nugget, then the next person, and be kind to yourself. Be kind to each other. You're planting seeds in the small group. Remember, you're planting seeds of karma in the small groups.

I'm going to create the rooms. Be kind to yourself, be kind to each other, and here we go.

[Break for small groups]

Okay, the rooms are closed and everybody's back. We've got just about a minute. If there are any insights, anything that came up from the group, I'd love to hear, especially if you haven't spoken. Jamie says it was wonderful. Do you want to say more, Jamie? Please raise your hand. Or anybody else, I don't want to put you on the spot. Anybody wants to say just one word, what arose, any insights? Going once, going twice. You can also type in chat.

Oh, I do see a hand. I guess I missed the hand, sorry. I see lots of hands now, oh my goodness! All right, Catherine, please.

Catherine: Just that I'm recognizing it's not just seeds of loving-kindness that I water here, but also flowers and saplings and big trees.

Nikki: Sweet. Thank you, Catherine. That was beautiful and poetic. Given that you're outside and I see all the saplings and the big trees behind you, that is so sweet. Thank you. Fred, please.

Fred: Well, two of us in our group had identical thoughts during the meditation. We were both thinking that well, this is what we want to do with the rest of our life, however long it might be. We want to be kind. We want to find the means to do this in a persistent way, as though this was now our post-career career. It was kind of wonderful to think that the same words went through both of our heads. It was a nice communion together.

Nikki: Sweet. Thank you for sharing that. I'm lighting up hearing that from you both. Yeah. Vicki, quickly?

Vicki: We were saying that you are a wonderful model, and that it's humanly possible maybe because we see this shown to us with you.

Nikki: Oh, thank you. You're very kind. And I think what comes up is I want to say, "not me, not mine." It's the practice. So it is possible. I have definitely changed over the years and the decades. This is what I love to do, to keep cultivating for the benefit of all beings including myself. So thank you, you're very kind.

Mary says "gratitude." One word, gratitude.

Dave says, "Our karma is always subject to revision. Yes, we can always choose a wiser perspective." Thank you, Dave. And that was a quote from Peter Hershock^[9]. Beautiful.

So thank you all. We have gone way over time, my apologies. But these were such rich and beautiful reflections tonight. It was just lovely to hear all about and share and revel in the planting of seeds and seedlings and big trees. Take good care. Thank you all for your practice. Thank you, thank you, thank you. For the benefit of yourselves and all beings everywhere. May all beings be well, may all beings be free. Thank you all.