Guided Meditation: Cultivating Compassion

This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Practicing Compassion. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

The following talk was given by Diana Clark at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on December 17, 2020. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Introduction

Good morning, good morning. Or maybe it's afternoon where you are, or even evening. Wherever you are, sending a warm, warm welcome.

So, some of you may be wondering, "Wait, this isn't Gil." Yes, so for those of you who don't know me, I'm Diana Clark. I'm sitting in for Gil this morning, who is having cataract surgery. May that go well, and may the recovery go well.

I'm going to be continuing with the series on the Brahmavihāras^[1], and specifically on compassion. Today we're going to practice with and talk a little bit about cultivating compassion. I'll say for me that this is a beautiful aspect of Buddhist practice that sometimes doesn't get the recognition or respect that it needs. This whole idea that we can cultivate heart qualities; we don't have to leave it up to chance, or leave it up to getting all the right conditions in place. Instead, this is something that we can do to make it more likely that we will respond to our life with some warm-heartedness and some warmth. Of course, our lives just unfold differently if we show up with some warmth and openness. So that's a little bit of the journey we'll take together today.

Guided Meditation: Cultivating Compassion

To begin practice this morning, we'll begin by establishing ourselves and settling into a meditation posture that feels comfortable. Find a posture that has some alertness and some uprightness, either literally or figuratively. Maybe it's best for your body if you're not sitting upright, but perhaps there's a way in which there could be a sense of uprightness, or an energetic sense that's not rigid. Allow a quality of relaxation or softness into the posture.

Settle into the body with a sense of balance. Feel the dignity of the balance, with wakefulness and softness, relaxation, and a sense of openness or spaciousness if that's available.

Take a moment to feel into the simple sensations. Maybe it's the backside connecting with the chair or cushion. Keeping it simple: what does it actually feel like right now to be sitting here? Maybe tune into the sensations of contact of the feet and the legs touching the floor, the chair, the cushion, or the mat. Feeling grounded, feeling connected.

Maybe bring some attention to the hands. How do they feel right now? Tuning into those sensations, you might notice what the hands are touching. Is it soft or rough? In a really simple way, just noticing. Notice the sensations, maybe inside the hands, or the sensations of simply having hands. Maybe there's tingling, maybe there's pressure, whatever it might be. Tune into the sensations in your hands in a really simple way. No need to strain or strive, just keep it easy and relaxed.

Then, bring that same quality of attention to the sensations of breathing. Feel the movement in the chest, the abdomen, or maybe the nose. Feel the rhythm of breathing.

It's natural that the mind will get lost in thought. Just very simply, gently begin again with the sensations of breathing. When we find ourselves lost in thought, we don't have to make it a problem. With some warmth and gentleness, we receive the sensations of the breath. Just opening to that, feeling the expansion and contraction, the stretching, the pulling.

Now that we have a certain foundation with being connected to the body, to the sensations of the body in the present moment, we can do some loving-kindness. With all these Brahmavihāra practices, we start where it's easy.

Bring to mind a lovable being—someone for whom it's natural, easy, and uncomplicated to feel warmth, care, and goodwill towards. Some people use their imaginations for kittens, puppies, or babies. [Laughter] I can't help but smile when I say these. Or maybe there's someone in your life that makes your heart sing in some kind of way when you bring them to mind. Maybe it's not someone that you know so well, but someone who has had a big impact on your life that you feel very appreciative of: a coach, a mentor, a teacher, a leader, a friend.

Bring the lovable being to mind and connect with your warmth, your care, your kindness, your mettā^[2]—love for this person, for this being.

Some people find it helpful to connect by using the imagination and the image of the lovable being. Some people find it helpful to place some attention in the heart area, allowing that to soften, open, and radiate. Some people find it helpful to use phrases to help connect with the sense of warmth and care. You can use phrases like: "May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease." Connecting with the lovable being with love, goodwill, warmth, benevolence, respect, and care.

And then, to do some compassion practice, we can recognize that all beings have difficulties—whether it's disappointments in their lives, pain, discomfort, or loss of all kinds.

Imagine the lovable being having some difficulties. Maybe not the most tragic or difficult—again, we start where it's easy. Connect with the tenderness, the care that arises when we imagine, consider, or remember the difficulties the lovable being is experiencing or has experienced. Again, there's no need to go to the most difficult, the most troubling. Can we connect with both the lovable being and with a sense that they're having dukkha^[3], stress, or discomfort?

Tune into and become sensitive to the tenderness that arises. Some people find it helpful to connect with the image using the mind's eye, so to speak, which helps create the conditions for the tenderness in the heart that's already there to come forth. Some people find it helpful to tune into the bodily experience of this tenderness towards the lovable being who's having difficulties, perhaps feeling it in the heart center. And some people find it helpful to say phrases to help them connect with this compassion. We might say something like: "May you be free from suffering. May you know peace."

"May you be free from suffering. May you know peace."

We do compassion practice as a way to tenderize the heart, in some kind of way, so that we can show up for ourselves and show up for others with openness, warmth, and care. This turns out to be transformative both for ourselves and for others that we meet.

So, may our practicing compassion together this morning be for the benefit of all beings everywhere.