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Guided Meditation: Compassion 360 degrees

Okay, hello again. It seems like I got disconnected from the internet. I'm going to give a moment for folks to come back. Well, conditions are like this right now. Challenges. This is a great lesson to practice. This is a great opportunity to practice compassion for the difficulties. Here I was, happily guiding a meditation on my own, and here you were struggling and disconnected. What happened? Instead of coming up with cases in our minds to have compassion 360 degrees, here is an example. There are so many different ways our minds can react. And, of course, compassion is available. This is difficult. This is difficult to be cut off in the middle of this meditation, in the middle of our community time. Compassion for the challenges, and keeping our equanimity, keeping our stability.

So let's begin again. Let's begin again. Every moment a new beginning. Every moment a new beginning.

I have a sense that the connection was lost pretty early on. So we're exploring today, we're practicing compassion 360 degrees for all beings everywhere, including ourselves. Let's begin again. Each moment a new arrival, each moment a new beginning.

Let's arrive in our bodies. Let's settle. Feeling our breath, and feeling this body settling. Feeling this body settling with kindness. Kindness towards itself, and kindness towards others. Kindness towards circumstances. Compassion towards oneself, others, and circumstances. Things are challenging in this human life. Surprises, change, things don't always work as we expect them to. Can we have a sense of stability, feeling our feet on the earth, our sit bones on the cushion? And breathing. Breathing.

And having kindness, compassion for this being who is me. This body who is me. If it felt confused or uncertain or frustrated. Or if there are any challenges in the body, pain, and your other emotions. Connecting with them, extend the stability of kindness, the stability of care.

Perhaps imagine that there is this bright orb of light in your chest, in your body, that shines this golden yellow light of care. This golden yellow light of soothing kindness, compassion. And whatever, whomever this light comes in contact with, it brings peace, it brings ease.

Notice that this light in your chest first and foremost shines through your body. Touching your whole body, all the areas of your body, with this soothing, compassionate light. And then it shines out.

Perhaps imagine a curtain around you. The curtain is opened 360 degrees for this practice, this way of exploring it. The curtain is opened in front of you, and you acknowledge the compassionate light streaming to all the beings to the front of you. And it's not so much an effortful shining, but this light shines on its own to the ends of the earth and beyond. Letting your light shine.

As if the curtain now around you is opened up further, and the area to your right. All the beings to your right-hand side. All humans, all animals. Two-legged beings, birds, winged beings, all fish, insects, all sentient beings. May they all be well. May they be free from challenges, suffering. May they have the resources they need. May they meet difficulties with ease.

And now putting the curtain to the back. Feeling this light energy of goodwill, kindness permeating behind you. All the beings. May they be free from sorrow behind me. All the beings behind me. Spreading goodwill, compassion, not just in front of you but behind you.

And now to the left side, imagine the curtain opening further, disappearing. All the beings to your left. All the beings to my left, may they be well. May they be free from sorrow. May they have all the resources they need, be well and happy.

And feeling also this light shining above. All the beings above me, and all the birds, all beings seen and unseen. All the beings below me, through the earth, all the insects on the other side and beyond.

All the beings all around me, 360 degrees. This light of compassion shining out, and it's not a forced shining. You relax into it. Just relax and let your light shine.

Acknowledging, witnessing this light of compassion shining. Touching your own body first, touching this body of yours as it shines out of your heart. Compassion for yourself first, and then equally shining out to all beings everywhere.

Imagining that this light, when it touches any being, any person, any animal, planet earth, brings ease. It brings goodness, healing. Your care, your compassion flowing with ease.

When doing this practice, it's okay to imagine or to see with your heart, your mind's eye, different beings, different categories of beings. All babies, may they be free from challenges, from suffering, may they be well. All older adults, at ease, be free from sorrow and suffering.

May all people, all adults in the middle, have ease, freedom from stress. May they have everything they need to live happily.

May all birds, all birds everywhere, have ease. May they be free from sorrow, challenges, pain. All four-legged animals, at ease. Freedom from pain.

And continue as you wish, your own categories. Slowly, gently, not to get overwhelmed.

May all beings everywhere be free from suffering, be free from sorrow, have ease in the midst of their challenges.

Acknowledging that all the beings we've been practicing with during this past week, not just yourself, are included in all beings too. Bring to mind your dear friend or benefactor, as well as the neutral person, as well as the person you're having challenges with.

May all of them, all of us, all of us beings on this planet and beyond, all of us have peace and ease in the midst of our challenges. Be free from sorrow, suffering. May all of us be happy and have ease.

And may the goodness of my practice, our co-created goodness, be the condition for the freedom of all beings everywhere, including myself.

Thank you all, thank you for your practice. As we transition the recordings, if you'd like to put a word about what's arising for you in this moment from this practice of cultivating compassion for all beings everywhere, you are welcome to.

Compassion (5/5) The Invisible Force Field of Compassion

Greetings everyone, and we just practiced together, cultivating compassion 360 degrees for all beings. I asked you on YouTube to put a word in if you like about what's arising for you, and there are lots of beautiful reflections. I'll share a few of them: uplifted, joy, happiness, gratitude, hope and gratitude, radiating light of mettā^[1] 360 degrees in all dimensions, spring seeds, humanity.

Thank you so much for these reflections. It's very common, actually, for this practice of compassion 360 degrees—compassion for all beings everywhere—to bring a sense of expansiveness. To have a sense of lightness, a sense of ease, a sense of just joy. For it to bring a sense of joy and uplift and an expansiveness. So if any day you're feeling particularly heavy, this is a great practice to do to just expand the heart and feel expansive in its care.

Also, you can do this practice in daily life. It's so happy-making. If you're going for a walk or if you're going for a drive, every being you pass by, you share your kindness. You share your goodwill, you share your compassion, and imagine: just like me, them too. Just like me, they suffer. Just like me, they have challenges. Just like me. May they have ease. May they have all the resources they need. It just expands the heart.

Otherwise, the mode we tend to operate in as human beings is, evolutionarily, what we have inherited. We tend to be in our own mind, in our own world, thinking about our own problems and our own "me, me, me." It's just the way that we run, evolutionarily. So if we do this practice for all beings everywhere, we tend to become less self-centered in some good ways. Our perspective isn't so narrowed all the time.

Of course, we have to consider our lives, our problems, and our issues. Yes, of course, we are our own primary concern. It is absolutely appropriate for this being who is me to be of primary concern for me, and yet sometimes our lens becomes far too tight, just focusing on "me, me." Sometimes it's "poor me, why me? Oh, again, me." Instead, we can expand. We can really expand over all beings on this planet. We're on this planet together. With Earth Day today, doing this practice together also brings this sense of, "Yes, all of us together on this earth. May we have ease from the suffering and pain of climate change that impacts all of us."

There are a few different things I want to share with you today. One of them is to come back to the word "boundaries," as we talked about yesterday. I do want to expand on that a little bit. And before we go there, there's one other thing I wanted to say about this last category, this category of all beings.

Just as a review, we have been practicing in concentric circles. Starting with ourselves, then the benefactor or dear friend, the neutral being, the person we had entanglements or challenges with (which was yesterday), and then all beings. With the "all beings" category, of course, all of these previous categories are included, as I brought in towards the end. It is helpful to acknowledge that.

There are different ways that this practice is done. Today we explored two ways very briefly, and given that we had a YouTube glitch earlier, it became even briefer. One way is directionality. Traditionally, it's to the North, South, East, and West, and Northeast and Northwest, and all these directions, and up and down. It could be the six dimensions or it could be eight dimensions around you, or in front of you and behind you. There are different ways to do this.

Also, you can do this with categories, and you can go through categories in your mind. All babies, all adults, all adolescents, all two-legged animals, all four-legged animals. There are so many different categories. All birds, all ducks, all fish, or even finer categories. There are many different ways to do this practice in order for the mind not to numb out. To not numb out and say, "Oh yeah, all beings. Wow, I don't even know how to get there." You play around with it: "Oh yeah, all crickets, may they be well." Whatever categories you use, you can be playful with it too.

However, be careful not to get overwhelmed, because it can be overwhelming—like, "Wow, so many categories." The mind can become a little too full. If that happens, then it's best to just lean into the shining of this light of goodwill. Just resting with the light and letting it shine, the shining of goodwill.

And again, as a review, but just to keep this in mind: the practice of compassion is where kindness meets suffering. If we're practicing compassion, there needs to be an acknowledgment of challenges, but without falling into it, without it becoming empathic distress. I talked about empathic distress as a near enemy on the second day of this week. But if we're practicing compassion, there is an acknowledgment of the suffering of a being, and holding that with care and love. Instead of just mettā, which is goodwill—imagining the being in a neutral state—here we do touch into the suffering. And again, with climate change, it could be quite easy to imagine, "Yeah, this being is impacted in ways seen and unseen." But be careful not to fall into grief and fall into empathic distress, because that is not helpful. That is a near enemy, and it's also not pity.

Let me turn to boundaries. Actually, this last day is a perfect day to talk about boundaries. I mentioned this earlier, but the culmination of this practice, the promise of compassion specifically as we're cultivating it this week—one of the tests mentioned in the Visuddhimagga^[2], The Path of Purification manual, which is a thousand-page practice manual, sets a scenario in olden times.

Imagine you're in a carriage, and bandits or thieves come and stop the carriage. In the carriage, there's you, your benefactor or dear being, your neutral person, and the person you've had challenges with. The four of you are present, and the question is: which of you are you going to give up? You have to think in your heart about who you're going to give up.

If you've practiced compassion to its culmination, to its fruition, when you consider who you're going to give up, you think: "Myself? Well, my life is dear. How about the person I have challenges with? Actually, no, now they're like me. I love them as much as I do myself." Again, we're not condoning their actions, but there's a sense of common humanity. This is called the dissolving of the boundaries in this test, because then there is no boundary. The boundaries essentially dissolve. That's the culmination of this practice.

Now coming back to this word in Western psychological canons: "boundaries." "You have to have healthy boundaries," etc. I can see the idea that that can be helpful, and yet maybe there's another word that is more helpful for me. For me, when I think of the word "boundary," there's a sense of, "Oh yes, there is a wall, and I'm kind of weak. I'm defending myself, like: 'Don't come here, this is my boundary.'"

Whereas the way that I've seen the practice of mettā and compassion really shift and change this idea of actually having healthy space in relationships that may not be helpful or supportive, is this sense of the strength of compassion. As I was inviting you to feel into today, there is the strength of this light, this power, this uprightness. There is a fierceness that cares about oneself and cares about the other being. It's like a force field. It's like a force field of compassion.

It's like saying, "Yes, I care about myself so much that... yes, you can be around. It's not that I'm creating a wall between you and me. But out of compassion, not out of hatred, not out of fear, I'm not putting up a wall. Rather, there's a sense of: you cannot hurt me. There's this force field of self-compassion. I care about myself so much, and I care about you so much." This force field is invisible; it's not a boundary wall that you're putting up.

For me, this works better, and it's also aligned with the culmination of this practice, which is the dissolving of boundaries. I can't put up boundaries and dissolve boundaries at the same time; for me as practice, it doesn't make sense. But this uprightness of fierce compassion from me and the other person that we've been entangled with—it's giving each other space out of love, not out of hatred, not out of fear. It's a different way. The impact or effect may be similar in some ways, but it actually feels very differently. It's not avoidant, it's not pushing away. It's more upright, and it's very loving, very full.

I've explored both of these before, and this feels just so much more nourishing. I invite you to explore this and see if it works for you. This is something that works for me and I've discovered in my own practice.

Dear practitioners, it's been delightful. It's been a joy to practice with you this whole week. Thank you so much for your practice, for your cultivation, for your dedication to this beautiful community. Thank you. May you cultivate compassion for yourself, for all beings everywhere. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free, including ourselves.

Thanks, everyone. Maybe see you at happy hour at 6:00 PM California time every weekday. See you then. Take care, bye.