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Guided Meditation: Mindful Kindness

So my friends, welcome. Welcome to our meditation session together. Meditation is a way that we care for ourselves, and in doing so, we care for others. We care for ourselves, and meditation is a time to heal, to rest, to open, and to discover the inner harmony and health that comes when we're no longer in conflict with ourselves. We're no longer chasing things, running away from things, pushing things away, or grabbing hold and holding tight—when all those things bottle up our energy, limit us, and tighten us.

To sit here and care for ourselves, allowing all the conflicts and tensions to fall away, and to sit here in a healthy, present, open way disposes us to more likely meet people in a way that cares for their humanity, cares for their humanness, and cares for their life. We're more likely to meet people without conflict, pushing away, holding on, hostility, or greed.

It is understood that this practice we do is really meant for caring for self and for caring for others. Some people emphasize one more than the other. Some are inspired by the idea that meditation is a way to make us more helpful for the world around us, deeply helpful in the sense that we know the healthiest ways and we know something of what is possible for happiness. Some people do it for their own sake, for their own well-being and happiness. Even though the choice might lean toward one or the other, you can't separate the two; they come hand in hand. As we benefit others this way, we benefit ourselves. As we benefit ourselves this way, we benefit others.

So today, perhaps we sit here to benefit in all directions, offering our care, our friendship, and our friendly attentiveness to our breathing. The breathing is a place where we offer our care, our kindness, and our compassion. It is a training ground for how we can be present in a way that is clear, healthy, open, and directed. It's not just a matter of learning how to stay with the breathing; a lot of it has to do with learning how we can be with the breathing.

As we sit here today, you might experiment and call upon your capacity for kindness, tenderness, compassion, truthfulness, and clear, unconflicted presence. Really be here, using this as a training ground for a way of being with self and others that allows for a deep movement toward spiritual and psychological health.

Adjust your body into a meditation posture that is suitable for you to be alert, and also to meet yourself. Be with yourself as if you're going to be with a good friend who is maybe a little bit troubled and needs your attention and care. Gently close your eyes, sensing and being with yourself.

Check in. Without an agenda, just check in with yourself—your body, your mind, your heart. How are you?

Take a few long, slow, deep breaths. What you are offering as you take a deep breath is attentiveness. Be attentive to the body's experience of breathing. The long exhale is a time to let go of the world, of your thoughts and concerns, just for these minutes, so you can be more fully here and present for yourself.

Let your breathing return to normal, and for a few of your exhales, relax the different parts of your body. Soften. As you exhale, perhaps there can be a quieting, a gentling of your mind. A quieting of your thinking. A calming of the mind.

Gather your attention around the body's experience of breathing. Some people feel it more in the belly moving, some people in the chest, and some people feel more of the air going in and out through the nostrils. For some, it is a global experience that includes all of those areas. Wherever it is, be with the body's experience of breathing.

Rather than the idea that you are now going to focus and stay concentrated on the breathing, the focus is more on sustaining a friendly, kind attention on the breathing. Approach it as you would if you were being with a friend who was troubled, sick, or challenged, and you were going to stay and be present with them.

Focus on that offering of your kind, caring presence to your body breathing. You are not interfering with the breathing, just as you wouldn't interfere with your friend, but you are there to accompany it. Be present with a friendly, kind, and caring presence that says, "Here, my friend, I am with you."

Gently, quietly attend to the breathing. Do so with kindness, compassion, care, and gentleness. Really do attend. Stay there. Stay nurturing yourself with the simple experience of breathing in and breathing out.

As we come to the end of the sitting, turn your gaze outward to the people in your life, your neighborhood, your communities, towns, cities, and country. Offer that gaze a kindness or friendliness, a gentle caringness for all beings.

Consider how any benefits you received from today's meditation—any ways in which you feel calmer or better—can translate or be applied to support the lives of others today. What can you do to make the lives of others a little better? It may be as simple as smiling, small acts of kindness, small words of appreciation, small words of thanks, or well-wishing. Or perhaps bigger things.

Because of the mutual way in which caring for self and caring for others reinforce each other, they benefit each other and grow together. If you care for yourself, you care for others. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings everywhere be free, and may we contribute to that possibility.

Dharmette: Stories - The Golden Deer

I will offer today another story from the Jataka^[1] tales, details from the former births and lives of the Buddha. They are fables, but they carry the values that Indian Buddhists of ancient times had and wanted to convey to others. You get a very different feeling for Buddhism from the values in these stories—how people relate to each other and the virtues that are emphasized. You get a sense of what Buddhism emphasizes regarding how to live a life, as opposed to what to believe or understand philosophically.

They belong to the values of another time and place, and sometimes aspects of them are a little hard for us in the modern world to appreciate, but some of it is universal. This particular fable is about a golden deer.

This deer was magnificent. It had golden fur, antlers that were shining silver, and eyes that were like sparkling, radiant gems. The deer was very wise, but because of its great beauty, it was often searched for. Hunters wanted to capture it as a trophy. So, it would go into deep woods and hide in inaccessible places to be safe. It was content being there because the deer liked to meditate. It would sit there and meditate, becoming wiser and kinder in the process.

So there the deer was in its hiding place. It happened that the thicket of woods where it hid was close to a river. Upriver at a city, a wealthy merchant died and left his wealth to his son. The son, who was a bit of a playboy and gambler, started to spend the money extravagantly on all kinds of things. Pretty soon, he had not only spent all the money, but he had fallen into deep debt.

The creditors came after the son to get their money back. Not having any money or anything to offer, the son had a little trick up his sleeve—an ill-thought-out plan he made up on the spot. He told them, "Come, I have money for you. I have a treasure that's buried in the sand next to the river. We'll go down there, dig it up, and you'll have your money back."

The crowd of creditors followed him down to the river. As they were walking along a steep sand embankment that went down to the river, the young man intentionally slipped in the sand and fell into the raging water. His plan was to be swept away so that the creditors would think he had died in a tragic accident and would stop chasing him for their money.

In a sense, that's what happened. He slipped into the river and got swept away. But it turned out the river was quite strong, and there was no way to get back to the shore. It was a big, wide river with raging water that carried him a long way. After a while, he realized, "This is serious. I can't get back to shore. I'm going to drown. I'm cold, things are difficult here, and there are greater rapids downriver." So the young man started calling out for help.

The golden deer heard his cries. The deer said, "Well, as long as I'm alive, I'm not going to allow anyone to die that I can save." He dashed out of his thicket in the woods, jumped into the river, and swam out to the young man. He ducked under the water, came up underneath the man, picked him up on his back, and swam back to the shore.

By this time, the young man was freezing, hypothermia had set in, and he was quite weak. The deer brought him into his secret thicket and, over the next couple of days, nursed him back to health and well-being. He brought him fruits and nuts from the forest, offered him water, and kept him warm.

When the young man revived and felt better, he thanked the deer, saying, "This is quite something. Is there anything I can do in return?"

The deer replied, "Yes, I will take you back out to the road so you can return to your city, but please promise that you will not tell anyone where I am, so I can stay safe here."

The young man agreed. "Yes, I promise." So the deer carried him out through the thickets of the forest and showed him the road to the city. The boy then returned.

No one recognized him upon his return, or perhaps he ended up in the capital of the country. Now, it happened that after a while, the queen of the country had a dream. She dreamt of a great golden deer with silver antlers and gem-like eyes, who was incredibly wise. She was intrigued and desirous of that wisdom, wanting to become a student of this deer.

She asked her ministers to find the deer and bring it to her so she could learn from its wisdom, but no one knew where it was. A proclamation was sent throughout the town, announcing that anyone who could find the golden deer would receive a large chest of treasure.

The young man heard this and said, "Oh, I know where the golden deer is." Breaking his promise to the deer, he went to the queen and told her, "I know where it is, and I can bring you there."

The queen assembled her soldiers, and they went into the woods, though they were perhaps a little afraid. Armed with spears and arrows, they began to circle the place where the deer was hiding, making a lot of noise. The deer could see the spears, arrows, and soldiers through the trees and realized, "Oh, I am here to be captured."

In a stately, calm manner, the deer got up and walked right to the queen. The queen was a bit frightened by this massive deer walking up to her and pulled out her bow and arrow to protect herself. But there was something so non-threatening about the deer's approach that she couldn't let the arrow fly.

The deer stopped and asked, "What are you doing here? Who brought you here? How did you find me?"

The queen answered, "Oh, it's this man here who showed us the way and showed us where you were."

The deer replied, "There is an ancient saying: It is better to rescue a log from the river than someone like you."

The queen didn't understand. "What are you talking about, not saving someone?"

The deer explained, "This man was drowning in the river. I plunged into the great river, fought the rapids, brought him back to the shore, and nursed him back to health. He promised he would never tell anyone where I was, for my safety."

The queen was horrified to hear both that this animal had risked its life to save a human being, and that the young man had betrayed his solemn promise. She took her bow and arrow and aimed it at the young man, shouting, "You're a traitor! You betrayed him, and this is terrible what you did!"

"No, don't shoot! Don't shoot!" the deer pleaded. "You promised the young man that you would give him a treasure if he brought you to me. He brought you to me, so he should be given the treasure. But maybe you can banish him from the queendom."

And so that's what the queen did. The man left with his treasure, never to return to that country.

Then the queen said, "Please come with me to the palace. I would like to learn from you and your teachings. I will offer you a wish as my payment—any wish you want."

The deer replied, "Please pass a law that no one is allowed to injure, hurt, or kill any animal in this queendom."

The queen agreed. "I offered you a wish, and that is what you take. That will be the new law."

They went back to the palace, where the deer taught the queen, her ministers, and many people of the capital the virtues of kindness, friendliness, generosity, truthfulness, and all the wonderful virtues.

All went well, except that the animals started eating the farmers' crops. The farmers couldn't chase them away, injure them, or kill them to stop them, which caused a great uproar.

So the great golden deer went out into the world and told all the animals, "Don't eat the people's food. They need to be able to grow their food to support themselves. They are not going to kill you, but you must not take their plants and crops." The animals agreed, and in this way, the kingdom became vegetarian, and the animals remained safe.

There are many interesting little lessons in this story. It may be a fantastical fable, but the value of helping others, preserving life, saving life, and dedicating oneself—even at the risk of one's own life—to help others is a huge value of ancient Buddhism. You see the tremendous importance of truthfulness: speaking the truth and adhering to it, especially when making a promise. There is also the value of not harming. There seems to have been a trend in certain parts of ancient Indian Buddhism emphasizing vegetarianism so that no animals get killed or injured.

Just as the deer stayed in its quiet, secret place so it could cultivate its great compassion, care, and wisdom, may you go to your secret place of meditation. May it be a place where you can develop your own kindness, compassion, truthfulness, and care for this world. May you be the great golden deer that is wise.

Thank you.