--- ai_generation_date: '2026-07-26' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2021-08-18' mp3_url: null speakers: - speaker_name: Nikki Mirghafori speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/229 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Happy Hour: Healing Waters of Metta in a Burning World' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/14037 video_unavailable: false location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: IW3W6z-Awkw imprecise_upload_date: '2022-05-04' title: 'Happy Hour: Healing Waters of Metta in a Burning World' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3W6z-Awkw --- # Happy Hour: Healing Waters of Metta in a Burning World - [Nikki Mirghafori](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/229) _This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._ ## [Happy Hour: Healing Waters of Metta in a Burning World](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/14037) ## Introduction So, hello and formally welcome to Happy Hour to all of you. For today's practice, practicing metta[^1] together—metta for ourselves, for all beings—I wanted to take inspiration from what is called the Fire Sermon[^2]. The Buddha in the Fire Sermon says, "Practitioners, all is burning." And what is the all that is burning? And then he goes through and lists all the ways we experience life in the world: the eye is burning, forms of the eye, eye consciousness, eye contact, whatever is felt, etc. Ear, nose, tongue, body, and then mind. The mind door. The mind is burning. Ideas are burning. Mind consciousness is burning. Mind contact is burning. Whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neutral that arises in contact is burning. Burning with what? Burning with greed, hatred, and confusion. So, I love that sutta[^3] and the teaching that all is burning. It feels like sometimes our world is burning. Burning externally, sometimes burning internally. And speaking from California, where there are fires literally burning, and there's smoke here today with windows closed, with air unhealthy. And again, the situation in the world. The situation in the world feels like there is burning. There is burning in the world, and of course, internally with what is arising. We're all living through a pandemic, all of us together. None of us are immune to the burning of the challenges internally in our lives, in the lives of people we care about. So metta, metta is considered to be cooling. Healing, healing waters of metta for a world that is burning internally, externally, all that is burning. So we offer metta to cool our hearts, to cool our minds, and to offer our goodness, our cooling, healing, comforting intentions. Gifts in any way we can, by cultivating our heart, offering this cooling, healing, loving-kindness, metta to a world that is burning. So setting our intention for offering this healing, cooling metta for ourselves and all beings today, and with that, let's start our practice together. ## Guided Meditation Settling into our seat. If you need to move, if you need to lie down, or sit up straighter, whatever is appropriate. This always will start with settling in the mind, the body, with the breath. Inviting a settling of the mind as if it were a snow globe that had been shaken, all the thoughts twirling around. Setting it down. Letting it all settle. Just being breathed. Just being simply breathed in this moment. Not pushing, not trying so hard. Putting it all down. Putting down trying so hard, not needed. Not needed. Just resting. A moment of refuge. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Taking refuge in the simplicity of this moment with the breath. And if thoughts arise, it's okay. No need for judgment. Seeing them clearly and inviting them to settle. Putting down the snow globe again and again, letting it settle. With the body, with the breath. Here, just here. Putting down what's not needed. Putting down whatever is not needed. Just here, with the breath, with the body. Settling, arriving. Landing, soothing. Calming. Connecting with the entirety of the breath, as if you are a surfer surfing the breath in this body. Just here. Now if you like, just as we're staying embodied, feeling the sensations of the breath throughout the body breathing, what if we imagined ourselves being soaked in cooling waters in a cooling lake? A cooling pool, an inviting pool of water, whatever is inviting. Cooling, calming, healing. Soothing any fires within. Cooling, healing metta. This well-wishing body of water, this body of water presenting metta, kindness, goodwill, care, love. As if our body was inflamed from within, as if there was inflammation. Soothing, cooling waters of metta. "May I be well." Offering us healing. Holding us with care, with goodwill. This immersion, see what works best for you. Soaking in these magical waters of metta. Magical, cooling waters of metta. Bringing healing to your heart, to your mind, to your body. Soothing, calming the flames within the heart and mind. It's okay. It's okay, dear. It's okay. Cooling, healing. It's okay. As if the magical waters of metta are whispering, "May you be safe" to you. "May you be healthy. May you be happy. May you have ease." And you're receiving. Receiving the goodwill, the metta, good wishes, these magical healing waters. Safe. Healthy. Peace[^5]. Now at any point where you feel the metta has supported, soothed you sufficiently, and the desire comes to share it with others, don't rush this next step. And if you need much longer for metta for yourself in these magical metta waters, stay. Stay soaking, receiving the good wish, the goodwill, the good wishes. Whenever you're ready, I'll share this with you. You can always come back. You can try sharing it with others, and then come back to yourself, and go back to others, come back to yourself. Why not? Let's try that. So bringing to mind someone who's dear to you. As if you were holding this gentle, gentle garden hose, a magical garden hose that has a sprinkle or a magical sprinkler, ever so gentle. The person you have in mind may not even know it, but you share, you pour these soothing, healing, magical waters of metta, your wishes, onto them, soaking them with goodness. Whatever is burning them, whatever is burning their heart, their mind, and their body. You wish them well. "May you be well. May you be safe, happy, healthy, have ease. May these healing, soothing, magical waters of my goodwill"—or this goodwill, this metta, this water isn't so much yours, you're just sharing it, sharing it generously. This inexhaustible supply of metta, as it soaks them, it brings them ease. Frees them from the burning of suffering. "May you be free from what burns you, dear one. I wish you well." Keep soaking, watering them. At any point you can go back to soaking yourself either in the pool of water, or turning the direction of the water maybe covers both of you. Maybe both of you in this magical hose imagery get soaked by the goodwill, the healing, soothing goodwill of metta. In your own time, sharing the healing waters of metta with others who are near and dear to you, and yourself, going back and forth as you wish. "May you be well. May you be free from whatever is burning you. May I be well. May I be free from whatever is burning my heart, mind, and body." Now directing, directing the metta wishes, healing metta wishes as portrayed in this metaphor, the magical healing waters of metta, to all of those who are dear to you and yourself, sprinkling upon all of you. Receiving, receiving. Then considering all beings in a particular area, maybe a country or region that are particularly suffering right now, burning. Offering your metta wishes for well-being, freedom from suffering. As if your metta was rain in the dry, hot, arid land, cooling, moistening. "May you be well. May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you have ease. May you be healed from the fire burning. May you be free from the sorrow, the suffering." Offering the rain of metta, cooling, healing. And offering this metta, the healing, soothing, cooling rain to the entire earth, all beings everywhere, yourself included. Soothing what's burning. "May all beings everywhere be safe. May all beings everywhere be well. May all beings everywhere, including ourselves, be free." Thank you, everyone, for your practice. ## Reflections and Q&A So, the world is burning internally, externally. Offering the wishes of metta. Offering the cooling, healing wishes of metta internally, externally. So the floor is open for any reflections, for any thoughts, any questions, anything you've noticed, anything that came up for you. And again, if you raise your hand, your Zoom hand, especially if you haven't shared in a while, that'd be lovely. Consider it a gift to the sangha[^6] to share your practice, what you discovered, or your question, something that didn't work. And you can also type it in chat. If it's typed to everyone, I would read your name. If it's just typed to me, it will be private and I'll just read the reflection, not your name. What was this like for you? Did you have fun soaking your loved ones? Was it an image that worked for you? As I wait for you to come forth with what worked, what didn't, I'll say that that actually worked for me. It was surprisingly fun, and especially one dear being in my life was really suffering. And just feeling that this water was soothing, calming, and just the burning they have right now in their heart, in their life, that, "Ah, may this bring you ease, dear one. May this bring you freedom from this burning." It was another way to connect with the good wishes of metta and compassion for them. Patricia says, "The healing waters were delightful." That's lovely. Would you like to say more, Patricia? You don't have to, but if you do... let's see. You're welcome to unmute yourself if you wish, and if not, it's all good. Don't feel like you're on the spot. Bill says, "I found myself feeling frustrated that this exercise doesn't directly help other people. Then I realized that by transforming ourselves, we might be able to help others." Yes, well said, Bill. Well said. Right on. I especially like how there was a sense of frustration and then, "Oh, yes," and then the insight realization coming through. Beautiful. Stephanie says, "Yes, I loved soaking my loved ones. I appreciate the flexibility of my mindset and heart during this meditation, moving from aversion towards compassion." Oh, beautiful. Thanks for sharing that, Stephanie. That's lovely. And any of you who've shared, you're also welcome to unmute yourself if you wish to share more, if you like. Please. Melanie says, "I liked when the sprinkler hose was able to cover both me and my loved one." Yeah, sweet. I like that, too. And it's an inexhaustible supply; it doesn't run out. That's another idea here with this metaphor, because sometimes we feel like we have to pump it out, it's our metta, we have to give it to others and, "Oh, I'm already running dry. I'm already suffering. How can I wish others well?" It's like, hey, it's an inexhaustible supply. It can cover you, cover the others, cover both you and others, cover whole continents, countries. So, just the idea there, again, the metaphor here I'm trying to bring in, isn't for us to feel that it's ours and we're pushing it out, which can become hard, whereas it's just goodwill offered. Goodwill offered. That's one way that this metaphor can help us not get caught in the sense of scarcity of goodwill and just share it. It's not ours, here, take it. "Be well, may you be well, may you be healed. Me too." Any other reflections before we turn to practice in small groups together? One more reflection: "A good old friend of mine is in her last days." Oh, and I get emotional and teary really easily. Thanks for sharing that. "One of my best memories together was a day she brought me to some old baths in London, threw me in the cold pool after the sauna. The water images tonight were so wonderful. Thank you, Nikki." Oh, thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you. Thanks for sharing that memory. The cool after the sauna, being hot and burning, the cool refreshing pool, and this dear friend of yours who's in her last days. Thanks for sharing that with all of us. And Marianne says, "It was like finding a precious gift that I could give to my loved ones." Yay, lovely. Beautiful. And that's always available, and especially this practice is available if you feel dry. If you feel dry and like, "I don't have anything for myself or to give," guess what? It's available. Turn the faucet, the hose, any which way you want, so it's always available. So, dear ones, let's turn to practice in small groups of roughly size three or so. And the invitation is, as always, we start with 15 seconds of silent metta for ourselves, for each other, and then imagine, actually in this case tonight, that you have this metta hose that you turn onto yourself, "May I be well," and then you're soaking the people who are with you in the small groups. Just have fun with it tonight, don't be so serious. You're soaking each other with waters of metta. It's summer, you're having a metta pool party, soaking each other with metta. But also tuned into not just the fun of this image, but also the goodwill you're wishing. You're sharing cooling goodwill with them. "May you be well, dear beings who are in this small Zoom room with me." So with that, both with a playful and with a heart full of metta, let's engage with each other. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. Here we go. _[Break for small group practice]_ Welcome back, everyone. So we have a few minutes for any reflections that might have come up. I see some smiling faces, so please don't be shy. It'd be lovely to hear your voice if you're willing to put it in the space, especially if you haven't shared in a while. So yeah, let's pull forward those whom you haven't shared in a long time, and pull back those who have. Your reflections are important. What did you discover discussing with others, with sangha, with fellow practitioners about this practice? Kim: "I enjoyed hearing all the metaphors and the different kinds of dryness and moisture. Susan was in the group, she had ridden her bike to a location, was leaning against a tree, and talked about so you could see the tree that was quite dry, and talked about moisture coming out of the earth. And Terrence was talking about feeling dry when he came into it, and what a healing metta it was, what a practice it was. And so I really liked that dryness and moisture. And for myself, I had all kinds of different sorts of moisture, ocean and hose and heavy mist. So it was very enjoyable, the meditation and the group." Sweet, thanks so much for sharing. Thank you. As I hear you talk about it, actually, I feel the moisture seeping through my body, and then the heart is like, "Oh, so soothing, so healing to hear it reflected back in these different ways." Thank you for that. Yeah, lovely, lovely. Yeah, you also named this feeling dry coming in tonight, I think you said someone came in tonight feeling dry like, "Oh yes, yes, it's feeling moistened, our hearts feeling moistened." It's lovely. Other reflections, please? Oh, I see it's seven o'clock. Thank you. Maybe that's a lovely note to end with. So thank you all, thank you for showing up, moistening your hearts, softening, and sharing with others. Sharing with others, thank you for your practice. May all beings be well. May all beings be free from what's burning inside and outside. Thank you. --- [^1]: **Metta:** A Pali word meaning loving-kindness, goodwill, and active interest in others. [^2]: **Fire Sermon:** The _Adittapariyaya Sutta_, a discourse in which the Buddha describes the senses and their objects as burning with the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion. [^3]: **Sutta:** A Pali word meaning discourse or sermon, referring to the teachings of the Buddha. [^4]: **Sangha:** The Buddhist community of monks, nuns, novices, and laity. [^5]: Original transcript said "peas", corrected to "peace" based on context.