Metta Bhavan Practice

by Bhante Sathi

In the Metta Bhavana practice we’re cultivating love, or friendliness, or lovingkindness.
Our aim is to learn to emit an even supply of warmth to everyone we meet. This is an attainable goal for every human being, but it requires time and commitment.
The practice is in five stages. We cultivate Metta for:
· Ourselves
· Our family and good friends
· A “neutral” person—someone we lack strong feelings for
· A “difficult” person—someone who angers us or who is tiring to be around
· All living beings—this includes animals such as pets
Notice the progression. It’s natural for us to cultivate loving-kindness for ourselves and for our friends. It’s slightly more challenging to do this for people we don’t know well. And it’s a real test to cultivate lovingkindness for those who trigger our angst. Finally, we really must work to remember to cultivate lovingkindness for all sentient beings: i.e. all those known and unknown, visible and invisible—including people we’re in conflict with — plus ourselves of course.
Aside from these five stages, metta practice focuses on four intentions that all living beings be
well, happy, skillful and peaceful.
Metta practice focuses on four intentions. The aim of this meditation is that all living beings be well, happy, skillful and peaceful. We can talk about the four qualities of the Loving-kindness meditation so we understand the importance of this practice and why we wish this for ourselves. When we cultivate these positive qualities we train ourselves to overcome the powerful negative emotions of greed, anger, ignorance, fear, anxiety, and cunning, to name a few.
Be Well
When we hear these two words, our intention goes much deeper than the hope of good physical health. Think about the moment you get upset with someone. Whenever you experience the emotions of anger, frustration, fear, or restlessness, you are not functioning well. Whenever you involve with fear or anxiety, you become much more uncomfortable. No matter how healthy your body is, you will not function properly if negative emotions arise.
Sometimes when your body is sick, you can think properly. Maybe you can tell others. Your mind is stronger than your body. You can tell others what you want and don’t want, but when your mind is sick with fear, anxiety, anger, you are not doing well. What is behind this? This is not something someone can give you. This is something you have to generate. This is something you have to maintiain within you. We often blame others when we are angry or fearful. We blame the future or the past.
The one who has good protection will not involve with those thing. When ever you experience this, you notice it. That is the beginning of protecting yourself. That is the meaning of Be Well. In order to maintain this kind of wellness, you have to protect yourself from the outside.
Be Happy
We always look for happiness outside. We are trying to do something to make ourselves happy. How many times have you ended up unhappy after an attempt to make yourself happy? Just think about purchasing a new car. This can make you happy. Later, the same car can make you unhappy. Maybe you are excited to go to a party and see a new friend. Later, that same situation makes you unhappy.
Where is this happiness and unhappiness? Do you think it comes from the outside? It doesn’t. Happiness and unhappiness you can experience by yourself.
So now with this situation what are we trying to do? We are trying not to depend on the outside. We are trying not to depend on others. We are trying not to depend on the past or future for our own happiness. If you can experience the happiness within you, that is what you are wishing for. That is the permanent happiness that you can experience. That is unconditional happiness. We are trying to generate and cultivate that kind of unconditional happiness within ourselves.
Skillfulness
Skillfulness is very important. What is the opposite of it? What are the unskillful qualities we possess. Outcomes of greed, outcomes of anger, outcomes of ignorance or ego. Greed, Anger, Ego—whatever you do out of one of these, those are unskillful. So we carry these things in order to survive, to offer excuses, not to perform right action, we carry those things.
Recently, I stopped by the print shop to print something. Then I noticed someone left a jump drive on the table. An unskillful mind would encourage me to take it. Right away, I though I should hand this over to the manager of the store. Then, I thought, no, the manager might just keep it. I had many other thoughts. I thought I should keep it. The owner won’t come back. Jump drives aren’t that expensive. All these many thoughts came to my head. I thought, Don’t even touch it. Then, I thought the jump drive would be safer with me. Immediately, I thought, what is happening? Greed had arisen in my heart. I was making a lot of excuses about what I should do. One main quality that goes with unskillfulness: Cunningness. Cunningness 90% goes with ego, ignorance. It makes you heavy. It does not make you light. It makes you tired.
Skillfulness is training to overcome greed, anger and ego, and then cultivate unconditional love, unconditional giving, and unconditional compassion. If you can treat a homeless person like a member of your family, that is a skill. If something bad happens to a loved one, you will not runaway from it. You will help in anyway you can. Can you care the same way for someone suffering on the street?
Is your mind harmful to you or somebody else? If you have a harmless mind you will be free from fear. Those are the skills we should cultivate and we should introduce. What are the desires of those peaceful words, peaceful mind.
Peaceful
What happens with cultivation? You let your heart open. You open with those wishes. This allows you to become free, to become light, not a dark, heavy painful person. You are preparing your heart to accept and respect peace. With mindfulness, with breathing meditation, we are preparing the ground. With this we are planting the seeds in the ground so everyone can enjoy the harvest. None of you family members will hurt themselves because of you, because you aren’t sharing anger, you’re not sharing anxiety, you aren’t sharing fear. When they experience one of those, you will be able to help them build immunity. As a person with a healthy mind, you can look at and see how to help them build immunity. That is what we are doing with this meditation.
We should not give up the practice because of excuses and cunningness.