Sacred Life Sunday-Metta
 
July 16, 2008
I have been practicing Insight meditation and mindfulness in my daily life for a couple of years.  It has brought about many benefits- a sense of calm and joy, a balanced awareness of both the inner and outer environment, and an increase in gratitude and connection to the natural world.  However; along with all those pleasures comes the unveiling of darker aspects of the mind.  In listening to the chatter of my mind, I realize how judgmental I can be towards others and towards myself.  I clearly see ways in which I feed and hold onto the energy of anger in certain situations and how ironically comforting it can be to hang onto “stories” that no longer serve me well.  So, how do I let go of these feelings without suppressing them?  How do I unlock the capsules of fear anger and aversion?  
 
Buddhism offers many practical ways of dealing with difficult emotions and opening the heart.   I just listened to a 4 part series of talks on Metta or Loving Kindness meditation by Gil Fronsdal on Zencast,   I have thought about practicing Metta for quite some time and made a few attempts at incorporating it into my regular sitting sessions, but have failed to do so on a consistent basis. Listening to these talks has renewed my interest and determination to try once more.
 
A few days ago I found  Seeds of Kindness , a website featuring prayer beads created specifically for Loving Kindness meditation.  Story Beads , by Deborah Globus also creates a modern day version of non-denominational prayer beads.  Inspired by these women along with  ideas from Eleanor Wiley‘s book, “On a String and a Prayer”,  I decided to make my own prayer beads designed for Metta practice.  I included symbols that are sacred to me: wings, dragonflies, the Buddhist coin I found on our recent road trip, a pearl cross to represent the origin of my spiritual roots etc.  I chose stones that felt comfortable in my hands, stones that were gifted to me from loving relatives and stones that promote energies of clarity and wisdom like turquoise, tiger eye, jasper and silver. During my regular sitting practice, I hold them in my hands.  Afterwards the weight of the beads remind me to remain seated and begin Metta practice.
 
 
Metta consists of 4 main lines of good will that are repeated silently:
 
May I be happy
May I be well
May I be safe
May I be peaceful and at ease
 
These blessings begin with the practitioner and eventually spread to benefactors, neutral relationships, difficult relationships, and eventually encompass all sentient beings.  
 
 
Just as the energy of mindfulness increases with sitting practice, so does the energy of loving kindness.  They are like water eroding the rock armor around the heart.   I believe these practices yield results when practiced over time with astute consistency.  It is a wonderful way to promote the force of peace and love in a very troubled world.  When I practice Metta, I try to envision all those who are currently practicing along with those who have practiced from long ago before I ever came into existence.  I join them, gathered together as one force, subtly creating a catalyst for peace.   I take faith in knowing there is great power in numbers, everything set forth in the universe returns and nothing is ever truly lost..
 
“We say everything comes back. You cannot divert the river from the riverbed. We say every act has its consequences. That this place has been shaped by the river, and the shape of this place tells the river where to go. We say look how the water flows from this place and returns as rainfall. Everything returns, we say, and one thing follows another. There are limits, we say, on what can be done, and everything moves. We are all a part of this motion, we say, and the way of the river is sacred, and this grove of trees is sacred, and we ourselves, we tell you, are sacred.”.........Susan Griffin-”Woman and Nature”