Lovingkindness by Sharon Salzberg & Jon Kabat-Zinn

Author:Sharon Salzberg & Jon Kabat-Zinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2020-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

EXERCISE

Lovingkindness toward Groups

The Buddha talked about doing metta in such a way that we begin to care for beings as a mother would protect her only child. To even approach this capacity, over time we must see where our barriers have been erected and our resistances have been fed. One way to use metta to see our concepts of division, to melt the barriers we have maintained, and to move toward unification with all beings is to send metta to different groups of beings.

In doing this we try to include pairs of opposite or complementary sets of groups, so as to ultimately include all beings everywhere. An example is “all females” and then “all males.” Females and males as categories encompass not just human beings but all femininity and all masculinity. You may find an easy affinity with one gender grouping, and dis-ease or resistance when sending metta to the other gender group, but the very discovery of that fact is an important part of this exploration.

Other examples of groupings include “all enlightened beings” and “all those in ignorance” (the groups don’t need to be equal in size, just complementary); “all those known to me” and “all those unknown to me”; “those near” and “those far”; “those being born,” “those in existence,” and “those dying.”

Classically, there are seven groups used: all females, all males, all enlightened ones, all unenlightened ones, all devas and brahmas (supremely happy beings), all humans (those who experience a mixture of pleasure and pain), and all those in the lower worlds (those who experience great suffering).

For each sitting, you can use the classical list of seven or create a list of your own groups. As you become more comfortable with this practice, the groupings should include personal challenges, like “all those who are suffering” and “all those who are causing suffering.” See where you would prefer to exclude beings from your metta, and slowly dissolve that boundary.

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