Metta - Need help

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Richard Zen, modified 10 Years ago at 8/18/13 9:45 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 8/18/13 9:45 PM

Metta - Need help

Posts: 1665 Join Date: 5/18/10 Recent Posts
Hello,

I've decided to get better at metta and I would appreciate advice from those of you who benefited greatly from the practice.

  • Did you use mantras with sitting only?
  • Did you use mindfulness along with the practice?
  • Any applications in daily life?
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Brian Eleven, modified 10 Years ago at 8/18/13 10:22 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 8/18/13 10:22 PM

RE: Metta - Need help (Answer)

Posts: 221 Join Date: 9/14/10 Recent Posts
Richard,
I've had some experience with Metta practice. I used Bhante Vimalaramsi's method, but before starting I was directed, by Sister Khema, to do Forgiveness Meditation.
I found that it really helped me develop Metta towards myself, and others. Like Metta you begin with forgiveness towards yourself, then forgive others. It is done both formally and throughout the day. I believe you are familiar with Bhante V, you can find Metta instructions from the forgiveness link.

Best of Luck

Metta,

Brian.
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bill of the wandering mind, modified 10 Years ago at 8/18/13 11:30 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 8/18/13 11:30 PM

RE: Metta - Need help

Posts: 131 Join Date: 4/14/11 Recent Posts
+1 on what Brian said. Bhante's method is very powerful for metta. I started with the forgiveness practice as well.
M N, modified 10 Years ago at 8/19/13 2:03 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 8/19/13 1:12 AM

RE: Metta - Need help

Posts: 210 Join Date: 3/3/12 Recent Posts
Hi!

Did you use mantras with sitting only?

Mantras, visualization and whatever,theese things are meant to make the feeling arise; I suggest to use any combination that works for you untilyou get the feeling, and then finding the way to sink into it, enjoying it. Obviously, you can also use a part of your attention to keep visual/talk in mind if you find that it heps to sustaining/increasing the feeling; some experimentation might be in order to find what works best for you.
During my most fervent metta periods I would send metta to me or to anyone arond me in daily life at the same rate many of us here would note; it got strong very quickly, and in a very short time I didn't need any visual/verbal support any longer, just thinking about it would make it arise.

Did you use mindfulness along with the practice?

No, because it can be surprisingly unstable; to me, midfullness with metta has more to do with observing how it spreads throught the body than observing it from the outside.

I like Bhante V technique as well; for further reference, I like these two from The Hamilton Project as well.

Bye!

Edit:
one piece of advice that I have not red anywhere: basically, trying in some way to make it arise tends to create some degree of unnecessary tension; for me, it works much better something like just remembering how it feels, or maybe just sending a "pulse" of well-wishing in a completely effortless way (just thinking about it for a moment, just creating a mental picture for a fraction of a second, just hoping for a sec that someone I love will be happy), and then staying with the feeling that happens to be there, doesn't matter how subtle or faint or hard to percieve it is, and when it goes away, just sending another pulse/memory/visual to make that very faint and subtle feeling arise again, and repeating the process. After a while of doing that it gets naturally stronger without any need for trying in any particoular way, and my experience is that, when developed in this way, it ends up being much more "true" inside me and much less artifact, wich was the great problem of my first metta period. It's like if, when trying tomake it arise, metta is somehow "upon" the mental state I'm in right now, and then it grows stronger and it "crushes" it, in some way, but the original mental state is still there in some kind of subtle way, influencing metta in a negative way from underneath; the idea of doing it this way is that you create metta in a way that is already "below" your current mental state, and even if it feels like it's not strong at all, if feels from the start that is somehow more genuine and more profound than what you was experiencing before, so that metta informs positively the current negative mind state and not the other way around.
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Richard Zen, modified 10 Years ago at 8/19/13 6:58 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 8/19/13 6:58 PM

RE: Metta - Need help

Posts: 1665 Join Date: 5/18/10 Recent Posts
Thanks there's some good suggestions. I forgot about the yogitoolbox versions.

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