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Chapter 1: What does compassion mean in the context of this meditation?
Welcome back. In today's meditation, we're going to move into a little compassion practice. As mentioned before, compassion is at the heart and center of the Christian monastic meditative tradition. Compassion as a word arises from those two Latin root words, to be with suffering.
not in a way that thinks of suffering as good in and of itself, but as a way of managing the inevitable encounter with suffering that every human life has. In this heart-centered meditation, we are compassionate not just towards ourselves, but also towards every being that is experiencing suffering at this time.
This is meditation as a way of deepening empathy, as a way of increasing compassion, as a way of increasing our connection with all those we encounter. So let's begin. Moving gently into our meditation posture, We sit open, stable, strong. Our feet against the ground. Our back supported by the chair or the cushion.
Our breath open and clear. Spine relaxed and long. Moving into this time,
Chapter 2: How can we meet suffering with care during meditation?
We make the intention to be present to ourselves and to others in a spirit of loving kindness and compassion.
Entering this time of meditation, we begin by encountering the breath once again, allowing the breath to draw us into the now of the present moment. allowing the breath to be our now in this practice. Breathing now, not just with mouth or nose, but with every pore of our skin, indeed with our entire body, we breathe through the bones, the muscles, the organs,
through the entirety of the body from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet. We are aware of our body as a body that has over time experienced joy and sorrow, a body that has known suffering, but a body that has also known moments of peace. And in this now, in this moment, through our meditation, we offer it compassion by entering a peaceful moment through the breath.
Breathing out all tension and stress, all worry and suffering. Breathing out all old injury and sickness. allowing the body to relax and loosen. Imagining the body like a plant in need of water or sunshine, and granting it the sunshine and water of our attentive presence. Breathing gently into the body,
Breathing through the body, breathing out from the body, and feeling the body relax, become stable and still. Drawing our attention back to the breath, breathing in, we breathe in peace, Breathing out, we breathe out joy.
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Chapter 3: What techniques help in settling into a compassionate posture?
Breathing in, we are aware of our own times of suffering. Breathing out, we breathe out peace towards the parts of ourselves that have suffered. Breathing in, we breathe in the gift of peace that the breath brings. Breathing out, we breathe out expanding the field of our compassion. Imagining ripples of compassion and peace moving with every breath out from ourselves.
With every in-breath being strengthened, with every out-breath moving further. Moving the rings of compassion out towards those we live with and work with. Moving out towards neighbors, friends, colleagues. Moving outwards towards every other human being that exists, or has existed, or will exist.
Allowing the field of our breath to slowly breathe out compassion and peace to all those who are in need. to breathe out towards the suffering that exists and to simply be with it in peace. Breathing out further, we extend our compassion to every non-human being, to every animal, to every plant, to everything that exists. Breathing in, we breathe in peace.
Breathing out, we breathe out compassion, kindness, and love.
Chapter 4: How do we breathe compassion outward in our practice?
Breathing in, we follow our breath to the very center of our being. to that place of perfect peace, perfect love, perfect grace, where we are addressed only as the beloved, where we rest in a field of ultimate divine compassion. And breathing out, we breathe out from that place, being the instrument of that compassion,
breathing it out to every circle of being we have mentioned, breathing it out to those closest to us, breathing it out to the whole human community, breathing it out to every place of suffering and pain, breathing it out to every non-human being, To every animal. To every plant. Breathing it out to all that is. To the earth itself. To the whole cosmos. To all that exists.
Breathing from the single point of my awareness. The single point of my breath. that is in communion with all else that exists, remembering that every element of my bodily existence has been present from the beginning of the cosmos, that all that I breathe has been present from the beginning of the cosmos, that all that I am In a bodily sense, I have shared with many other generations of being.
But when I offer compassion to myself or to any other being, I am in fact offering compassion to all that is.
Chapter 5: What is the significance of extending compassion to all beings?
And I am a locus, a place in which divine compassion becomes manifest. Breathing in, I choose compassion. Breathing out, I breathe out compassion to all that is. Breathing in, I breathe in peace. Breathing out, I choose to be peace to others. Breathing in I am with the suffering or difficult parts of myself in kindness.
Breathing out I am with the suffering or difficult parts of all that is in kindness. Breathing in I breathe in peace. Breathing out, I breathe out joy. Resting for a moment in this feeling of absolute connectedness with all that is. Resting for a moment in the awareness that all that is comes from a common divine origin of love.
Gently then, allowing my awareness to come back once again to my body as I sit upon the chair or the cushion, to my feet as I rest upon the ground. I begin to move a little, to stretch a little. I make the intention to bring compassion to myself and to every other being into the rest of the day. And I allow the sound of the bell to draw me back into ordinary awareness.
Chapter 6: How can we return to awareness after meditation?
Thank you.