In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition the name for loving kindness is Maitri. This evening I am sharing a Pema Chodron audio teaching in which she gives a wonderful teaching on loving kindness, including how our practice of loving kindness changes the world. At 48 minutes it is a little long, but close to the last 20 minutes is a guided meditation on generating feelings of love and compassion. I hope, even if you do not want to give it a listen tonight, that you will make time for it in the coming days. As Ani Pema says, no attempt or aspiration to feel love and compassion is wasted.
Good evening and welcome to Monday Group Meditation. We will be sitting from 8:00 to 10:30 PM Eastern Time. It is not necessary to sit for the entire extended time, which is set up to make it convenient for people in four North American Time Zones; sit for as long as you like and when it is most convenient for you. Monday Group Meditation is open to everyone, believers and non-believers, who are interested in gathering in silence. If you are new to meditation and would like to try it for yourself, Mindful Nature gave a good description of one way to meditate in an earlier diary, copied and pasted below:
"It is a matter of focusing attention mostly. In many traditions, the idea is to sit and focus on the rising and falling of the breath. Not controlling it, but sitting in a relaxed fashion and merely observing experiences of breathing, sounds, etc. Be aware of your thoughts, but don't engage in them. When your mind wanders (it will, often), then return to focus on breath and repeat."
Note: You are also welcome to join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00AM for the Dkos Sangha Open Threads which are hosted by davehouck.