Tulku Thondup - The Healing Power of Loving-Kindness: A Guided Buddhist Meditation

L OVING-KINDNESS (in Sanskrit called maitri) is the thought of wishing joy and well-being for all with no selfish attitude. The power of loving-kindness fully awakens our mind and makes it open boundlessly. It is the thought and feeling of unconditional, pure, and universal lovelove toward all without any discrimination or distinction, hesitation or reservation, expectation or hope of reward.

A powerful way of awakening loving-kindness in the heart and mind is through connecting to devotion to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness and Compassion (in Sanskrit called Avalokiteshvara). When we talk about devotion, we are talking about opening our heart with great energy, joy, and trust. The joy comes from being in the presence of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness, and the trust is in his unconditional love. As soon as we feel such joy and trust in the Buddha and his unconditional love, we will instantly find our own mind and heart completely steeped in and saturated with the energy of loving-kindness. We feel the qualities of pure love. Such experiences will inspire us to put our pure thoughts and feelings of loving-kindness into action, the words and deeds that reflect loving-kindness for all.

Buddhism teaches that everything we see, hear, or feel originates in the mind, is led by the mind, and is experienced by the mind, or consciousness. In The Dharmapada, the Buddha says,

All are led by the mind.

Mind is the main factor and it is the forerunner of all actions.

If one speaks or acts with a pure mind,

Happiness follows, as a shadow follows its source.

The mind is always preoccupied with mental objectsimages, sounds, and sensations. We formulate habits and unending chains of cause and effect within this mind stream, all resulting in either joy or pain. As long as the mind is relating to mental objects with attachment, jealousy, denial, or hatred, our life will be enslaved and conditioned by these mental objects. We will never experience freedom from the up-and-down feelings of sadness, fear, excitement, and pain that we are entrapped in by depending on whats happening from moment to moment in our external environment. Experiences of devotion and loving-kindness, on the other hand, pacify and purify our mental and emotional rigidities and afflictions. They instantly cheer up our heart and awaken the intrinsic pure qualities of our own mind.

Many think that their identity is their body, but from the Buddhist perspective, the mind is who we are and the body is only a temporary resting place for the mind. At death, the body merges into the elements of nature, but the mind migrates into another body, by taking rebirth in accordance with the established habitual tendencies of the mind. Therefore, in order to transform our present life and endless future lives into a state of unconditional love and boundless joy, we must focus on improving the present qualities of the mind, by developing habits of positive thoughts and feelings in our mental stream. This improves the qualities of our mind.

This book and accompanying audio tracks, which can be downloaded at www.shambhala.com/healingpower, offer twelve stages of guided meditations on loving-kindness, along with four meditation tools. The goal of these meditations is to realize three levels of results, in the form of experiences and attainments. The third (visualization of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness) through the fifth (filling the body with the blessing light of loving-kindness) stages are for realizing the first result. The sixth (transforming the body into blessing light and the mind into loving-kindness) through the tenth (sharing the loving-kindness with all) stages are for realizing the second result. The eleventh stage (resting in the awareness of loving-kindness) is for realizing the third result. The first and second stages are the preparatory training for the main stages of meditation, and the twelfth stage is the concluding meditation. The experiences of each set of results are indispensable stepping-stones for enjoying the next results; that is to say, succeeding results are the fruits of the previous ones.

First result: devotion to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness inspires loving-kindness in us. When we are fully perceiving the presence of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness with devotion, and feeling his unconditional love, the quality of our mind changes instantly from negative or neutral thoughts and feelings to positive thoughts and feelingsthat is, to loving-kindness. Fully opening our heart in order to experience the amazing joy of being in the presence of the Buddha and having unconditional trust in him and his love is the essence of devotion.

Then we repeat the prayer mantra: O M M ANI P ADME H UNG . This mantra becomes the sound of the energy waves of our devotion, a force that opens our heart to the Buddha with joy and trust and without any hesitation, reservation, or ego. Seeing and feeling the Buddhas presence and his sacred qualities, such as his unconditional love, generate instant devotion and loving-kindness in our hearts. Our mind and body become boundlessly open with the energy of celebration and confidence.