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.It shouldbe done two or three times each week after you havedone Mindfulness of Breathing.First, you turn yourattention to yourself and say to yourself words like May I be well and happy.May I be peaceful and calm.May I be protected from dangers.May my mind be freefrom hatred.May my heart be filled with love.May Ibe well and happy. Then one by one you think of aloved person, a neutral person, that is, someone youneither like nor dislike, and finally a disliked person,wishing each of them well as you do so.QUESTION: What is the benefit of doing this typeof meditation?ANSWER: If you do Loving Kindness Meditationregularly and with the right attitude, you will find verypositive changes taking place within yourself.You will48find that you are able to be more accepting andforgiving towards yourself.You will find that thefeelings you have towards your loved ones willincrease.You will find yourself making friends withpeople you used to be indifferent and uncaring towards,and you will find the ill-will or resentment you havetowards some people will lessen and eventually bedissolved.Sometimes if you know of someone who issick, unhappy or encountering difficulties you caninclude them in your meditation and very often youwill find their situation improving.QUESTION: How is that possible?ANSWER: The mind, when properly developed, is avery powerful instrument.If we can learn to focus ourmental energy and project it towards others, it can havean effect upon them.You may have had an experiencelike this.Perhaps you are in a crowded room and youget this feeling that someone is watching you.You turnaround and, sure enough, someone is starting at you.What has happened is that you have picked up thatother person s mental energy.Loving Kindness Medi-tation is like this.We project positive mental energytowards others and it gradually transforms them.QUESTION: Do I need a teacher to teach memeditation?ANSWER: A teacher is not absolutely necessary butpersonal guidance from someone who is familiar withmeditation is certainly helpful.Unfortunately, some49monks and laymen set themselves up as meditationteachers when they simply don t know what they aredoing.Try to pick a teacher who has a good reputation,a balanced personality and who adheres closely to theBuddha s teachings.QUESTION: I have heard that meditation is widely usedtoday by psychiatrists and psychologists.Is this true?ANSWER: Yes, it is.Meditation is now accepted ashaving a highly therapeutic effect upon the mind and isused by many professional mental health workers tohelp induce relaxation, overcome phobias and bringabout self-awareness.The Buddha s insights into thehuman mind are helping people as much today as theydid in ancient times.50 sdo d o ss oQUESTION: I often hear Buddhists talk about wis-dom and compassion.What do these two terms mean?ANSWER: Some religions believe that compassion orlove (the two are very similar) is the most importantspiritual quality but they fail to develop any wisdom.The result is that you end up being a good-hearted fool,a very kind person but with little or no understanding.Other systems of thought, like science, believe thatwisdom can best be developed when all emotions,including compassion, are kept out of the way.Theoutcome of this is that science has tended to becomepreoccupied with results and has forgotten that scienceis to serve man not to control and dominate him.How,otherwise could scientists have lent their skills todevelop the nuclear bomb, germ warfare, and the like.Religion has always seen reason and wisdom as theenemy of emotions like love and faith.Science hasalways seen emotions like love and faith as beingenemies of reason and objectivity.And of course, asscience progresses, religion declines.Buddhism, on theother hand, teaches that to be a truly balanced andcomplete individual, you must develop both wisdomand compassion.And because it is not dogmatic butbased on experience, Buddhism has nothing to fearfrom science.51QUESTION: So what, according to Buddhism, iswisdom?ANSWER: The highest wisdom is seeing that inreality all phenomena are incomplete, impermanent,and not self.This understanding is totally freeing andleads to the great security and happiness which is calledNirvana.However, the Buddha doesn t speak too muchabout this level of wisdom.It is not wisdom if wesimply believe what we are told [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]