A central attitude of dharma practice is learning to open to experience instead of the typical contraction of grasping at pleasant or aversion towards unpleasant. Qualitites of opening include forgiveness, patience, sense of humor, presence and loving kindness are explored.
Stories about wisdom - how knowing profoundly that everything is changing, that our experience is created by myriad factors beyond our control, that acceptance and compassion create a peaceful mind - and how mindfulness creates that wisdom - paying attention
How do we bring our metta practice out from retreat into the world and our everyday lives. We look at (1) some guidelines and ways of practicing metta in our personal formal practice; (2) practicing metta in our relationships with others; and (3) the importance of metta for social healing and transformation.
Interweaving all four threads of the Divine Abodes - to transform us from small, tight self-concern to the soft vast tenderness of interconnection, which is true freedom.
This talk, filled with contemporary stories as well as traditional accounts of the Buddha's enlightenment, makes the connection between wisdom and equanimity - and shows how lovingkindness, compassion, and appreciation are permutations of equanimity in situations that are neutral, unpleasant (troubling) and excitingly pleasant.
To handle the 'rowdy prisoners' which invariably arise in practice, Metta nourishes and reassures us, so we can relax, calm down, and release the burden of struggles with them.
