Audio Book- Beginners Guide to Lovingkindness with the 6Rs-yOjd06FWG

From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yOjd06FWG_Q

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

this is a book called a guide to

tranquil wisdom insight meditation by

bonte vimelaramsi

these are the full instructions for

loving-kindness meditation

for those who wish to experience the

cessation of suffering through the

elimination of craving

introduction

the purpose of this guide is to help

someone who is new to meditation and the

buddhist teachings walk the buddhist

path to the destruction of craving in

the elimination of ignorance

this guide will provide you with the

basic meditation instructions for the

practice of tranquil wisdom insight

meditation twim as taught by bonte

vimalaramsi

twim is the actual brahmavihara's

practice described in the suddas and it

includes the divine dwellings of

mindfulness of loving-kindness meta

mindfulness of compassion karuna

mindfulness of joy mudita and

mindfulness of equanimity apeka

the brahma-viharas are described by the

buddha in his earliest talks as recorded

in the suddens of the mijima nikaya

the instructions in this guide are based

on the sodas themselves and on

commentaries that are consistent with

the sodas

the instructions explain right effort

this is what we call the six rupees

the six rupees will be explained in

detail later

most buddhist mindfulness practices

today tend to focus on the breath as the

object of meditation

they only use meta and the brahma

viharas aside meditations to help one

with relaxation and as a way of

softening the breath practice and of

softening life in general

however the buddha discussed the

mindfulness of meta-practice many more

times in the sodas than the mindfulness

of breathing onoponicity practice only

eight times for mindfulness of breathing

and more than a hundred times for the

mindfulness of loving-kindness

although many teachers today do not

teach this or support this view the

buddha did state that the metta and

brahmavi harris practice on its own will

lead to the supreme attainment of nibana

the pseudo accompanied by loving

kindness in the samyatan nikaya 4654 iv

makes this clear

tranquil wisdom insight meditation using

meta or the feeling of loving kindness

as the object of meditation has been

found to be easier and to give faster

results than using the breath as the

object of meditation

it includes a powerful warm and glowing

feeling which helps your practice

because you enjoy doing it when

practicing this meditation you are

radiating loving kindness and giving

this feeling to others

this is building your generosity while

simultaneously developing a greater

sense of well-being and contentment

you are doing this not only while

engaged in your formal sitting practice

but also throughout your daily life

experience

this creates momentum from the time you

get up in the morning until the time you

go to sleep

this continuous practice can be very

conducive to fast progress

twim includes an all-important step that

is found in the sodas but is

misunderstood or left out of most

buddhist mindfulness practices these

days

this step is the key to the attainment

of nabana

you will learn more about this later

this is the relax step

this book is a guide to beginning

practice

a deeper understanding of how twim works

descriptions of insights levels of

understanding that arise and the suitor

references that support this meditation

are all beyond the scope of this booklet

the book meditation is life life as

meditation provides that information in

depth and detail

other books like breath of love and

moving dhamma also offer skillful

guidance once you are deeper in the

practice

a book by senior student doug craft

buddha's map is another good reference

for the concepts and experiences of twim

what is mindfulness

the term mindfulness has become

commonplace these days and is often

interpreted differently than what i

believe was originally formulated by the

buddha

you may have heard that mindfulness is

watching what arises diving into it and

focusing firmly on it to understand the

nature of what arises

the idea is that concentrating more

closely and harder on the object of

meditation will ultimately yield

profound insights

however that is not the mindfulness that

the buddha taught rather that is called

one-pointed concentration absorbing your

attention into an object

the buddha learned from his experiences

and described in suda 36 of the

medeshima nikaya the mahasakaka suda

that one pointed concentration will

quiet the mind temporarily but it will

not lead to an understanding of

suffering in the cause of suffering or

to nibbana

for that reason the buddha rejected

absorption and one-pointed concentration

practices

most teachers today miss this

significant point

yet suda 36 does spell it out

the buddha rejected the teachings of

alara kalama and adaka ramaputa teachers

of the most advanced concentration

states of the time

he left their training to continue his

search for yet another six years

here is a short clear and precise

definition of mindfulness as the buddha

taught it

mindfulness means to remember to observe

how mind's attention moves

from one thing to another

the first part of mindfulness is to

remember to watch the mind and remember

to return to your object of meditation

when you have wandered off

the second part of mindfulness is to

observe how mind's attention moves from

one thing to another

real insight is gained by watching how

your mind interacts with things as they

arise not by observing the things

themselves true mindfulness is

remembering to observe how your mind

moves and responds to what arises in the

present moment

with mindfulness we can understand how

things arise and pass away from

beginning to end

we do not care why things arise that is

the concern of psychologists and

philosophers

we only care about how they arise and

how they pass away how the movement of

mind's attention happens during that

entire process

when mindfulness becomes strong you

start to understand what craving really

craving is what pulls your mind away

from your object of meditation

tensions and tightness arise with

sensations and thoughts

craving is what starts the

identification process in which you take

something personally with an i like it

or i don't like it mind

mindfulness meditation is the process of

observing how mind's attention moves

moment to moment

mindfulness enables us to see clearly

and precisely how the impersonal process

of thoughts and sensations arises and

passes away

we identify with this process as

ourselves we take it personally

seeing and understanding how mind's

attention moves from one thing to

another personalizing experience and

creating an eye as it goes is one of the

most important insights of this practice

it develops an impersonal perspective on

all arising phenomena and leads the

meditator to see for themselves the true

nature of existence

you finally answer the question who or

what am i

the other important facet of mindfulness

once we have remembered and observed is

to catch ourselves when we get lost to

remember that we are supposed to come

back home