From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KsvdJ4LFIF8

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

what I'm going to do first is give you

the instructions in the meditation and

then we'll practice you first start by

sending loving and kind thoughts to

yourself you remember a time when you

were happy and when that happy feeling

arises it is a warm glowing feeling in

the center of your chest as soon as that

feeling arises then you make a wish for

your own happiness may I be happy

may my mind be peaceful and calm may I

be filled with joy

whatever wish you make for yourself you

want to feel that wish you know what it

feels like to be peaceful and calm take

that peaceful and calm feeling and put

it in the center of your heart and

radiate that feeling to yourself

you don't make the same wish over and

over and over and over and over again

really quickly you make one wish you

feel that which you put that wish in

your heart and stay with that wish as

long as it's there when your mind gets

distracted by something let go of the

distraction relax the tension in your

mind and in your body caused by that

distraction then come back to the

feeling of loving-kindness and make

another wish for happiness you can make

the same wish over and over again just

not fast okay so

a lot of people have an idea that

meditation is about clearing and

blocking thoughts and they think that

thoughts are the enemy and thoughts are

not your animal we have them all day why

would you need to fight with them while

you're doing this you will begin to

think about other things as soon as you

notice that you're thinking about

something else then simply let the

thought go how do you let a thought go

you don't continue thinking you'd let it

be there by itself now every time mind's

attention moves from one thing to

another there's a little tightness that

arises in your head and in your mind

relax

this is a smiling meditation now Yuri

smile and then you return to your

feeling of loving-kindness and making

another wish for your own happiness now

you do this for about five minutes it

doesn't matter how many times your mind

wanders away when you notice that it

wanders away first off you cannot be

critical of yourself for having a

wandering mind mind is gonna be like

that and it's okay that it's like that

but just don't continue feeding it with

your attention let go of your attention

relax

gently come back to the feeling of

loving-kindness and making a wish for

your own happiness if your mind wanders

twenty-five times while you're sitting

and twenty-five times you see it you let

it go you relax and come back to the

feeling of loving-kindness that is a

good meditation it's an active

meditation to be sure every time you

bring your mind back from a distraction

and come back to the feeling of

loving-kindness and making a wish for

your own happiness you are improving

your awareness so that's why it becomes

a good meditation

after about five minutes then you begin

to send loving and kind thoughts to a

spiritual friend a spiritual friend is

someone of the same sex and they are

alive a spiritual friend is someone that

when you think of them and their good

qualities

you sincerely like them you really do

wish them well so you're sending loving

and kind thoughts to yourself may I feel

peaceful and calm as I feel this I wish

this feeling for you may you be peaceful

and calm

now you have the feeling of radiating

that loving warm kind feeling you have

the wish that you're bringing into your

heart and you take your spiritual friend

and you put them right in the middle of

that and give them a heart hug when you

do that you want to try to see them

smiling and happy that can help remind

you to be smiling and happy too when you

smile you need to smile with your mind

you need to smile with your eyes even

though you close your eyes you put a

little smile on your lips and a smile in

your heart this is important because

they found out in the University of

Minnesota many years ago that the

corners of your mouth are very important

and when the corners of your mouth go

down so does your mental state when the

corners of your mouth go up so does your

mental state

the whole thing with this meditation is

learning how to have a happy uplifted

mind and then to give that away to your

spiritual friend the more you smile the

easier it is to give that feeling over

now you can move as much as this cup

does okay in essence don't move

watch what your mind does with it

your mind doesn't like to be disturbed

it doesn't like to have itching or pains

arise so the first thing you'll notice

is that your mind begins to think about

the feeling and try to control the

feeling with your thoughts so the first

thing you need to do is let go of

thinking about the feeling you know how

those thoughts come up oh why does that

have to bother me now I wish it would

stop and go away every thought about the

feeling makes the feeling bigger and

more intense so what we do is let go of

the thought and relax the tightness

caused by that thought in our head in

our mind relax all the tension and

tightness caused by that tight mental

fist now you'll feel your mind become

very clear observant and alert and you

bring that mind back to your object of

meditation the feeling of being happy

making a wish for happiness to your

spiritual friend you stay with the same

spiritual friend all the time

okay it with your nut beer back nicely

straight please don't move your body for

any reason at all

and we'll sit for 15 minutes and I'll

let you know when the city

what I'm going to do first is give you

the instructions in the meditation and

then we'll practice you first start by

sending loving and kind thoughts to

yourself you remember a time when you

were happy and when that happy feeling

arises it is a warm glowing feeling in

the center of your chest as soon as that

feeling arises then you make a wish for

your own happiness may I be happy

may my mind be peaceful and calm may I

be filled with joy

whatever wish you make for yourself you

want to feel that wish you know what it

feels like to be peaceful and calm take

that peaceful and calm feeling and put

it in the center of your heart and

radiate that feeling to yourself

you don't make the same wish over and

over and over and over and over again

really quickly you make one wish you

feel that which you put that wish in

your heart and stay with that wish as

long as it's there when your mind gets

distracted by something let go of the

distraction relax the tension in your

mind and in your body caused by that

distraction then come back to the

feeling of loving-kindness and make

another wish for happiness you can make

the same wish over and over again just

not fast okay so

a lot of people have an idea that

meditation is about clearing and

blocking thoughts and they think that

thoughts are the enemy and thoughts are

not your animal we have them all day why

would you need to fight with them while

you're doing this you will begin to

think about other things as soon as you

notice that you're thinking about

something else then simply let the

thought go how do you let a thought go

you don't continue thinking you'd let it

be there by itself now every time mind's

attention moves from one thing to

another there's a little tightness that

arises in your head and in your mind

relax

this is a smiling meditation now Yuri

smile and then you return to your

feeling of loving-kindness and making

another wish for your own happiness now

you do this for about five minutes it

doesn't matter how many times your mind

wanders away when you notice that it

wanders away first off you cannot be

critical of yourself for having a

wandering mind mind is gonna be like

that and it's okay that it's like that

but just don't continue feeding it with

your attention let go of your attention

relax

gently come back to the feeling of

loving-kindness and making a wish for

your own happiness if your mind wanders

twenty-five times while you're sitting

and twenty-five times you see it you let

it go you relax and come back to the

feeling of loving-kindness that is a

good meditation it's an active

meditation to be sure every time you

bring your mind back from a distraction

and come back to the feeling of

loving-kindness and making a wish for

your own happiness you are improving

your awareness so that's why it becomes

a good meditation

after about five minutes then you begin

to send loving and kind thoughts to a

spiritual friend a spiritual friend is

someone of the same sex and they are

alive a spiritual friend is someone that

when you think of them and their good

qualities

you sincerely like them you really do

wish them well so you're sending loving

and kind thoughts to yourself may I feel

peaceful and calm as I feel this I wish

this feeling for you may you be peaceful

and calm

now you have the feeling of radiating

that loving warm kind feeling you have

the wish that you're bringing into your

heart and you take your spiritual friend

and you put them right in the middle of

that and give them a heart hug when you

do that you want to try to see them

smiling and happy that can help remind

you to be smiling and happy too when you

smile you need to smile with your mind

you need to smile with your eyes even

though you close your eyes you put a

little smile on your lips and a smile in

your heart this is important because

they found out in the University of

Minnesota many years ago that the

corners of your mouth are very important

and when the corners of your mouth go

down so does your mental state when the

corners of your mouth go up so does your

mental state

the whole thing with this meditation is

learning how to have a happy uplifted

mind and then to give that away to your

spiritual friend the more you smile the

easier it is to give that feeling over

now you can move as much as this cup

does okay in essence don't move

watch what your mind does with it

your mind doesn't like to be disturbed

it doesn't like to have itching or pains

arise so the first thing you'll notice

is that your mind begins to think about

the feeling and try to control the

feeling with your thoughts so the first

thing you need to do is let go of

thinking about the feeling you know how

those thoughts come up oh why does that

have to bother me now I wish it would

stop and go away every thought about the

feeling makes the feeling bigger and

more intense so what we do is let go of

the thought and relax the tightness

caused by that thought in our head in

our mind relax all the tension and

tightness caused by that tight mental

fist now you'll feel your mind become

very clear observant and alert and you

bring that mind back to your object of

meditation the feeling of being happy

making a wish for happiness to your

spiritual friend you stay with the same

spiritual friend all the time

okay it with your nut beer back nicely

straight please don't move your body for

any reason at all

and we'll sit for 15 minutes and I'll

let you know when the city