From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wAXO_nf8SDQ

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

okay the kind of instructions i'm going

to give you

is for loving kindness meditation

and the reason that i do that instead of

the mindfulness of breathing

is because just about everybody

practices mindfulness of breathing and

quite often people

develop bad habits with that breathing

and it's not following the directions

that are given

by the buddha in the suttas so it's

easier

just change your meditation to loving

kindness and it helps open up your heart

when you practice loving-kindness

meditation the first

five minutes i want you to send loving

and

kind thoughts to yourself

remember a time when you were happy

and when that happy feeling arises it's

a warm

glowing feeling in the center of your

chest

any kind of memory to make that feeling

come up

you know on the retreat there was one

man that said i

don't have any memories that i really

felt that kind of feeling and i asked

him

if he ever held a little puppy

and he said yeah i said how did that

make you feel

and he said i felt really good and happy

i said that's it

that's the feeling you want when you get

that feeling

then you let go of the memory and just

keep that feeling going

it's a happy feeling

you make a wish for your

own happiness

now it doesn't matter what wish it is

that you make for yourself

you want to feel the wish

you know what it feels like to be

peaceful and calm

then make a wish to feel peaceful and

calm and feel that feeling and put that

feeling in your heart

and surround yourself with that feeling

or you won't you know what it feels like

to be happy you can take that happy

feeling put it in your heart or

joyful or clear

whatever feeling you want to wish

for yourself if you've had a very active

busy day

a feeling of peaceful and calm will help

your mind to

calm down

now while you do this your mind

is going to wander you're going to have

thoughts come

it's all right thoughts are not your

enemy

allow the thought to be there as soon as

you recognize

that your mind is distracted simply let

go of that distraction

let it be there by itself don't keep

your attention on it

and then relax the tension and tightness

caused by that distraction tension and

tightness

occurs in your head in your brain

around your brain there's

your brain has two lobes like this and

there's

a membrane that goes around

both of those lobes it's called the

meninges

every time there's any kind of

distraction

that contracts a little bit and gets

tight

and what you want to do is recognize

that

and let it go when you let it go you'll

feel like there's a slight expansion

that happens in your head

right after you relax that you'll notice

that your mind is very

peaceful your mind is very alert

and there's no thoughts at this time

your mind

is pure bring

that pure mind back to your

object of meditation the feeling

of loving kindness that radiating happy

feeling

and then make another wish for your own

happiness

put that feeling in your heart and

radiate that feeling to yourself it

doesn't matter how many times your mind

pulls your attention away

as soon as you recognize it let it be

relaxed

smile a little bit and come back to your

object of meditation

now this is a smiling meditation

and the reason that i want you to smile

is because they found out that when the

corners of your mouth go

up so does your mental state

when the corners of your mouth go down

so does your mental state

so put a little smile on your lips

a smile in your eyes even though your

eyes are closed you'll find out that a

lot of tension is released when you do

that

smile in your mind smile in your heart

that's what smiling is it's not

just a smile on the lips

you want to feel that happy feeling

if your mind wanders away 25

times in the sitting and 25 times you

recognize it you let it be you relax

you smile a little bit and come back to

your objective meditation

that is a good meditation

it's not a quiet meditation

it's an active meditation but it is a

good meditation

because every time you let go

of a distracting thought and relax

and come back to your object of

meditation

it's improving your mindfulness it's

improving

improving your observation power

of how mind's attention becomes

distracted

when you're sitting in meditation please

do not

move your body don't wiggle your toes

don't wiggle your fingers don't scratch

don't rub

don't rock back and forth don't change

your posture

you can move as much as he does

okay

so you sit very still and

when your attention goes to some kind of

sensation it can be a sensation

of uh itching a sensation of wanting to

cough that little tickle in your throat

the sensation of

it can be burning it can be painful it

can be any kind of sensation

like that as soon as your mind goes to

that sensation the first thing you do

is notice that your mind is thinking

about that sensation why does it have to

come now

why doesn't it just go away

why does it have to bother my meditation

right now

so what you want to do is first let go

of your thinking about

the feeling and

relax slightly

next you'll notice there is a tight

mental fist

wrapped around that feeling you don't

want it there you want it to go away

and the more you don't want that

sensation

there the bigger and more intense it

becomes

now the truth is when a sensation

arises it's there

and it's okay for it to be there why

because that's the truth

when it's there it's there you have to

be able to

allow that sensation to be there by

itself

now relax the tension and tightness

caused by that

smile and come back to your object of

meditation now the nature of these kind

of sensations

is that they don't go away right away

so your mind will bounce back with it

fine let go of the thoughts relax

allow the feeling to be there relax

smile and come back to your object of

meditation

as this happens over and over again you

start to be more and more familiar with

how that sensation rose

your mind was on your object of

meditation all of a sudden it's on this

itch or it's on this pain how did it get

there

it didn't get there and just jump there

there is a process that happens

and it's very it is recognizable once

you get used to how your

mind's attention moves from one thing to

another

so you want to try to see how the

process

works not why does it have

happen not getting involved with trying

to control it

just observe how this process

works relax into it smile and come back

to your object of meditation

after about five minutes then you send

loving and kind thoughts

to a spiritual friend the spiritual

friend is as

person of the same sex

and they are alive a spiritual friend is

someone that when you think of them

and their good qualities you deeply

respect them and you sincerely

wish them well

so you're radiating loving kindness to

yourself at right at five minutes

and then you think of your spiritual

friend

as i feel this happiness i

wish this for you may you

be happy

they have to be alive and it needs to be

a person

of the same sex

and then you continue on and try to see

them

in your mind's eye

don't put too much emphasis on

being able to visualize that person some

people are very good at visualizing

seeing pictures when they close their

eyes other people are not

the way they visualize is with words

either way is fine

so what you want to do is continue

on with your meditation

stay with your spiritual friend every

time there's a distraction

let go of the distraction come back to

your spiritual friend and smiling

when you picture your spirit spiritual

friend

see them smiling and happy

that can help remind you to be smiling

and happy too

okay so

the first five minutes send loving and

kind thoughts to your spiritual or

to yourself excuse me in the next 10

minutes

send it to your spiritual friend

same spiritual friend the whole time

you

okay the kind of instructions i'm going

to give you

is for loving kindness meditation

and the reason that i do that instead of

the mindfulness of breathing

is because just about everybody

practices mindfulness of breathing and

quite often people

develop bad habits with that breathing

and it's not following the directions

that are given

by the buddha in the suttas so it's

easier

just change your meditation to loving

kindness and it helps open up your heart

when you practice loving-kindness

meditation the first

five minutes i want you to send loving

and

kind thoughts to yourself

remember a time when you were happy

and when that happy feeling arises it's

a warm

glowing feeling in the center of your

chest

any kind of memory to make that feeling

come up

you know on the retreat there was one

man that said i

don't have any memories that i really

felt that kind of feeling and i asked

him

if he ever held a little puppy

and he said yeah i said how did that

make you feel

and he said i felt really good and happy

i said that's it

that's the feeling you want when you get

that feeling

then you let go of the memory and just

keep that feeling going

it's a happy feeling

you make a wish for your

own happiness

now it doesn't matter what wish it is

that you make for yourself

you want to feel the wish

you know what it feels like to be

peaceful and calm

then make a wish to feel peaceful and

calm and feel that feeling and put that

feeling in your heart

and surround yourself with that feeling

or you won't you know what it feels like

to be happy you can take that happy

feeling put it in your heart or

joyful or clear

whatever feeling you want to wish

for yourself if you've had a very active

busy day

a feeling of peaceful and calm will help

your mind to

calm down

now while you do this your mind

is going to wander you're going to have

thoughts come

it's all right thoughts are not your

enemy

allow the thought to be there as soon as

you recognize

that your mind is distracted simply let

go of that distraction

let it be there by itself don't keep

your attention on it

and then relax the tension and tightness

caused by that distraction tension and

tightness

occurs in your head in your brain

around your brain there's

your brain has two lobes like this and

there's

a membrane that goes around

both of those lobes it's called the

meninges

every time there's any kind of

distraction

that contracts a little bit and gets

tight

and what you want to do is recognize

that

and let it go when you let it go you'll

feel like there's a slight expansion

that happens in your head

right after you relax that you'll notice

that your mind is very

peaceful your mind is very alert

and there's no thoughts at this time

your mind

is pure bring

that pure mind back to your

object of meditation the feeling

of loving kindness that radiating happy

feeling

and then make another wish for your own

happiness

put that feeling in your heart and

radiate that feeling to yourself it

doesn't matter how many times your mind

pulls your attention away

as soon as you recognize it let it be

relaxed

smile a little bit and come back to your

object of meditation

now this is a smiling meditation

and the reason that i want you to smile

is because they found out that when the

corners of your mouth go

up so does your mental state

when the corners of your mouth go down

so does your mental state

so put a little smile on your lips

a smile in your eyes even though your

eyes are closed you'll find out that a

lot of tension is released when you do

that

smile in your mind smile in your heart

that's what smiling is it's not

just a smile on the lips

you want to feel that happy feeling

if your mind wanders away 25

times in the sitting and 25 times you

recognize it you let it be you relax

you smile a little bit and come back to

your objective meditation

that is a good meditation

it's not a quiet meditation

it's an active meditation but it is a

good meditation

because every time you let go

of a distracting thought and relax

and come back to your object of

meditation

it's improving your mindfulness it's

improving

improving your observation power

of how mind's attention becomes

distracted

when you're sitting in meditation please

do not

move your body don't wiggle your toes

don't wiggle your fingers don't scratch

don't rub

don't rock back and forth don't change

your posture

you can move as much as he does

okay

so you sit very still and

when your attention goes to some kind of

sensation it can be a sensation

of uh itching a sensation of wanting to

cough that little tickle in your throat

the sensation of

it can be burning it can be painful it

can be any kind of sensation

like that as soon as your mind goes to

that sensation the first thing you do

is notice that your mind is thinking

about that sensation why does it have to

come now

why doesn't it just go away

why does it have to bother my meditation

right now

so what you want to do is first let go

of your thinking about

the feeling and

relax slightly

next you'll notice there is a tight

mental fist

wrapped around that feeling you don't

want it there you want it to go away

and the more you don't want that

sensation

there the bigger and more intense it

becomes

now the truth is when a sensation

arises it's there

and it's okay for it to be there why

because that's the truth

when it's there it's there you have to

be able to

allow that sensation to be there by

itself

now relax the tension and tightness

caused by that

smile and come back to your object of

meditation now the nature of these kind

of sensations

is that they don't go away right away

so your mind will bounce back with it

fine let go of the thoughts relax

allow the feeling to be there relax

smile and come back to your object of

meditation

as this happens over and over again you

start to be more and more familiar with

how that sensation rose

your mind was on your object of

meditation all of a sudden it's on this

itch or it's on this pain how did it get

there

it didn't get there and just jump there

there is a process that happens

and it's very it is recognizable once

you get used to how your

mind's attention moves from one thing to

another

so you want to try to see how the

process

works not why does it have

happen not getting involved with trying

to control it

just observe how this process

works relax into it smile and come back

to your object of meditation

after about five minutes then you send

loving and kind thoughts

to a spiritual friend the spiritual

friend is as

person of the same sex

and they are alive a spiritual friend is

someone that when you think of them

and their good qualities you deeply

respect them and you sincerely

wish them well

so you're radiating loving kindness to

yourself at right at five minutes

and then you think of your spiritual

friend

as i feel this happiness i

wish this for you may you

be happy

they have to be alive and it needs to be

a person

of the same sex

and then you continue on and try to see

them

in your mind's eye

don't put too much emphasis on

being able to visualize that person some

people are very good at visualizing

seeing pictures when they close their

eyes other people are not

the way they visualize is with words

either way is fine

so what you want to do is continue

on with your meditation

stay with your spiritual friend every

time there's a distraction

let go of the distraction come back to

your spiritual friend and smiling

when you picture your spirit spiritual

friend

see them smiling and happy

that can help remind you to be smiling

and happy too

okay so

the first five minutes send loving and

kind thoughts to your spiritual or

to yourself excuse me in the next 10

minutes

send it to your spiritual friend

same spiritual friend the whole time

you