From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zxsWXM36ucE

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

instructions 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 reading and it's

not following the directions that are

given by the Buddha and Miss utas so

it's easier just change your meditation

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 on a

retreat there was one man and 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 over the memory

and just keep that feeling

it's a happy feeling you make a wish for

your own happiness oh it doesn't matter

what wish it is that you make for

yourself you want to feel the wish and

you know what it feels like to be

peaceful and come 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 want to 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 had a

very active busy day a feeling of

peaceful and calm will help your mind to

calm down

how well 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 and goes around both

of those lobes it's called the meninges

every time there is any kind of

distraction that contracts a little bit

it's tight and what you want to do is

recognize that and let

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 pulled your attention

away as soon as you recognize it let it

be relax

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

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 approving improving

your observation power of how minds

attention becomes too strict

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 hey

so you sit very still and when your

attention goes to some kind of sensation

it can be a sensation of itching a

sensation of wanting to cop that little

tickle in your throat the sensation of

it could 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 like

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 quiet 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 they don't

go away right away so your mind will

bounce back with by 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 ropes your mind

was on your object of meditation all of

a sudden that'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 minds 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

meditation after about five minutes then

you send loving in kind thoughts to a

spiritual friend the spiritual friend is

a 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

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 to okay so

the first five minutes and 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

you

instructions 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 reading and it's

not following the directions that are

given by the Buddha and Miss utas so

it's easier just change your meditation

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 on a

retreat there was one man and 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 over the memory

and just keep that feeling

it's a happy feeling you make a wish for

your own happiness oh it doesn't matter

what wish it is that you make for

yourself you want to feel the wish and

you know what it feels like to be

peaceful and come 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 want to 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 had a

very active busy day a feeling of

peaceful and calm will help your mind to

calm down

how well 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 and goes around both

of those lobes it's called the meninges

every time there is any kind of

distraction that contracts a little bit

it's tight and what you want to do is

recognize that and let

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 pulled your attention

away as soon as you recognize it let it

be relax

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

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 approving improving

your observation power of how minds

attention becomes too strict

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 hey

so you sit very still and when your

attention goes to some kind of sensation

it can be a sensation of itching a

sensation of wanting to cop that little

tickle in your throat the sensation of

it could 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 like

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 quiet 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 they don't

go away right away so your mind will

bounce back with by 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 ropes your mind

was on your object of meditation all of

a sudden that'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 minds 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

meditation after about five minutes then

you send loving in kind thoughts to a

spiritual friend the spiritual friend is

a 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

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 to okay so

the first five minutes and 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