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Metta meditation
Has anybody done metta meditation for a longer time and had an effect on your personally life? Does that meditation really opens the heart or is it just while you doing it?
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Blessing all sentient beings does indeed open the heart.
It is not just a matter of the recitation of the words.
It is not just a matter of the recitation of the thoughts,the blessings, no.
The practice gently opens the heart, and it opens the sight of the heart, and its effects are cumulative over time.
The effects on one's personal life over time is the eradication of fear and the creation of gentleness, serenity, courage, and wisdom...
it creates... beauty.
It creates beauty more than a lifetime of dieting and exercise, cosmetics, or plastic surgery ever could!
The feeling behind the words comes with time just be inquisitive and genuine.
I second aura.
When I first became a Buddhist I tried to cultivate the Four Brahmaviharas (loving-kindness, compassion, rejoicing, equanimity) in sitting meditation every day and it seemed to have a big effect. For a long time, situations which would have normally affected me just rolled off my back. But eventually I stopped practicing the Four Brahmaviharas so much and focused more on just breath meditation.
After a while (several months) of not practicing the Brahmaviharas on a regular basis my mind's defenses against "external irritants" gradually weakened at such a slow rate that I barely noticed this happening. Then, at some point, I realized that I was getting irritated like I used to and recognized the cause and effect relationship between the Brahmaviharas (especially Metta) and an unagitated mind. So I started practicing Metta again.
Unless you're Enlightened, the effects of cultivating Metta are temporary, but they are still potentially very powerful and can last for a long time. Both.
There are both short-term and long-term effects of Metta meditation. In the very short-term (i.e. while you are doing it) you may feel a very strong feeling of Metta. In the short-term (the next few hours after the session) you might feel bright and happy for a while. In the medium-term (weeks or months) your general mood will, on average, be better. In the long-term (perhaps years or lifetimes) it may even lead all the way to Awakening.
Metta,
Guy
as for the second part - the personal/emotional experience varies; sometimes it is just "work" and not actually very exciting at the time of practice - but the aftereffects are very, very obvious to me in many specific ways in my experience. for instance, i find it a very good thing to do if i slip into a conflict with someone - later, when they are not around i send metta. almost without fail the next time i see the person the conflict is gone. i have also used it with whole groups of people for whom i find i have, eh, contracted a dislike.
on the other hand, there are also times when the practice ls so beautiful it brings tears to the eyes .. and once i ... hmmm, how to describe ... sort of like i fell in love with a rock! no kidding. not romantically but that's as close as english can get i think..
i recommend both some concerted formal practice (there are traditional formats to follow) as regularly as you can manage and also random spontaneous practice through out the day - i like to do it on the bus for people i don't know and may never see again
with kindness, i wish you well.
I have meditated for a few years samata/vipassana and I am getting more conscious about myself and my thinking patterns, also I have realized a lot of wisdom with this technique. But it feels like I need to supplement with some extras. Because I can still feel a lot of irritation, self pity and critical. Of course, I don't take them so seriously and deep as before but I would like to be even less bothered about it. So you have inspired me a lot, so that I will do metta meditation as well.
https://www.stanford.edu/dept/psychology/cgi-bin/drupalm/system/files/LKM+Article.pdf
AN 11.16
Thus have I heard:
On one occasion the Blessed One was living near Savatthi at Jetavana at Anathapindika's monastery. Then he addressed the monks saying, "Monks." — "Venerable Sir," said the monks, by way of reply. The Blessed One then spoke as follows:
"Monks, eleven advantages are to be expected from the release (deliverance) of heart by familiarizing oneself with thoughts of loving-kindness (metta), by the cultivation of loving-kindness, by constantly increasing these thoughts, by regarding loving-kindness as a vehicle (of expression), and also as something to be treasured, by living in conformity with these thoughts, by putting these ideas into practice, and by establishing them. What are the eleven?
1. "He sleeps in comfort. 2. He awakes in comfort. 3. He sees no evil dreams. 4. He is dear to human beings. 5. He is dear to non-human beings. 6. Devas (gods) protect him. 7. Fire, poison, and sword cannot touch him. 8. His mind can concentrate quickly. 9. His countenance is serene. 10. He dies without being confused in mind. 11. If he fails to attain arahantship (the highest sanctity) here and now, he will be reborn in the brahma-world.
"These eleven advantages, monks, are to be expected from the release of heart by familiarizing oneself with thoughts of loving-kindness, by cultivation of loving-kindness, by constantly increasing these thoughts, by regarding loving-kindness as a vehicle (of expression), and also as something to be treasured, by living in conformity with these thoughts, by putting these ideas into practice and by establishing them."
So said the Blessed One. Those monks rejoiced at the words of the Blessed One.
Is this hard head feeling a good thing?
hope that helps
"You can't change just one thing in your life without having domino effect."
it is quite useful when one knows of its existence and can detect when it has arisen (a sign of increasing skill in discernment) - then the practice is to use various techniques to "starve" that stream of consciousness and/or feed a different more wholesome stream. for instance one might notice on attempting to generate metta for an "enemy" a sort of emotional inner wall - shenpa, ie. attachment to the habit of disliking them - canalization of the brain. to change the habitual response requires some effort (recanalization occurs), one way to sustain the effort to "reroute" things is to imagine sort of leaning into it the way one would to try to move a heavy refrigerator a little ..
in general, single word for word translations of these concepts are quite limiting - usually they need a bit more unpacking to make sense in english.
Could you please elaborate on what you mean b "leaning in"? I'm fascinated by the dealings with shenpa and think this could be of great help. Is this leaning in a conscious changing of thought i.e - shenpa attached to: I don't like this person..rerouting= but they're human beings and deserve peace and happiness. Should it be a conscious effort to replace these negatives thought associated with the shenpa that we feel?
Thanks
i am using "leaning into" as a metaphorical way of understanding or thinking about the mental motion involved in facing, recognizing and overcoming shenpa - which in english we can think of the same as we might "emotional resistance". sometimes it helps to have a metaphorical way of thinking about it to help sustain and guide the attention and intention - "leaning into it a little" is a bit like walking into a cold hard wind, one leans forward with determination to make a little progress in spite of any discomfort. turning away will not get one any further along the path to ultimate shelter so with a deep breath one forges on ..
for the second part of your question, sure - that's another way to approach the same intentional action, just a different way to think about it that is a little more specific (and thus may work better for some). and you have described basically what i would term the "antidote" approach; using reason or analysis ( as you suggested ) immediately shifts the attention away from an unwholesome stream of thought and begins to deprive it of some energy. then going on to focus deliberately to generate good intentions (eg. may they learn to abandon self-harm and evil, may they be free of the causes of suffering, may they achieve happiness and peace, etc.) will further deprive the unwholesome stream of thought of energy while proactively _feeding_ and establishing a wholesome stream - which, with repetition, will become habit, second nature, and thus replace the former (kilesa) with virtue.
the second part of this (generating the good intentions) may require a little imagination and cleverness to evoke a sincere compassion and/or good will. for instance, i find it easier to feel a sense of compassion for known violent war criminals if i imagine them behind bars, lonely, rueful .. ie. experiencing the fruits of their own bad kamma. or, i may use reasoning to highlight how stingy wealthy people oppressing the poor are creating and living in psychological hell for themselves in spite of all the luxury they possess; this helps me to overcome any vindictive anger i might hold for them and imagine that some day i might help them overcome the illness of selfishness and experience true peace of heart.
what the tibetans call shenpa is the resistance we encounter when attempting to change habitual thought patterns. it becomes associated with "attachment" due to the fact that this mental habitual momentum is dependent on our attachment to preferred experiences. it is felt by some people quite like physical or emotional pain or a sort of psychic barrier - lean into it a bit with the intention to push through, dissolve this and release the energy it contains for better use.
btw, i first heard this way of describing this ("leaning into it") from pema chodran and thought it a very apt description.
i hope that helps.