 Here I am. I'm Dhamma Shari. I'm the chairperson at Nagaloka Buddhist Center, and we're located here in Portland, Maine at 1 Forest Avenue. And Nagaloka is a center for people who would like to participate, wouldn't know themselves through meditation and studying the Dhamma, which is the Buddhist teaching. So we're part of a larger order, which is worldwide. It's called Tri Ratna Buddhist Community, and it actually is an order for Westerners. So it was created by an English gentleman named Sangarachada, and we've been around here in Portland for almost 20 years, so maybe a little bit more. So it's a really wonderful community, which is called the Sangha. The members that come here are people that just want to come and meditate and practice the Dhamma. So good morning, and welcome to Sunday morning at Nagaloka. So what we're going to do this morning is we're going to do, like we normally do, we're going to chant the Refugees and Precepts, and I'll do that in column respond. And before we start, I'll actually tell you the meaning of what we're saying, because it's in a Pali language, which was around at the time of the Buddha. And we're going to honor the Buddha and the Dhamma in Sangha by beginning and honoring them by standing up. Then we'll do the Refugees and Precepts, and then we'll do a period of the Metabhavana, which I'll lead you through, and then we'll end with transference and merit and self-surrender. So we'll honor the Buddha and the Dhamma in Sangha, and we'll do all this in column respond. So find your comfort. So this is pretty traditional in most Buddhist communities, to chant the Refugees and Precepts. And I'm going to do it in column respond, but first I just want to tell you what I'm saying, or what everybody is repeating after me. Because it's in some of it is in Pali language, and some of it is in English. So what we say in the beginning is, So what that means is homage to him, the blessed one, the worthy one, the perfectly enlightened one. So that's the Buddha. So we're just really being present here in the moment with awareness that the Buddha gained enlightenment and he stuck around and taught us the Dhamma. And then the Sangha is the community. And then we say that we go to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha for refuge, not once, not twice, but actually three times. So going for refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha actually means we've reverenced them. I mean we have great deal of respect for the Buddha and his teaching in the Sangha, the enlightened beings. So we just remind ourselves as Buddhists that that's part of our practice is to resonate with the Buddha and his teaching. And then we say, Five of the precepts in Pali, and these are the things that we're trying not to do in our life. So they're just principles of practice that the Buddha gave us as opportunities to have some guidelines and to be more skillful in our life, to have things come from a place of good will from our heart, from greed, hatred and delusion is where sometimes we kind of operate from. So we're not really bringing it down to our heart. So the Buddha really gave us some guidelines to bring things more into a way of being that we're coming from a place of good will and metta, which we're going to do, the metta-bhavana, which means loving kindness. So in the Pali language what I'm going to say, and you're going to repeat after me, I undertake to abstain from taking life. I undertake to abstain from taking the not given. I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct. I undertake to abstain from false speech. And I undertake to abstain from taking intoxicants. So these are the five precepts. And then you'll hear the positive precepts of which are in English. So these are the deeds of things that I can do to help to be more skillful in my life. So we'll do these in Kali and respond. Namo tasa Bhagavato arahatto Sammasambuddhasa Namo tasa Bhagavato arahatto Sammasambuddhasa Namo tasa Bhagavato arahatto Sammasambuddhasa Buddham sarnam gacchami Dharma sarnam gacchami Dharma sarnam gacchami Sangham sarnam gacchami Duttyampi Buddham sarnam gacchami Duttyampi Dharma sarnam gacchami Duttyampi Sangham sarnam gacchami Duttyampi Buddham sarnam gacchami Duttyampi Dharma sarnam gacchami Duttyampi Sangham sarnam gacchami Paanatipata Veremani Sikapadam Samadhyami Adinadana Veremani Sikapadam Samadhyami Kamesu Mechachara Veremani Sikapadam Samadhyami Musavada Veremani Sikapadam Samadhyami Surammeriam Mahjha Pannadhatana Veremani Sikapadam Samadhyami Sadhu Sadhu With deeds of loving kindness I purify my body With open-handed generosity I purify my body With stillness, simplicity and contentment With stillness, simplicity and contentment I purify my body With truthful communication I purify my speech With mindfulness clear and radiant I purify my mind I purify my mind So let me just explain the metabababana a little bit before we begin So the metabababana actually is translated as the development of universal loving kindness So what actually it's translated as is just offering our goodwill to our self and all being So it's touching upon yourself in a way that you're connecting with your heartfelt response to the world and everybody's in it So we do that, we do it on occasions but doing the metabababana just really helps us to do it a lot more often because what happens when we do the metabababana is we connect with that emotion that we call friendliness so that we have an opportunity in our world in our everyday life just to be a little more friendly not only to ourselves but to our good friend and the people that we don't know and the people that we struggle with So how do we do that? How do we connect with that way of being in the world that we place our heart upon ourselves and all beings? It takes practice So that's why we do this practice we do this metababana meditation in order to connect more with that place of being and what the Buddha referred to it as loving kindness what the Buddha referred to as being more skillful versus unskillful So when we're skillful it comes from a place of goodwill, loving kindness you actually can feel the emotion in your chest sometimes that warmth, feeling in your heart when you're doing something out of generosity and kindness so you actually can feel the emotion going on when you're actually doing that even when you're not meditating in your world in everyday life What we just tend to do is through our conditioning, I call it a veil of conditioning I mean we've been in this way of being since we were quite young is sometimes we come from this place of our head not our heart So what happens then? Come from greed, hatred and delusion So we're pretty deluded most of the time in how we respond to ourselves and all beings So it's just an opportunity for us to grow and develop in a way that we come from more of a place of goodwill and kindness and skillfulness and generosity than instead of a place of maybe unskillful actions and feelings I mean how does it feel when you come from a place of hatred and anger? Especially when it's to somebody else Do they feel it the other person? No We're the ones that really suffer aren't we? Because it's our perception our response to ourselves and all beings If we come from a place of not being very skillful in a place from our head a place from the veil of our conditioning we just react, don't we? Instead of responding skillfully in a way that we are a little more creative So just think of this meditation as just being a way that you can be a little more creative in your life and respond with a place that you're coming from that has to do with kindness, skillfulness and love So just think of yourself as being more friendly more kind and more generous in your world So I'm actually going to lead you through this meditation this morning sometimes Most of the time when you come here on Sunday morning it's just a bell and we set for 40 minutes and this is a five stage meditation so it's eight minutes per stage but I'm going to reduce it a little bit and I'm going to lead you through it So there's actually five stages So in the first stage we give loving kindness to ourselves so we just have a sense of us You know, it's almost like you're connecting with an appreciation for yourself because who's going to love you as much as you love yourself than you There is nobody that's with you as much as you are with yourself So we have to start with ourselves from that place that we have an appreciation And then we move on to our good friends So think of these individuals now that you're going to be using A good friend is somebody we refer to usually it's the same sex it's around the same age and especially that they're alive because you're going to put this in action when you're not on the cushion Again, you're going to respond to them with a place that you're coming from your heart So you're going to be their friend and you're going to offer them goodwill So the first stage is yourself the second stage is your good friend The third stage is somebody you don't know very well So we've referred to this individual as your neutral person These are the people that you run into most of the time in your daily life is the people that you really don't know You go to the bank, you go to the grocery store you work, you go to school You're out in your car in your traffic walk around the city These are the people you really don't know but you see them every day So we open ourselves to be more friendly to these people we don't know And then in the fourth stage we bring to mind somebody that we're struggling with and we have a little ill will against and it doesn't mean necessarily they're the difficult person for themselves but they are just for us So they have people that love them and care for them So we try in this meditation especially realizing that we're meditating they're not here really with us right now only that we have a sense of them So we can just like put on a new pair of glasses we can respond to them a little differently and come from a place of kindness So you don't necessarily have to like them but you can appreciate that they're in the world because they help you to practice If everybody was really your good friend we wouldn't have anybody to practice with, would we? So it's good to have some difficult people in our life because it helps us to be more friendly to them and everybody else because when we react to them who's holding the pain? We are, yeah It's just an opportunity to offer a little more good will to a people that we really don't care for And then in the fifth and final stage we open ourselves and expand our loving kindness so that we include all these people together It's almost kind of comical isn't it if you put yourself with your good friend a neutral person, a person you'll struggle with So I mean you just do that and you just see how you respond to that and you just try to open up your heart a little more to the concept of just being more kind and appreciative to these people in your life And then what I'll do is just expand it even further So at the end we include all beings So all beings in the world may they be free from suffering may they grow and develop may they be happy So just wishing good will for all beings And then I'll lead you through all the five stages and I'll ring a bell in between And then at the end when we're done we'll do the transference of merit and self-surrender And this is just an opportunity for us We gain great merit just by being here today So do we hang on to it? We do a little bit but we give it away So it's also the metababana and action Everything that we take in as far as good will and kindness and compassion we give it all away So it's another act of the metababana And then it comes back again So it's just this ongoing flow of loving kindness for ourselves and all beings Is there any questions before we start? I'm going to lead you through just a little body scan in the beginning just to help you relax a little more because you really want to find comfort in your body So whether you're seated on the cushion on the mat on the floor in a chair or on a bench just find your comfort in sitting there and being here in the moment with awareness because if we find comfort in our body our mind is less distracted because if we've got a knee ache or our back is sore it's just going to distract our mind So really in the beginning find your comfort So just settle down, close your eyes and just start focusing on your breath It's good to begin with a mindful sub-breathing just an awareness of your breath just breathing in and breathing out and just having a sense of just being here in the moment with your breath especially in your body So in Buddhism our body and our mind are the same So we have our senses that we respond to throughout our whole body So that's part of our mind So just be aware of your whole body and just settling down finding comfort being quite content and aware being in the moment just having a sense of your body being still and at peace Just breathing in and breathing out Breathing in, I know I'm breathing in Breathing out, I know I'm breathing out and just have a sense that you have the earth underneath you so that you can just let your body weight go So you don't have to hang on to anything here now you can just let it all go your weight of the body That's anything else that you might be hanging on to in your emotional response as you are right now here in the moment you can just let go just settling down more with a sense of awareness of comfort and ease and just bringing all of your awareness to your hands just letting them rest in beauties Your hands have accomplished a lot of duties even this morning before you arrived So now you can just let them rest in beauties just breathing in and breathing out and just checking within just going within just to see how you're feeling In Buddhism we say feelings are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral So we feel something first before we go into the emotions So just check with your feelings and then you can check to see how you're emotionally doing this morning and we try to build on that emotion especially if it's a pleasant, loving, kindness feeling we're going to build on that feeling Maybe you feel it in your chest and around your heart this warm sensation and we're going to drop that seed of Mehta within So that seed of loving kindness is inside of you now A period of the Metabovner And the first day into the Metabovner we bring ourselves to mind So having a sense of you being here right now going within with that seed of Mehta within May I be well May I be happy May I be free from struggles May I be free from the cause of struggle May I grow and develop May I have a healthy body May I have a sound mind So having a real appreciation for yourself and wishing yourself wellness and happiness, goodwill being your own best friend just continue to stay in a moment with awareness with a focus on a sense of you appreciating the good qualities that you find your kindness your generosity your happiness your joy your friendliness whenever you're distracted by thoughts just simply bring it back having a sense of you either in the mind's eye or deep within inside of you opening the heart to love and kindness now off in the distance you see somebody walking towards you and as they get closer you realize here's your good friend they're with you now and you can feel that sense of joy within as you spend time with your good friend you appreciate their qualities a friendliness, kindness, generosity especially their friendliness to you and your friendliness to them you're wishing your good friend happiness by offering them loving kindness may they be well may they be happy may they be free from suffering may they be free from the causes of suffering you're offering your friend goodwill and happiness may they have a healthy body may they have a sound mind may they grow and develop letting them grow and develop in ways that is right for them just supporting your good friend coming from a place of goodwill may they be well may they be happy may they be free from struggles may they grow and develop and take notice how you're feeling your emotional response dropping that seed of loving kindness with you and your good friend it's time now to say goodbye to your good friend you can say goodbye in whatever way you feel appropriate you can say goodbye they're turning and walking away now and often the distance somebody else is coming and you notice as they get closer this is the neutral person the person that you don't really know very well and as they get closer you realize that seed of matter is within you you're coming from a place of goodwill so you have an appreciation and friendliness to this person wishing them well, wishing them happiness may they be well may they be happy may they be free from struggling and the source of those struggles may they grow and develop having a healthy body and a sound mind so connecting with those qualities of metha goodwill, friendliness it's time now to say goodbye to the neutral person in whatever way you feel appropriate to say goodbye they're turning and walking away now and as you see them walk away you notice somebody else is coming from a distance and they're getting closer you see that it's the person you've been having some struggles with so they're with you now you have a sense of them being present in your awareness it's almost like you're seeing them in a different way that you recognize their humanness that they too are seeking happiness so that we can wish them well as we drop that seed of matter within ourselves we respond with kindness may they be well may they be happy may they be free from suffering and the cause of suffering may they grow and develop with a healthy heart and a sound mind and it's always a good idea with the person we're struggling with to let go of past situations just be in the moment with awareness may they be well may they be happy may they be free from suffering and may they grow and develop now you can say goodbye to the person you're struggling with and as you do that you notice here comes your good friend and you're new to a person and a difficult person is here as well so you're all together here in the moment with awareness as you look out to each of them together you open your heart and offer them meta loving kindness and just notice how that feels as you give loving kindness to your good friend, the new to a person and the person you're struggling with as they're standing before you together they're going to grow and develop expand our feeling of goodwill as we offer it to more individuals so include all the beings in this room in your circle of meta may they be well may they be happy may they be free from suffering and may they grow and develop you're surrounded by beings and back of you in front of you to your side growing and developing our loving kindness we begin to include more beings so just as they come to mind let them in may they be well, may they be happy may they be free from suffering your friends, your neighbors your family and gradually include more beings just expanding your loving kindness so that you can include all beings may all beings be well and happy so women and men, children the old and the young the rich and the poor the healthy, the sick those living near and those living far away may all beings be at ease to stay connected with that heart felt response being creative in your meditation as you offer goodwill to all beings letting your imagination bring you to a place of loving kindness taking a moment to reflect as you begin to bring the meditation to a close again, check in with yourself how are you feeling what is your emotional response what has this meditation been like for you just being with it for a moment longer transference to merit and self surrender may the merit gained in my acting thus in my acting thus go to the alleviation of the suffering of all beings go to the alleviation of the suffering of all beings my personality throughout my existences my personality throughout my existences my possessions and my merit in all three ways I give up without regard to myself I give up without regard to myself for the benefit of all beings just as the earth and other elements just as the earth and other elements are serviceable in many ways to the infinite number of beings to the infinite number of beings inhabiting limitless space so may I become that which maintains all beings that which maintains all beings situated throughout space so long as all have not attained so long as all have not attained to peace