The Metta Sutra

The Metta Sutra offers the Buddha’s teachings on loving kindness.

This is one of the fundamental practices for Buddhists in general and me in particular.

During my meditation practice, I offer loving kindness blessings first to myself, then to my wife, children and their significant others, then to the people I know who are suffering, and finally, to all sentient beings.

This practice has helped me to alleviate feelings of loneliness and depression.

Let none deceive another,
     Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
  Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
     Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

~The Metta Sutra 

(The Scriptures of Loving Kindness)

I received this rendition of the Metta Sutra from Lama Surya Das and I’ve repeated it here for your benefit.

How will you practice loving kindness in your meditation and in your life?