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Reddit mentions of Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (Shambhala Classics)

Sentiment score: 11
Reddit mentions: 15

We found 15 Reddit mentions of Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (Shambhala Classics). Here are the top ones.

Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (Shambhala Classics)
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Found 15 comments on Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (Shambhala Classics):

u/autopoetic · 23 pointsr/Buddhism

Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzburg. It helped me a lot. Metta (loving-kindness) meditation in general helped me a lot, and this is a really good introduction to it.

Honestly, it felt a bit cheezy at first. But after sticking with it for a while, I now think it's the most important part of my practice. There is a very powerful resonance between loving yourself and loving other people. In metta you cultivate both, and they enhance each other.

u/Share-Metta · 9 pointsr/streamentry

My personal practice mixes breath meditation and metta. I start off with some mindful breathing to calm the mind and body. Then I take a minute to feel the breath through my various chakra areas. This step helps me get in touch with my internal processes and subtle energies. It helps a lot with feeling the emotional feedback of the metta practice. Next I move my breathing to the heart chakra (center of the chest) and maintain my awareness of the breath in that spot. Then I typically use the standard phrases towards myself after each exhale:

  • Inhale / exhale at heart chakra.
  • "May I be safe."
  • Inhale / exhale at heart chakra.
  • "May I be peaceful."
  • Inhale / exhale at heart chakra.
  • "May I be healthy."
  • Inhale / exhale at heart chakra.
  • "May I be happy."

    It's important to pay attention to the type of feedback you get from metta practice. You may feel like there is aversion or frustration there. Be mindful of whatever feedback you get and relax into it. Accept it and continue. This goes for positive emotions too! Accept them and continue with your intention of kindness.

    After however many rounds feel right of metta towards myself, I move onto specific people, whoever comes to mind first, and eventually onto all living beings. Here there is eventually a transition point where the metta is strong enough that I don't need to use the verbalizations, it's at this point that the metta is self-sustaining just by focusing on the intention/feedback loop.

    From here there are two directions I'll typically go in:

  1. Jhana
  2. Choiceless Awareness

    This is just my personal practice so I'm not sure how helpful it will be for you. In terms of books on Metta:

u/En_lighten · 7 pointsr/Buddhism

Generally, you might find 'confession' to be helpful.

Briefly, perhaps, this is more or less confessing misdeeds while calling to mind the three jewels. You might read a bit about this type of stuff in this brief sutra. You also might consider reading something like the Bodhicharyavatara which has a section on confession.

You also might perhaps come to understand that we've all basically been dummies and done stupid stuff. In Buddhism, one of the main disciples of the Buddha was named Moggallana, and it's said that he killed his parents in a past life. In the Tibetan tradition, there is a figure named Milarepa who is said to have killed something like 35 people in his life. And in the Pali Canon, there's also discussion about Angulimala who is said to have killed 999 people prior to meeting the Buddha with his eye on the Buddha being #1,000 - he failed, and later became an arahant.

Anyway, one of the karmic effects of 'misdeeds' is that we feel like you feel.

You could consider cultivating the 4 immeasurables, which can plant many good seeds and overcome much negativity. Metta or loving kindness meditation is even studied in modern medicine. I've heard good things about Sharon Salzburg's book Loving Kindness on this topic.

Best wishes.

u/fithacc · 7 pointsr/streamentry

Practice has been pulling me into the roots of my fears, the burdens i'm carrying on my shoulders, and the sadness that is integrated in this. I'm not going to lie it's pretty hard facing this, especially during finals season. Metta is teaching me a lot of things, although its not possible to say ive permanently learned anything :P

I am attempting to read "Lovingkindness" by Sharon Salzberg. And prev touched on "Science of Enlightenment" by Shinzen Young, didn't finish it as the need to focus on metta arised.

sigh.. well, im thankful i was able to see even momentarily these burdens im carrying are just something in the possible future. the reality is, right now i have power in the present moment. i hope i remember this.

thank you for reading this far! Wishing myself, you and all beings happiness <3

u/LarryBills · 6 pointsr/Buddhism

Here's a fairly standard recitation for Metta practice:

>May [you] be happy,
>
>May [you] be healthy,
>
>May [you] dwell in safey,
>
>May [you] be free from suffering.

The classical teaching on Loving Kindness is to start with a benefactor (teacher, etc.) Once you have your metta up and going, you extend it to:

  • Yourself
  • A loved one
  • A neutral person
  • A "difficult" person in your life

    You don't move to the next stage until you've stabilized the metta at your current stage.

    Then, you work on extending metta outwards to fill the room (and beyond) in the 6 directions. The recitation is slightly modified to:

    May all beings above be happy...May all beings above be healthy...May all beings above dwell in safety...May all beings above be free from suffering.

    Then you continue in each direction, trying to push/extend the metta outwards.

    May all beings below/in front/behind/to the left/to the right...

    Tip when you are choosing your 5 people: imagine them as either children or smiling. Even your difficult person. This typically makes it a bit easier to wish them well.

    Keep at the meditation daily and don't get frustrated. Remember, it's a skill and it takes a little bit to develop. So don't get down on yourself or abandon it if it all doesn't click in the first week. Metta practice is noble and orients the mind towards wholesomeness. Your day to day life and moods will improve greatly with some dedicated practice.

    If you are interested, you can check out Sharon Salzberg's book on Lovingkindness (metta)
u/burrito-boy · 3 pointsr/Buddhism

Sharon Salzberg's book "Lovingkindness" is a perennial favourite: https://www.amazon.com/Lovingkindness-Revolutionary-Happiness-Shambhala-Classics/dp/157062903X/

u/Th334 · 3 pointsr/Meditation

I do loving-kindness (metta) meditation daily, and it truly feels fantastic. It conditions the mind more towards unconditional kindness and love for everyone, including yourself! I know that traditionally there are four aspects of the altruistic nature described, called the brahmavihāras: loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity.

I'm by no means an expert, but I'll point you to resources I've found as a student to a student. :)

  • The teaching retreat on Engaged Compassion by Culadasa that's up on YouTube is fantastic. Culadasa is full of wisdom. :) His book is my top recommendation for a (breath) meditation manual in general. This book doesn't focus on cultivating the altruistic nature per se (although it does have metta instructions in appendix), but it's about overcoming dissatisfaction / suffering and the selfish nature through meditation, which is arguably even more important.

  • I've been recommended Sharon Salzberg as an expert on loving-kindness meditation, and particularly her book Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.
u/RangerPretzel · 2 pointsr/Meditation

Take a class/course on Metta meditation to help you cultivate Loving-Kindness (sometimes called Loving-Friendliness)

or read Sharon Salzburg's book on Loving-Kindness: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157062903X

I highly recommend it.

u/psyyduck · 2 pointsr/Buddhism

I like doing guided metta meditation, and reading this book. Just remember it happens at its own rate. It's kind of about relaxing the barriers between yourself and others, so trying to force it doesn't make much sense.

u/Taxyback · 2 pointsr/Buddhism

Having struggled deeply with this myself, I have found the practice of metta to be hugely powerful. By FAR the best explanation of the practice and the theory for me has been Sharon Salzberg's book "Lovingkindness."

If you're interested but don't have the resources to purchase it yourself, I would be SO happy to send a copy your way. And don't you dare say you don't deserve it! ;)

u/QubeZero · 2 pointsr/Buddhism

I don't know much about your situation, that said, I will give you some resources and my own advice that helped me in my own life, and that you can put into practice.

Firstly, it sounds like you are not meditating correctly. A teacher or proper guidance can help you with this.

When you do breath meditation (which I doubt you are doing correctly), I'm guessing that you could be using too much force. I could be totally wrong with this, but you could be constricting your blood vessels, stressing your muscles and restricting the breath. This kind of effort won't get you anywhere near Jhana. Even if you do get to Jhana like you say you are in a stressful kind of way you are just hurting your meditation practice. Don't try to concentrate any effort onto the breath. Instead, you are simply observing it naturally with barely any effort.

Ajahn Brahm says in this video a more accurate translation of "samadhi" is "stillness" rather than "concentration".

Do you have a sangha nearby to visit? If you don't, in the meantime you can visit an online one, secondlife. You can visit dharma talks and chat with people there. It also has some really soothing music, I find this very nice.

I don't know what medication you're taking (and I know people may disagree with me on this), but I recommend to stop them if it isn't helping. Many anti-anxiety and depressant drugs I used to take all have side-effects and risks. A good decision I made was tapering off and stopping all drugs. Your last sentence of "should I be even more intoxicated by them"? sounds strange as if you wrote this like you are already under the influence of drugs.

As for anything else that may help, whenever I get lost, I read and study the Noble 8-fold path. Here's a nice page I came across that discusses the Buddha's teachings as a gradual training. Develop your foundation, look at the other parts of the path and focus more on that. Virtue, generosity, kindness, and heaven. The Buddhist path isn't just meditation, and the other parts are just as, or even more important for lay followers.

Aren't you tired of hell and want some time in heaven? I was in a hell realm also, and I thought I would be stuck there forever. I never thought I could get out of it but what helped me my most difficult times was compassion. Compassion to free myself from suffering.

Have you practiced Metta before? Even just 10 minutes a day can even have huge benefits. Here is Sharon's book on Loving-kindness which I highly recommend.



u/WanderingJones · 2 pointsr/Meditation

I haven't done it a whole lot, but I wouldn't recommend just cycling through people close to you. Try concentrating on strangers, people you've been having issues with, genders (i.e. all males/all females), directions (I used to do 8 directions of the compass plus up and down), the entire planet, the entire universe etc. And of course yourself... but hopefully you're doing that already.

And Loving Kindness is a good book to read on the topic if you haven't already.

u/TongueDepresser · 1 pointr/depression

I think you're onto your problem.

You're still you, with or without praise.

Sure, I get it. It feels good to be praised. It's confirmation that you're doing something right.

But if your sense of self-worth is based on what everyone else thinks, then your entire world, your entire happiness will be predicated on what other people think (or what your brother thinks.)

Instead, you need to love yourself and trust what YOU think.

That's the tricky part, though, because it sounds like you've conditioned yourself to hate yourself. And that's a bummer. How can you start to love yourself if all you hear is an inner dialogue of self-hate?

So baby steps.

And this is where therapy comes in. This is where self-forgiveness comes in. This is where loving-kindness meditation comes in.

Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Lovingkindness-Revolutionary-Happiness-Shambhala-Classics/dp/157062903X

It's a meditation of cultivating loving-kindness towards yourself and others. You need a lot of it right now.

internet hugs

u/freeland4all · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Medications will put you in a slightly different mindset. If you expect that the new mindset will allow you to change, then you can change. But if you view the use of medication as a way of suppressing part of yourself that you wish to get rid of because certain feelings are simply unacceptable, then you won't really be dealing with your depression or anger issues. As someone who tried 7 different depression medications basically unsuccessfully and finally settled on meditation, I believe that it all has to do with the way you view your life. If you are trying to feel satisfied with an unsatisfactory life, no medication will ultimately make you feel good. I would suggest working on developing your talents - whatever it is that you're good at which also connects you with other people through loving expression. Any sort of "art," performative or physical, will help you come to terms with the totality of yourself and how you can be of use to others. I don't think it's useful to convince yourself that you aren't in control of your own emotions. Our minds can get stuck in depressed ruts when we convince ourselves that the "truth" is that we are disconnected from everyone else. But we can force ourselves into happier and more productive tracks by focusing on our fundamental connections and how we can be encourage one another and simply enjoy closeness. Try reading books about meditation and loving acceptance. I really enjoyed this one.

u/thekassette · 1 pointr/Buddhism

Well, I recently picked up this book from my local Zen center. I haven't read it yet, but I think I'm going to add some self-compassion meditation to my practice starting this morning, actually.