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This is the first in a five part series by Padmavajra on all aspects of the Metta Bhavana practice and 'The Great Love' in Buddhist discourse and practice - from metta (loving kindness) itself to Bodhichitta. His starting point here is to source notions of love in traditional teaching from the Pali Canon and in the great Mahayana sutras. A refreshing take on metta and how to cultivate it in your life.
Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004
| 1. | The Great Love - Maha Maitri; Sangharakshita's teaching of the metta bhavana being revolutionary; importance of metta bhavana (3:56) | |
| 2. | Centrality of emotion; catching up with what we know - transforming emotion; alchemy (2:21) | |
| 3. | Metta leading to insight; Karaniya Metta Sutta; liberation of the heart (1:48) | |
| 4. | The honesty of the classic, five-stage metta bhavana; aim of the practice; imagination - artist of your mind; friendliness to all life (3:31) | |
| 5. | No end to love; ecstatic, spontaneous emotion - expressed in deeds; story of Burmese gentleman (2:58) | |
| 6. | Ideal of metta daunting; importance of bhavana - a tendency rather than a state; gentle and irresistable; starting point is friendly feelings; any positive emotion is extraodinarily important, what you concentrate on, that you become (4:48) | |
| 7. | Breaking down the boundaries - metta like a surging river; need to acknowledge our feelings; honesty of response - non duality; maha maitri; the great love as an expression of emptiness (4:37) | |
| 8. | Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra - reading of conversation between Manjughosha and Vimalakirti; maya-like nature of all things - beings are highly maleable; fixing people causes suffering (4:01) | |
| 9. | Manjushri's question; Vimalakirti describes the great love (2:50) | |
| 10. | Quote from Sangharakshita on love and emptiness - love as a force affecting a miraculous transformation; quote from Rumi on love; seed of self-transcendence in friendly feeling (3:21) |
Total running time: 34:11
