Loving-Kindness Meditation

The Sun in Your Heart
Version 2

A guided meditation by Ven. Ayya Khema

In order to start, please put the attention on the breath for just a few moments.

Imagine that there is a sun shining in your heart, bright and warming, creating light, warmth, leaving nothing uncovered, making the flowers and the seeds grow. Your heart becomes a most beautiful garden with the sun shining on it, the warmth of the sun in your heart fills you, surrounds you, gives you a feeling of wellbeing and ease.

Now let the sun from your heart shine, reach out, give its beautiful rays of warmth from your heart to the person sitting nearest you, and fill that person from head to toe with that warmth that the sun from your heart provides, as your gift to that person.

Think of your parents whether they’re still alive or not. Let the sun from your heart reach out to their hearts, fill them with the warmth, the clear light, the beautiful feeling--give it to them as a gift from you.

And we think of your nearest and dearest people, those whom you might be living with and because the sun is shining in your heart you can give them the warmth, and the light, and the clarity, the beauty of your heart without expecting anything in return.

And now we’ll think of our friends and acquaintances and relatives, anyone that comes to mind, let them rise before your mind’s eye, see them quite clearly, then see the sun in your heart warming, shining, full of light, clarity, beauty and then let its rays reach out to these people’s hearts filling them with the greatest beauty we can give away, the warmth of our heart.

And we think of those people whom we meet in our everyday life. Anyone that comes to mind, neighbors, people at work, on the street, in the shops, in the offices, and those we see in the traffic, and the sun in our own hearts makes it possible to give them all great warmth, beautiful rays of shining light to give them joy, to manifest our togetherness, to make them aware that we have this heart’s gift for them.

Think of a difficult person in your life or several, or those people whom you find difficult because you can’t agree with their ideals or thoughts or actions. And just as the sun shines on everybody alike so the sun in your heart also shines on that difficult person or persons. And the rays from that sun in your heart warms that person’s heart and you can let go of the difficulty and embrace that person in the fullness of the warmth of your heart.

Now open your heart as wide as possible and let the sun grow and grow in your heart, shining on people everywhere bringing them the warmth and the light and the beauty of your heart. First let it reach out and let its rays shine on the people here, then on everybody at Green Gulch. And then go further a field and let it shine wherever you can find people, either knowing them, having seen them, heard about them, or assuming them to be there. The sun shines everywhere, it doesn’t discriminate. Let the sun in your heart do the same, bringing the warmth of your heart to people everywhere.

Let it also shine on all the animals and insects that live with us, all the ones you can think of: flies, grasshoppers, cats, mice, rats, raccoons, anything at all that you can think of that lives with us. The warmth of your heart can embrace it all. Let the sun of your heart shine on the trees and the flowers, the bushes, the vegetables, everything that surrounds us. Loving them helps for togetherness with them, not just standing apart and admiring them, but being part of them. Let the warm rays from your heart reach out to the sky, the clouds, the moon and the stars, as far as the horizon and beyond. Let the love from your heart include all the land and the oceans on this planet and as you do that you will see living beings everywhere, in the water, in the air, fish, birds. Go further and further a field, embrace it all, because the sun in your heart can shine everywhere bringing the warmth and the clarity and the light to all that we know.

Now put your attention back on yourself and see the beautiful sun in your heart, feel its warmth touching you, filling you, embracing you. Feel a sense of wellbeing, contentment and gratitude, being protected by that and made steadfast having a sense of the strong solid foundation on which you can rest.

May people everywhere feel the warmth of the sun in their hearts.


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Leigh Brasington / / Revised 10 Apr 06