Buddhism: What Is Metta Meditation?

Metta meditation is based on cultivating 'loving-kindness' thoughts towards ourselves as well as other living beings. It is very simple to do and offers many benefits. Find out...

Metta meditation or Metta prayer stems from the beautiful Buddhist philosophy. ​'Metta' or 'Maitrī' (in Sanskrit) means positive, kind, warm, benevolent, positive, loving, good will thoughts towards ourselves as well as others. 'Metta' comes from the ancient Indian language called 'Pali'.

By practicing Metta meditation, it can act as a platform or starting point to other meditation practices in our lives as in Metta meditation, we fill our heart with oneness, love and kindness first and this energy can help transform our other meditation practices and make them more effective and beneficial.

The Benefits of Metta Meditation - 

Metta meditation is about sending loving, benevolent thoughts to others and not just about focusing on your breathing. Metta meditation has been known for fostering feelings of empathy, well-being, reducing stress and anxiety, helping those who suffer from PTSD and other trauma-related conditions as well as creating more mindfulness in our daily lives and helping us bring more harmony in our relationships. 

How To Do Metta Meditation - 

The Metta meditation can be done for anyone and everyone in your life - from people to plants to animals, you can pray this sacred Metta prayer and wish everyone good will and benevolence through it.  You can do Metta prayer for your neighbors, friends, coworkers, family, relatives, friends, pets, wild animals, plants, trees, Nature or even those who you share a difficult relationship with.

​Starting your Metta prayer with a few deep breaths and bringing awareness into your heart center is key - this will make it more effective and powerful and the prayer will also reach the recipient and bless them; anything that comes from our heart is far more powerful and sacred than what comes out from our mind.  

It is said that Metta prayer is best when done first towards ourselves and the reasoning behind this is that we cannot love others unless and until we love ourselves. So you can start with Metta prayer towards yourself and just 3-4 sentences are what you need. So, set your intention first (of self-love) and then take few deep breaths, sit down in a peaceful, calm place and you may now start your Metta prayer with sentences like -

May I be happy and peaceful
May I be healthy and safe
May I be blessed 
May I be at ease 

One Great Way to Use Metta Prayer...

Metta prayer is a loving-kindness warm-hearted prayer and generally only includes just about 3 to 4 sentences. So, when I deeply care about someone  and am worried about their mental-emotional well-being, then I just say this prayer and send them my wishes. Sometimes I just do it at night when I am worried about that person so that they receive it while in their sleep and tomorrow they will hopefully wake up feeling lighter -

May you be happy and safe
May the Universe guide you on the right path
May you be healthy and whole
May you have peace and support

Keeping it simple and doing it with pure hearted intention is the key - you cannot bring your baggage or what happened between you and the other person when doing this prayer. 

Sometimes we understand someone very deeply and we start caring about them - we see who they really are when we look beneath the layers of their darkness, the clutter of their life, their odd narratives and their heavy pasts.

We worry about them but circumstances might be such that there is distance between the two souls - for whatever reasons.

It could be -

-maybe they kicked you out of their life (self-sabotaging behavior)

-maybe you got tired of taking their repeated insults or them not showing up for you the way you deserve or expected so you left

-maybe they are dealing with their own stuff

-maybe they are tied up in completely different circumstances of life (marriage, obligations, divorce, sickness, etc.)

-maybe there is lack of understanding

-maybe you or they feel not worthy of the other ("I am not worthy of someone so good!")

-and sometimes we meet people at wrong times in our lives

In situations where there is distance between the two, know that you can always send them positive energy and one way of doing that is through this Buddhist tradition's Metta prayer.

Unfortunately, sometimes in life, that is the only thing you can do but make no mistake - that is one powerful thing you are doing!

The gift is to the giver - so do this prayer and calm your anxious, worrisome thoughts about your dear loved ones knowing very well that every time you do this prayer, the loving grand Universe has delivered your prayer to them and they have received it. 

-Somyata

Photo Credit - HERE 
Ref. (1). Ref.(2)