Metta Meditation for Refugees
Metta is Pali word often translated as ‘loving kindness’ or goodwill towards others. It’s a meditation practice where we generate feelings of kindness and goodwill to other people and beings. Because we are deliberately generating these feelings Metta differs from other forms of meditation – such as simply observing whatever arises. I’m going to guide you through this meditation. If at any time you feel overwhelmed, bring your attention to your breathing – even breathe a little deeper, exhaling slowly – and feel the physical weight of your body on you seat. If need be, open your eyes and direct your gaze just in front of you. (Pause. Gong).
Let’s start. Gently close your eyes. Soften your body by taking slightly deeper in-breaths and slowly breathing out. Pay attention to the physical sensations in your body as you start to feel calmer. (Pause. Gong).Think of a particular person that you have gratitude towards. Picture this person and experience the feeling of gratitude that you have for them. Feel the sensation associated with this gratitude. In your mind’s eye and heart embrace this person. Stay quietly with this feeling for a few moments. Bring your attention to your heart and chest area. Feel the sensations arising in your heart and chest area as you embrace the person towards whom you feel grateful. (Pause. Gong).
Staying with this feeling now recall something you have done or said that was kind and contributed to someone else’s well being. Pay attention to the feeling that comes with this memory. If nothing specific arises, reflect on the desire within you for contentment for yourself and others. If distracting thoughts arise, pay attention to the stronger feelings of either gratitude or goodwill to others or your own desire for contentment. If you drift off, come back to the anchor of sensations in your body and chest and take a few slightly deeper breaths to ground youself. (Pause. Gong).
Part of this practice of generating kindness and goodwill to others involves using intentional aspirations that help guide our feelings towards the well being of others. I’m going to say some phrases that you can repeat silently. Allow them float in your mind. There’s no strain. You are softening and connecting with your inner feelings of kindness and goodwill. (Pause. Gong). As you silently repeat these phrases try to feel the sensations they generate. Remember the person you felt gratitude towards? Start with this person and silently direct these words towards them. ‘Be free from danger’. ‘be free from danger.’ Be safe, be safe’. ‘Be peaceful, be peaceful’. Be well and content. Be well and content. (Pause. Gong).
In the same way we now direct these feelings of kindness and goodwill towards ourselves. Silently direct these words towards yourself. ‘Be free from danger. Free from danger. Be peaceful and safe. Peaceful and safe.’ Let these words float through your meditation. Free from danger…peaceful and safe…free from danger…peaceful and safe. May I be well and content. May I be well and content. (Pause. Gong).
Life without safety is a nightmare. There is no peace. That’s why refugees seek refuge. We all need a refuge or safe haven from internal and external torment. Today we are taking refuge in waking up to our interconnectedness with other human beings. We take refuge in our religious or philosophical beliefs that value kindness and goodwill to others. We also take refuge in the community of our fellow meditators. (Pause. Gong).
You have all come here today with kindness and goodwill towards refugees. There are more than 23 million refugees throughout the world. A few thousands seek refuge in our country. Many risk their lives on dangerous journeys and die. Others are intercepted and locked up in detention centres. Refugees experience the nightmare of a world without peace and safety. From our hearts we generate feelings of kindness, peace and safety towards all refugees seeking a refuge from anger and hatred. (Pause. Gong).
Let’s direct these feelings of kindness, peace and safety we are generating towards the millions of fellow humans who are drifting on the seas of hostility and indifference in our world. Experience the sensations in your chest and heart area while generating these feelings of kindness and peace. Let these words float as you extend the warm, kind and peaceful energy generated in this room to all people seeking refuge. Be free from danger…be peaceful and safe…be free from danger…be peaceful and safe. Be well and content. Be well and content. (Pause. Gong).
The refugee situation is the result of causes and conditions arising out of greed, hatred and delusion – the delusion of thinking that we are separate from other humans. Connecting with refugees by generating feelings of kindness, peace and safety is an antidote to the greed, hatred and delusion that is causing the problem. You may also feel concern about the government policies that institutionalise this greed, hatred and delusion and the people employed to carry out these policies. Metta also helps us deal with difficult situations. The Dalai Lama says ‘hatred will never cease by hatred’. So we now generate wishes that kindness and generosity arise in those not yet capable of compassion towards refugees. ‘Wishing kindness and generosity arise in all those not yet capable of being compassionate towards refugees…. may kindness and generosity arise in all those not yet capable of being compassionate towards refugees’ (Pause. Gong).
Return your attention to this room and yourselves. Feel the energy generated in the room and the physical sensations in your body. Bring your attention to the heart and chest area. Generating feelings of kindness and peace to your fellow meditators. Let these words float. ‘Be well and content. Be well and content. Be peaceful and safe….peaceful and safe…(Pause. Gong). B-e p-e-a-c-e-f-u-l. B-e p-e-a-c-e-f-u-l…real peace to all…real peace to you all’ (Pause. Gong).
Feel the weight of your body on your seat, bring your attention to your feet and hands. Feel your feet and hands. Take a few deeper in-breaths and slowly exhale – softening your mind and body. Breathing in and sighing gently as you breath out. Making the sound ‘Aaah’. (Pause. Gong). Once again, breathing in and sighing gently as you breath out. Making the sound ‘Aaah’. Gently open your eyes returning your attention to the room and the people around you. (Pause. Gong). I’d like to finish this meditation with a poem Call Me By True Names by the Vietnamese monk and former refugee Thich Nhat who established Plum Village – a meditation refuge in France – and has devoted his life to generating kindness and dissolving greed, hatred and anger in the world.
CALL ME BY MY TRUE NAMES (Pause. Gong).
Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow because even today I still arrive. (Pause. Gong).
Look deeply: I arrive in every second to be a bud on a spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone. (Pause. Gong).
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, in order to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that are alive. (Pause. Gong).
I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river, and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time to eat the mayfly. (Pause. Gong).
I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond, and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence, feeds itself on the frog. (Pause. Gong).
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks, and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda. (Pause. Gong).
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate, and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. (Pause. Gong).
I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands, and I am the man who has to pay his ‘debt of blood’ to, my people, dying slowly in a forced labor camp. (Pause. Gong).
My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life. My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans. (Pause. Gong).
Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one. (Pause. Gong).
Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, and so the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion. (Pause. Gong).
Thank you for participating in this meditation. (Pause. Gong).
This meditation was conducted in Melbourne on Sunday August 1, 2014 as part of a Yoga Yum Cha For The Soul held at Reconnect Yoga Studio in Brunsnwick to raise funds for the Asylum Seeker Centre In Footscray.
Gerald Frape 2014