Lovingkindness : the revolutionary art of happiness

269 Pages·2008·1.03 MB·English

by  Sharon Salzberg

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Lovingkindness
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Also by Sharon Salzberg
A Heart as Wide as the World:
Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
Voices of Insight
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Lovingkindness
The Revolutionary Art
of Happiness
Sharon Salzberg
Foreword by
jon kabat-zinn
Shambhala
Boston & London
2008
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Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Horticultural Hall
300Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
www.shambhala.com
© 1995Sharon Salzberg
Foreword © 1995by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Pages 249–250constitute an extension of this copyright page.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
printed in United states of America
Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd
First Mass Market Edition: April 2008
eisbn978-0-8348-2255-9
isbn978-1-59030-557-7
The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased
this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the
publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher
has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”
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contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. The Revolutionary Art of Happiness 8
2. Relearning Loveliness 22
exercise: Remembering the Good
within You 36
exercise: Phrases of Lovingkindness 37
3. Facets of Lovingkindness 41
exercise: The Benefits of Lovingkindness 57
exercise: The Benefactor 57
4. Hindrances to Lovingkindness 60
exercise: Reflection on Happiness 73
exercise: The Meaning of Friends 74
exercise: The Beloved Friend 75
exercise: The Neutral Person 75
5. Working with Anger and Aversion 78
exercise: Forgiveness 95
exercise:Seeing Goodness 98
exercise: The Difficult Person 100
exercise: Difficult Aspects of Oneself 105
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vi Contents
6. Breaking Open the Loving Heart 106
exercise: Lovingkindness for All Beings 125
exercise: Lovingkindness toward
Groups 126
exercise: Walking Meditation 128
exercise: The Ten Directions 128
7. Developing the Compassionate Heart 130
exercise: Meditation on Compassion 148
exercise: Compassion for Those Who
Cause Pain 149
8. Liberating the Mind through Sympathetic
Joy 151
exercise: Meditation on Sympathetic
Joy 170
exercise: Sharing Merit 172
9. The Gift of Equanimity 173
exercise: Equanimity 193
10. The Power of Generosity 196
exercise: Giving 213
11. Living Our Love 218
exercise: The Practice of Morality 243
For More Information 247
Credits 249
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Thisis what should be done
By those who are skilled in goodness,
And who know the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their
ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: in gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong,
omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short
or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born—
May all beings be at ease!
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Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upward to the skies,
And downward to the depths;
Outward and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or
lying down,
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity
of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
—The Buddha’s words on
lovingkindness(Metta Sutta)