Lovingkindness—often referred to by its Pali term, metta—is the final piece of Insight meditation teacher Ruth King’s four-part system for ungripping the heart and the mind.
In her final Meditation Month video, King explains that a regular kindness practice is one way to “directly know the the experience of a vast and open heart.”
“Metta is a sincere wish for all beings to be free from suffering without exception . . . It’s not like I’m going to send you some metta because I like you, but then over here [another person] doesn’t get any,” King says in her talk. “It’s indiscriminate, like the high noon sun that shines and touches on all things. That’s the capacity that it represents.”
Whether you’re familiar with lovingkindness or trying it out for the first time, King offers ways to incorporate metta on both the cushion and in your daily life.
Download a transcript of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.
Engage with fellow practitioners from around the work in our Meditation Month 2017 Facebook group