I first heard the poem 'Kindness' on a Buddhist Retreat. At the time, the sensibility of a human journey towards kindness was becoming a clear compelling and humbling value to live by.
Kindness is a practice that starts with the individual, and in the metta bhavana practice we're cultivating love, or friendliness, or lovingkindness.
It takes time and some persistent effort.
The practice is in five stages. We cultivate Metta for:
- Ourselves.
- A good friend.
- A "neutral" person -- someone we don't have any strong feelings for.
- A "difficult" person -- someone we have conflicts with or feelings of ill will towards.
- All sentient beings
Jeanette Henman (pictured) is my cataloguing mentor and friend, she patiently taught me about kindness and cataloguing during my working days at Charles Sturt University, Library.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment