May you be held in compassion.
To cultivate compassion, let yourself sit in a centered and quiet way. In this traditional form of practice you will combine a repeated inner intention with visualization and the evocation of the feeling of compassion. As you first sit, breathe softly and feel your body, your heartbeat, the life within you. Feel how you treasure your own life, how you guard yourself in the face of your sorrows.
After some time, bring to mind someone close to you whom you dearly love. Picture them and feel your natural caring for them. Notice how you hold them in your heart. Then let yourself be aware of their measure of sorrows, their suffering in life. Feel how your heart opens to wish them well, to extend comfort, to share in their pain and meet it with compassion. This is the natural response of the heart. Inwardly recite the phrases:
May you be held in compassion.
May your pain and sorrow be eased.
May your heart be at peace.
Continue reciting all the while you are holding them in your heart. You can modify these phrases any way that makes them true to your heart’s intention.
After a few minutes, imagine that they turn their compassionate gaze back to you and acknowledge the measure of sorrows you carry. They say to you with tenderness the same phrases:
May you be held in compassion.
May your pain and sorrow be eased.
May you be at peace.
Take in these compassionate wishes and let them touch your heart.
After a time receiving their care, direct the same compassion to yourself.
May I be held in compassion.
May my pain and sorrow be eased.
May I be at peace.
Following this, begin to extend compassion to others you know. Picture loved ones, one after another. Hold the image of each in your heart, be aware of their difficulties, and wish them well with the same phrases.
Then you can open your compassion further, a step at a time, to the suffering of your friends, to your neighbors, to your community, to all who suffer, to difficult people, to your enemies, and finally to the brotherhood and sisterhood of all beings. Sense your tenderhearted connection with all life and its creatures.
Work with compassion practice intuitively. At times it may feel difficult, as though we might be overwhelmed by the pain. Remember, we are not trying to “fix” the pain of the world, only to meet it with a compassionate heart. Relax and be gentle. Breathe. Let your breath and heart rest naturally, as a center of compassion in the midst of the world.
