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psychiatric disordered, we have all been kind and acted Play with cultivating openness, balance, and warm-
with compassion. When we check it out, we sense heartedness in the body. This can be done by relaxing
that these are positive states in the mind, heart, and as you breathe, letting your awareness expand
body. We know in our bodily experience that a heart outwards without strain. Sense the relaxation and
of kindness feels wholesome and aligned with how we awareness radiating in one direction at a time (down,
want to live and be. up, forward, back, left, and right) or in all directions
around you at once with each out-breath. Feel steady in
The Buddha teaches: the unbounded breath. Once you feel open and steady,
then warm the heart with metta and allow that warm-
“My heart will inwardly steady and well settle. No heartedness to radiate out with your awareness, feeling
erring, unskillful conditioning arisen in the mind takes relaxed, open, steady, and balanced.
hold and remains.
Notice the quality of your body, heart and mind during
I develop love as deliverance of heart. I earnestly this practice.
practice, master, make a foundation, experience,
accumulate, and well undertake it.” Another practice I use frequently is to ask myself, “What
is the kindest thing right now?” As an answer emerges,
Aṅguttara Nikāya 8.63 I bring up radiant warm heartedness, then I act from
that state as I respond with kindness. Compassion and
Love, kindness, and compassion can be practiced to kindness practiced externally starts internally.
become the foundation of our experience and the way
we approach all of our living, interacting, and being. It Try this as playful experimentation. See what kindness
takes dedication and continual development, but over feels like and moves like and when it feels easy or
and over, we see the value of the practice in the suttas difficult. With practice, it will be easier in more and
and, eventually though practice, in our lives. more situations. Your capacity for kindness and
compassion will grow.
How do we cultivate such qualities as Buddhist
practitioners? How can we be kind to others who have been
unkind or even cruel to us?
Although I’ve used words like dedication and continual
development, a playful and curious approach to The “Simile of the Saw” sutta (Majjhima Nikāya 21)
cultivating kindness works well for many of us. Frequent teaches the importance of patience and love when
playful kindness develops a bright, light, and joyful faced with everything from criticism of ourselves or
underlying tendency in how you relate to yourself and our friends to the most horrible violence. The sutta
the world. indicates that no unkind or cruel act toward us need
provoke our hearts away from kindness.