Maitri Bhavana

Maitri bhavana, which means "meditation on loving-kindness," is a healing practice done for those who are seriously ill—physically, mentally or otherwise—or have recently passed away. It involves opening one's mind and heart evermore fully to the world.

In [maitri bhavana] practice we share health with other people—in fact, with all sentient beings. It involves developing a sense of immense generosity and being willing to suffer for others. One's own personal gain and achievement could be shared—in fact, given up.

Generally sickness and unhealthiness occur from a problem with the environmental situation. People have no chance to express any sense of comfort because the space around them is so cramped. Consequently, one can get disordered in one's body and mind, and get sick because there is no accommodation to relax, open, and celebrate.

So this practice is a token gesture to provide lots of room, openness, and space for others, and not make demands on the environment itself. In order to change the environment, one has to create some seed from within oneself. If one is creating one's own spaciousness, that spaciousness becomes contagious and expands to others who are suffering, so they also could be helpful. That seems to be the basic meaning of generosity in this practice.

—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

At the Kootenay Shambhala Centre we offer this practice as part of our Sunday meditation practice sessions, which run from 9 am to noon. We welcome everyone to participate in person and/or to submit in advance the names and illnesses of relatives and friends who are seriously ill or recently deceased so that we can explicitly include this information in our practice. The information can be emailed to us at info@nelsonbuddha.com or added to the "Maitri Bhavana Healing Practice List" posted at the centre.

You can explore the meditation practice outlined above by taking the "Lojong: Training the Mind" course described on our Online Courses page.

Learn more about meditation and buddhism at shambhala.org

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Kootenay Shambhala Meditation Centre
3rd Floor - 444 Baker Street, PO Box 136, Nelson,  BC V1L 5P7
Tel. 250-352-5560    Email: info@nelsonbuddha.com