Ruth King: Talk: Metta/Lovingkindness

(Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC) During this 5-day silent retreat we will explore the Brahma Viharas, or Divine Abodes–four practices that open and nurture the heart. In the Buddhist teachings, these four practices–loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity–are considered the highest qualities of heart and emotional wellbeing. On our retreat, we’ll not only begin to sense into these qualities of heart, but practice abiding and dwelling in them as well. Over time, these practices can become our true home, as well as the atmosphere in which we deepen our mindfulness practice and intimacy with life.