Banner Photo Credit: Anastasiya Pavlova
This Know Your Boundless Love Mediation was given by Freeman at the Boundless Love Project’s weekly online group meditation on 9-29-2020. Afterwards, he talked about the purpose of this meditation and gave the talk Inquiry Leads to Truth, Love, and Skillfulness. In this meditation we tune out the mind where falsehoods reside, while listening to our hearts to discover our boundless love. Enjoy!
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Using the Meditation Script
We make this meditation script available so practitioners may review the content of the meditation, and so experienced meditators may offer this meditation to their meditation groups. If you want to offer this meditation to others, please read the article Twelve Tips to Peer-Leading Guided Meditations. For a printable copy, download and print this PDF of the Know Your Boundless Love Meditation Script. Enjoy!
Know Your Boundless Love Meditation
Intermediate Level • 30 min
Ring Bell
We do this practice for the benefit and welfare of all beings and all life everywhere, including our own.
May we know the peace of accepting the truth of reality as it is.
May we know the security of having our intentions arise from unconditional, boundlesslove.
May we know the freedom of renunciation which liberates us from greed.
May we know the joy of living skillfully for the benefit and welfare of all beings and all life everywhere.
May all beings and all life everywhere be free of delusion, suffering, and dissatisfaction.
May all beings and all life everywhere be loving, peaceful, compassionate, and joyful.
Setting Posture
I invite you to lovingly bring your attention to your physical posture.
Gently find a seated position where you can rest comfortably for about thirty minutes.
(2:40)
Breath Meditation
When you are ready, we begin the meditation by bringing a kind and loving attention to the sensations of breath.
Gently take several slow, easeful, silent breaths.
If it is comfortable for you, breath through the nose deep into the abdomen.
Calmly notice where you feel the breath in your body.
You might feel your abdomen rise and fall, the movement of the chest, or air passing in the throat, or inside and beneath your nostrils.
Gently notice what it feels like to rest awareness quietly on the breath.
Gently check in and notice the feeling tone of your experience: is it pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral?
If ever your breath becomes difficult or unpleasant to focus on, open your eyes and bring your attention to an object in the room of your choosing.
Compassionately respect and allow whatever experience is arising, and take care of yourself during this time.
Allow thoughts, moods, feelings, and sensations to arise, but let them run in the background of your awareness. With kindness, and courage, gently focus all attention on the sensations of breathing.
(5:20)
Whenever your awareness gets entangled in thoughts, lovingly returning your attention to the breath, or a different anchor of your choosing.
Relaxing the Body
If able and willing, gently notice if any parts of the body are stiff or tight, and kindly invite those parts to relax and soften.
Aim for a beautiful balance between a deeply relaxed body and an effortlessly alert awareness.
Opening the Heart
Now I invite you to calmly bring to mind a living being who has really benefitted your life. This could be a parent, a sibling, a teacher, a colleague, or a beloved animal companion. Choose someone who it is easy to open your heart to.
Imagine them in front of you, or have a sense of them being in front of you.
Calmly reflect on all of their good qualities.
If any ideas arise that cause you to close your heart, gently set those thoughts to the side for now. Just concentrate on all that is pleasant, worthy, and good about this being.
Feel the love and appreciation in your heart that you have for this being.
Imagine them also sending you love energetically from their heart space to yours. Appreciate this kind gift of theirs.
(8:00)
Invite any love and appreciation you feel to move through your body and overflow into the room you are in so you feel filled with love and surrounded by love.
Allow that feeling of love and gratitude to be the sole focus of your attention, or continue to rest your awareness on your heart space.
Asking the Heart for Guidance: Investigating Loving Intentions
If able, I invite you to place one or more hands on the heart to help you ground your attention there.
Feel the touch. Appreciate the pressure, the warmth, the kindness.
We are going to ask our hearts some yes or no questions.
As we do this, really let the heart answer.
The mind will want to answer, but the mind contains falsehoods that will confuse us and lead us astray. So we will compassionately ignore our thinking and ask our heart some simple, yes or no questions.
The heart may answer these questions in the form or words or wordlessly. Allow either kind of answer to be OK.
Aware of your heart area, here is the first question to ask your heart:
Do I want to be safe?
If the mind comes in with ideas of why you don't deserve safety, just lovingly set those ideas to the side.
(10:40)
We want to speak to our heart right now. Our heart stands at the threshold of our true self, and speaks for our true self.
Again, resting our awareness on our hearts, we patiently ask :
Do I want to be safe?
Do I want to be safe?
Next question: Yes or no: Do I want to be happy?
Is the mind telling you that you don't deserve to be happy, or that you are unworthy of happiness? If so, compassionately ignore the mind. What does your heart say?
Do I want to be happy?
Do I want to be happy?
Next question: Do I want to be peaceful?
Do I want to be peaceful?
Do I want to be peaceful?
Kindly anchoring our awareness on the heart, we ask our heart:
Do I want to know the truth?
Stated differently, does knowing the truth matter to me?
Do I want to know the truth?
(13:20)
You Love Yourself Unconditionally
If your heart answered "yes" to these questions, I encourage you to trust these answers. These answers arose from your true self.
Your true self answered "yes" to these questions because your true self loves every aspect of yourself. Your true self wants you to be safe, peaceful, and happy. Your true self want you to know the truth that will set you free from misery and suffering.
Your higher self loves yourself, flaws and all. Always remember that love for yourself. Appreciate that love for yourself. Trust in that love for yourself.
No matter what mistakes you've made, no matter what perceived imperfections you think you have, you love yourself unconditionally as you are.
And you will continue to love yourself unconditionally as you grow and change. Nothing you think, say, or do will ever change this love for yourself.
Continue to feel your heart space as you appreciate this boundless love for yourself.
Let Love Be Your Guiding Star
From now on, can you let this love for yourself be your guiding star?
Can you commit to lovingly doing the work to help the mind be more kind towards yourself?
(16:00)
At times when you make a mistake, or the mind is cruel and abusive to you, can you do your best to remember that your heart, your true self, loves you unconditionally?
Can you commit to setting a loving intention to have your mind talk to yourself using a kind, compassionate, and peaceful tone of voice?
Can you set a healthy boundary with your mind to only listen to kind and compassionate thoughts that respect your inherent dignity, worth, and belonging?
Can you set a loving intention to speak to yourself using words that that kindly honor your dignity and worth?
When thoughts arise that shame, blame, or belittle you, can you calmly do your best to mindfully notice these judgmental thoughts, and compassionately set them to the side?
Can you ignore these judgmental thoughts as an act of love for yourself?
Resolving to Treat Ourselves With Respect
Continue to anchor your awareness on any love, appreciation, peace, warmth, or spaciousness you feel in the heart area.
If you would like to, I invite you to make a resolution to be kind to yourself.
If you don't like the words I use, then use words you prefer.
First, I will share with you the resolution so you can make sure it is something you agree with:
(18:40)
Out of love for myself, I will only believe thoughts that use a kind, loving tone of voice.
Out of love for myself, I will only believe thoughts that honor my inherent worth, dignity, and belonging.
Out of love for myself, when unkind thoughts arise, I will mindfully notice them, and compassionately investigate them.
Out of love for myself, I will use mindful inquiry to verify that unkind thought are untrue, unhelpful, cause suffering, and lead to unskillful behaviors.
If you consent to this resolution, then please silently repeat after me, feeling free to use your own words. As you do this, keep resting your awareness on your heart space.
Out of love for myself, I will only believe thoughts that use a kind, loving tone of voice.
Out of love for myself, I will only believe thoughts that honor my inherent worth, dignity, and belonging.
Out of love for myself, when unkind thoughts arise, I will mindfully notice them, and compassionately investigate them.
Out of love for myself, I will use mindful inquiry to verify that unkind thought are untrue, unhelpful, cause suffering, and lead to unskillful behaviors.
Wonderful. Let's say this one more time, keep your awareness anchored on your heart, and really mean what you say:
(21:20)
Out of love for myself, I will only believe thoughts that use a kind, loving tone of voice.
Out of love for myself, I will only believe thoughts that honor my inherent worth, dignity, and belonging.
Out of love for myself, when unkind thoughts arise, I will mindfully notice them, and compassionately investigate them.
Out of love for myself, I will use mindful inquiry to verify that unkind thought are untrue, unhelpful, cause suffering, and lead to unskillful behaviors.
Fantastic.
More Questions for the Heart
Gently remember the being who you find it easy to open your heart to, and remember all of their wonderful qualities. Allow this to further open your heart.
Good.
Kindly rest your awareness on your heart, and we will ask our hearts some more yes or no questions.
Do I want to live in harmony with other human beings?
Again, ignore the thinking mind. If thoughts arise, let them run in the background of your awareness. Keep your awareness on your heart area. Allow your open, calm heart to answer these questions.
Do I want to live in harmony with other human beings?
(24:00)
Do I want to live in harmony with other animal beings?
Do I want to live in harmony with the environment?
Trust in Boundless Love
If your heart answered "yes" to those questions, I encourage you to trust these answers.
Your heart answered yes to these questions, because your true self loves all life freely and unconditionally.
Trust this love.
Believe in this love.
The mind will try to argue and make excuses for you to doubt, ignore, neglect, reject, or fear this love.
Why will the mind do this? The mind and its falsehoods have hijacked your life and have been running your life. The mind likes being in charge, but it knows the more you live from your boundless, all-inclusive love, the less control it will have over you.
Living from your heart means living in freedom. But the mind wants you to stay in bondage and under its control.
Do We Unconditionally Love All Life?
Patiently, keep your awareness resting on the heart space as we ask the heart another series of yes or no questions.
Do I want all other beings, meaning humans and animals, to be safe?
(26:40)
Again, you may notice the mind rising up in protest, but let those thoughts run in the background of your awareness and simply listen to your heart.
Do I want all being to be safe?
Do I want all beings to be happy?
Do I want all beings to be peaceful?
Do I want all beings to live together in harmony?
Again, if you answered yes to these questions, trust this boundless, all-inclusive love. It will help guide you home to your true nature, and to freedom.
Sharing of the Merits
Gently feel whatever sensations you feel in the heart area.
Take a moment to lovingly offer yourself gratitude and respect for all of feelings that arose during this meditation, even any unpleasant ones.
Patiently take a second to appreciate your efforts during this meditation to be kind, compassionate, and loving towards yourself.
As I chant, continue to feel your heart space, and try to feel the meaning behind the chanted words.
We share any merits gained from this practice with all beings and all life everywhere.
May all beings and all life everywhere be free from suffering and misery.
(29:20)
May all beings and all life everywhere abide in a deep and lasting peace.
May all beings and all life everywhere know the highest forms of happiness and be at ease.
May all beings and all life everywhere know their deepest essence to be: joy, peace, compassion, and unconditional, boundless love.
May all beings and all life everywhere be liberated, fully liberated, permanently liberated.
Ring Bell
(30:00)