Meditation Categories 8. Four Immeasurables

63. The Practice of Immeasurable Joy

Longchen Nyingtik Meditation 63

The Beginning

Take refuge and arouse bodhicitta.

The Main Part

Begin by focusing on beings of the higher realms who possess greater or lesser happiness, then extend the meditation to all beings who enjoy any aspect of happiness.

 

The way to meditate: Establish the wish that, until enlightenment is reached, may all these beings never part from their happiness. May they experience comfort, happiness and a long life, surrounded by many attendants and in great wealth. May they possess high intellect and ever-increasing peace and fortune. May they encounter no obstacles.

 

Begin this meditation on one individual and then extend it to all sentient beings. Especially, practice it over and over again on the enemies who have harmed you or are envious of you.

 

At the end, abide in a state of emptiness.

Reminder

The practice of immeasurable joy entails a sense of delight toward all sentient beings. When practitioners have cultivated it well, they respect all sublime masters with pure perception and embrace all sentient beings with great compassion. In addition, they regard whatever experiences they encounter as illusory and dreamlike, and are thus free from strong clinging and fixation. They understand that all beings, self and others, are merely wayfarers in a seeming samsara, subject to seeming pleasures and sufferings. At the time of enlightenment, such a deceiving and unreal world will collapse and things are seen as they really are.

The Conclusion

Dedicate the merit of your practice to all sentient beings.