Ep. 158 – Generosity of the Heart

Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

Be Here Now Network

Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness, Vipassana, Buddhism, Insightmeditation, Meditation, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joseph Goldstein covers the basics of metta, which he calls the generosity of the heart, and shares ways we can cultivate deeper feelings of loving-kindness in our practice.

“Metta, as most of you are familiar, is a word from the Pali language, the language of the Buddha’s time, and it means loving-kindness or friendliness. And it refers to that basic quality or that basic feeling of generosity of the heart. It’s an expression of the generous heart that is simply wishing well, simply wishing or expressing goodwill to ourselves and others.” – Joseph Goldstein

In this episode, Joseph shares his insight on:

The basics of metta, or loving-kindness, and how it refers to the feeling of the generosity of the heart
How metta can become the ground for wisdom to grow
The difference between metta and desire, and why those two feelings are often confused for one another
Different ways we can nurture our practice and cultivate deeper feelings of metta, including reflecting on forgiveness and gratitude

This dharma talk from February 6, 1999, was originally published on Dharma Seed.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	As we touch or experience moments of genuine goodwill, it's not wanting anything back, it's not looking for a return.
0:17.0	Just a moment of this generosity of the heart.
0:20.0	What happens is that our hearts and minds become very soft and pliable and receptive. Welcome to the Joseph Goldstein Inside Hour.
0:45.0	This podcast is an expression of our shared interest in self-discovery.
0:51.0	Join Joseph as he shares his deep knowledge of the path of mindfulness.
0:57.0	If you are interested in supporting this podcast, please go to be here now network dot com slash Joseph.
1:07.0	Sometimes Sometimes in our lives we have the good fortune to meet or connect with people somehow radiate tremendous feelings of love, of kindness, of compassion,
1:31.6	who seem to regard the whole world with that feeling or in that field of loving care.
1:39.0	And somebody who I'm sure you're all familiar with who just comes to mind who so embodies this.
1:46.8	Somebody like the Dalai Lama.
1:49.4	It just radiates kindness and all his interactions with people.
1:57.0	Some of our own teachers had that quality
2:00.0	and we've spoken over the years of this wonderful teacher from Calcutta,
2:04.5	a woman named Deepama, who also embodied this feeling of meta or
2:10.9	loving kindness.
2:14.2	And also just ordinary people in our lives
2:18.2	who somehow have this capacity, have this ability.
2:29.0	Often it's associated with a deep understanding of suffering.
2:35.0	When our hearts in one way or another,
2:39.0	either through life experience or through meditation practice.
2:45.0	But often as we've learned how to open our hearts to the suffering in our own lives and lives of other people, when that's held with wisdom, it becomes
2:59.4	the source, it becomes the field that's expressed with compassion and with love.
	...

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