Cattāri Brahmavihārā

One thing that I keep coming back to during my formal metta practice is the realization, usually after twenty minutes of sitting, that I need to start accepting experience just as it is if I hope to cultivate a boundless heart. More than anything, the intention to raise loving kindness brings me right up against the aversion towards the present moment with its thoughts, feelings and sensations. Only when I consciously accept it for whatever it is and remind myself of the truly good and skillful thing I’m trying to accomplish does the thorny bramble loosen and untie itself. Only when I look upon experience with kindness and sympathy does it open and allow a path to the tenderness beneath.