Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Last night as I was looking for a guided meditation on tonglen as a healing practice for others (my daughter has a couple of bites that have gotten infected) I came across an article by Lama Zopa Rincpoche. In it he specifically spoke about combining chöd and tonglen practice as a way of placating any unseen beings who might be helping to cause the issue which I found both useful and interesting but there was another thing he said which really hit home: whatever you do make sure that the intention behind it is to help others.

For myself, I can honestly say that, most of the time, my intentions are not clearly seen and are thus pretty selfish. How beautiful it would be to clearly know one’s intentions and to formulate them so that one’s every word, thought and deed were undertaken for the benefit of both self and others?