Instructions for Metta or Lovingkindness Meditation and the 6Rs by Bhante Vimalaramsi

Here, Bhante describes the instructions of the Metta Meditation and practice of the 6Rs to eliminate hindrances.

This is the first part of the Brahmavihara practice or what he calls TWIM or Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation.

Retreats are available at the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center. Check the link below.

Book just published on Bhante's teachings

Recorded: 11-20-16
Where: St. Francis Retreat Center, San Juan Bautista, CA
Talk by Bhante Vimalaramsi
Abbot - Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center

[jvsabhijano]

Sadhu! This is LIFE TRANSFORMING! I am able to see results much quicker than other Traditions I have been practicing for decades! I am a former monk ordained in the Thai Forest Tradition and have spent many years trying to achieve levels of jhana, etc... The Buddha Dhamma as taught by Bhante Vi has helped to reduce the "dust" in my eyes more quickly than YEARS of intense "kammatthana" style practice. I am forever grateful to Bhante and those help to maintain this Dhamma of TWIM.

[TheMegatrux]

6 Rs:
Recognize (the distraction)
Release (the distraction by not focusing your attention on it)
Relax (the tightness in your head & mind) (tightness=craving)
Resmile
Return (to your object of meditation)
Repeat

The object of meditation: loving and kind thoughts towards yourself (warm blowing happy feeling in your chest); Then imagine a person who you really like (same-sex, alive) and wish them well: send loving and kind thoughts to this "spiritual friend".

[sadhusadhu]

My dear Bhante Vimalaramsi. Your teaching has been most beneficial to my Dhamma learning process. I most sincerely thank you for your utmost wholesome teaching. Your teaching allowed me to happily earn and to share all my merits. And to be happy to receive all the merits shared by others.

[MrPrajnaeld]

The 6 R's has transformed my practice in meditation. I am very grateful for you sharing your teachings about this and to take part of one of your online retreats in January 2019. Thank you!

[moonmissy]

As a Zen practitioner for 31 years and a Zen teacher for 12 years, I found that Bhante’s instruction for practice to be the clearest that I have come across and most effective.

I Kensho at 28 years old and started teaching at my teacher’s request at 33. After Kensho, I used only notice, relax & release and observe to go through all the jhanas, arupas and Nirvana Samapatti. But I didn’t know how to teach it to my students as well and clear as Bhante.

Thank you!

[chrisrichardson]

This is a rare and wonderful transmission of the Dharma, worthy of praise, worthy of gifts, worthy to travel long distances to see.

[quetzalito]

Thanks to bhante Vimalaramsi, one of the first theravada teachers i met some years ago, and im glad to see him again, may he be well and have a long life.

[QueLy]

Thank you for sharing 6Rs sir. It is a brilliant teaching on the path to liberation .

[penguin]

Mindfullnes is remembering to observe how the mind/attention moves from one thing to another

[sunilsemachandredissanayak]

Saadu, saadu saaa. Thank you most venerable vimalaramsi. Venerable sir your sharing dhamma for us to can listen due to our merits in previous life.

[nicksyoutubeaccount]

His voice is very nice. Thank you for the teachings Bhante! 🙏

[pchabanowich]

This generous teaching transformed the practice of two of us, a small sangha, into a gift we give ourselves in and out of meditation - life-transforming sustenance. Bless. 🙏❣️

[geenaee]

Thank you, Bhante. This is v v helpful. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu

[FeelsGoood]

1:11 6R
14:08-16:17 fastest way to let go of an attachment and about practice
16:17-18:45 you're made of five things (physical body, feeling, perception, thoughts, consciousness)

[vijaymorwani]

Most venerable bhante
When I first saw ur video I was convinced that whatever u were explaining made complete sense to me and I tested with suttas and it got me very interested in meditation, and from my personal expirence I am extremely thankful to you. May u and everybody else be happy. I am so so grateful, there are no words that can convey my gratitude.

[lovingkindness]

16:15 perception is the part of the mind that names the feeling

[johninman]

Samskara is translated as thoughts;interesting.

[hammockman]

New to this I don't have any spiritual friends. What is the next best thing? The Dalai Lama or Mathieu Ricard, etc? Thanks for the kind response.

Hugo Rodriguez
Ripon, WI

[AlexKellyArtUK]

We can look at the details of the 6Rs to see how they fit in with the 16 steps of anapanasati.

1.
“Recognize: Mindfulness remembers how you can recognize and observe any movement of mind’s attention from one thing to another. This observation notices any movement of mind’s attention away from an object of meditation, such as the breath, sending out Mettā, or doing a task in daily life. You will notice a slight tightness or tension sensation as mind’s attention barely begins to move toward any arising phenomena.”

So actually we should redefine ‘recognize’ as alertness and not mindfulness. Noticing what the mind and body is doing in the present moment is a function of alertness (sampajanna). In terms of the 16 steps this covered in the overall intention one brings to practice which is set forth in the anapanasati sutta with three qualities to bring to the practice – ‘ardent, alert, & mindful’:

“On that occasion the monk remains focused on the body in & of itself—ardent, alert, & mindful—subduing greed & distress with reference to the world. I tell you, monks, that this—the in-&-out breath—is classed as a body among bodies, which is why the monk on that occasion remains focused on the body in & of itself—ardent, alert, & mindful—subduing greed & distress with reference to the world.”

MN118

2.
“Release: When a feeling or thought arises, you release it, let it be there without giving anymore attention to it. The content of the distraction is not important at all, but the mechanics of “how” it arose are important! Just let go of any tightness around it; let it be there without placing attention on it. Without attention, the tightness passes away.”

This corresponds to step 12 of anapanasati:

“He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in releasing the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out releasing the mind.’”

How one accomplishes this release is dependent on the nature of the clinging (upadana). The general idea of not paying attention to the contents of the distraction is good and also seeing the cause of arising is also good. However, the instruction to ‘let it be there without placing attention on it’ will work sometimes and not others. Some distractions (hindrances) can be very persistent so having some other skillful means besides just ‘not paying attention to it’ might be needed. In fact the Buddha recommends many other skilful means throughout the suttas for abandoning the hindrances. See: The Relaxation of Thoughts Vitakkasaṇṭhāna Sutta (MN 20) and The Greater Exhortation to Rāhula Mahā Rāhulovāda Sutta (MN 62).

3.
“Relax: After releasing the feeling or sensation, and allowing it to be there without trying to control it, there is a subtle, barely noticeable tension within mind/body. This is why the Relax step (“Tranquilization” step as stated in the suttas) is being pointed out by the Buddha in his meditation instructions.”

This is also a good general instruction which corresponds with to calming the bodily fabrication (step 4) and calming the mental fabrication (step 8). However, the means by which ones actually accomplishes that is going to vary depending again the particular kind clinging you are dealing with. The instruction to ‘allow it to be there without controlling it is equivalent to cultivating equanimity which may work sometimes, and other times be completely ineffectual. Sometimes one needs to ‘exert a fabrication’, either bodily or mentally to create the conditions for relaxing that clinging. It comes under the broad instruction of ardency (along with mindfulness and alertness): it is the factor of right effort in samadhi - one abandons what is unskilful and cultivates what is skilful. Where there is tightness in the breath energy for example one could try changing the rhythm of the breath (kaya sankhara) or changing ones perception (citta sankhara) of how the breath energy is moving in the body.

4.
“Re-Smile: If you have listened to the Dhamma talks at DHAMMA TALKS LIBRARY you might remember hearing about how smiling is an important aspect for the meditation. Learning to smile with mind and raising slightly the corners of the mouth helps mind to be observant, alert, and agile. Getting serious, tensing up, or frowning causes mind to become heavy and your mindfulness becomes dull and slow. Your insights become more difficult to see, thus slowing down your understanding of Dhamma.”

The bodily/mental ‘smile’ is equivalent to step 10 ‘gladdening the mind’ but its application is somewhat limited.

The is also actually ‘exerting a fabrication’ in terms of the body and the mind and can definitely be a useful ‘tool’ to use as appropriate. As some others have pointed out though it could also become a disturbance to ‘calming’ if used inappropriately and indiscriminately. This is why alertness, mindfulness and ardency all need to be present to see what is actually happening (alertness) - what is causing what, recalling (sati) what worked in the past, recalling what you are trying to do unify the mind in right concentration (ardency).

This is a function of discernment or panna in pali: to see what is and what should be done and how that (unskilful or skilful) quality: comes to be, passes away, its allure, drawbacks and escape (this is known the Buddha’s five point plan).

5.
“Return or Re-Direct: Gently re-direct mind’s attention back to the object of meditation (that is the breath and relaxing, or Mettā and relaxing) continuing with a gentle collected mind and use that object as a “home base”. In daily life, having been pulled off task, this is where you return your attention back to releasing, relaxing, and re-smiling into the task.”

This is equivalent to the general aspect of ardency supported by mindfulness (no-forgetfulness) and alertness (staying on top of what is actually happening) – really sticking with your original intention to meditate or whatever else you have resolved to do (hopefully something skilful!).

However here again the instruction could be interpreted too ‘mechanically’ as sometimes the mind can be very obstinate and deceptive and not staying with meditation object. Forcing it to return to its object again and again can make the hindrances flare up very strongly it such situations if the cause of the problem is tackled first. This would be an instance of unskilful effort to just keep ‘plugging away’ because that’s what the instructions say! One has to use whatever discernment (panna) one has to see what is causing the problem and then try the appropriate ‘antidote’ and then try returning to the main object of meditation. Depending on the hindrance appropriate antidotes could cultivating asubha, metta, mindfulness of death, the perception of inconstancy etc. See The Greater Exhortation to Rāhula Mahā Rāhulovāda Sutta (MN 62).

6.
“Repeat: Repeat your meditation on your object and keep it going as long as you can, and then repeat this entire practice cycle as needed to attain the results the Buddha said could be reached in this lifetime!

Repeating the “6Rs cycle” over and over again will eventually replace old habitual suffering as we see clearly for ourselves what suffering actually is; notice the cause of it and how we become involved with the tension and tightness of it; experience how to reach a cessation of that suffering by releasing and relaxing; and discover how we can exercise the direct path to that same cessation of suffering. We achieve this cessation each time we Release an arising feeling, Relax and Re-Smile. Notice the Relief!

In summary, mindfulness (sati) is very relevant to Buddhist meditation and daily life. Sharpening your skill of mindfulness is the key to simple and smooth meditation. The process of remembering keeps the six steps of the practice moving. Practicing this meditation as close to the instructions (found in the suttas) as possible will lighten life’s experience. A very similar practice was taught to people in the time of the Buddha. It was taught as Right Effort. Within the 6Rs we have added a couple more steps to make things a little easier to understand.”

The repeating aspect is also a general function of ardency, mindfulness and alertness.
As to whether it constitutes a complete practice to the cessation of suffering and realisation of nibanna is doubtful in the light of its incompleteness compared to the 16 steps of anapanasati. The whole of the fourth tetrad of anapanasati isn’t properly addressed in the 6Rs practice and without that aspect discernment (panna) cannot be brought to its culmination and provide the opening to complete release from suffering.

Certainly, the 6Rs should give great relief if put into practice but as the Buddha said to Arittha:

“There is that mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, Ariṭṭha. I don’t say that there isn’t. But as to how mindfulness of in-&-out breathing is brought in detail to its culmination, listen and pay close attention. I will speak.”

[vidadeviajes]

Venerable Sir,

Thank you so much for your precious guidance and wisdom, which has helped me to dissolve some of the knots in my practice.

Two questions:

- Can / Should you apply 6R by actively scanning for tension and tightness in the body and mind, and then dissolve it before it becomes a distraction or hindrance? Or should you wait until it grows into a distraction or hindrance, you become aware of it, and then 6R it?

- Can you also use 6R off the cushion in daily life when unwholesome states of mind, craving or bodily pain arise?

Thank you so much!