It’s hard to be human and be unmoved by tragedies reported in international news.
But they’re not confined to faraway countries afflicted by poverty, disease, and military conflict. Today, many people are wading through vast, unseen fields of mental suffering caused by a lack of values and meaning in their lives.
How do we try to counter that? “Our tendency is toward self-centeredness: to seek out pleasure and avoid suffering,” Satyaraja says in the Free Buddhist Audio talk. “But [compassion] meditation challenges us to reverse that tendency, to move toward suffering and engage with suffering.” This is what we’ll explore in this article.
What Is Compassion Meditation?
Compassion meditation, or karuna, is the second of four meditations included in the Buddhist brahmavihara practice, also known as the four sublime states of mind.
The first one is lovingkindness, or metta. It aims to cultivate kindness and cleanse your mind of anger. “Karuna comes into being when metta meets [the] suffering [of another person],” Satyaraja explains.
Then he adds, “Meditation exercises are just a very concentrated form of how you want to live your life.” And karuna meditation is one example of that. It cultivates compassion for all those afflicted with suffering. “May you be free of suffering and causes of suffering,” you repeat to yourself and others as you visualize them in the six stages of karuna bhavana. Here’s how to practice it.
How to Practice Buddhist Meditation on Compassion, Karuna
Here’s a simple compassion meditation guide, courtesy of Free Buddhist Audio:
FREE Self-Test: How Spiritual Are You?
1. Cultivate Lovingkindness Toward Yourself
Lovingkindness meditation is the root of this practice. That’s why you start by visualizing yourself and wishing, “May I be well, may I be happy.” As you say these words, try to feel their meaning as deeply as possible. Keep attention on that friendly response.
2. Call to Mind Someone Who Is Suffering
Next, bring to mind someone who is suffering. They may be suffering from physical or emotional pain, going through a breakup, or grappling with the consequences of past unskillful actions.
It’s important that you take in the whole person. Don’t view them as a victim; see them as a person with their own resources and responsibilities. Reflect on their struggles and allow your lovingkindness to connect with their suffering. You can say, “May you be free of suffering and causes of suffering.”
3. Think of a Good Friend and Reflect on Their Suffering
When you think of a good friend, follow the same process as in the previous stage. Consider how your friend is struggling in some way and connect with them through lovingkindness in your heart. Focus on the strong wish to alleviate your friend’s pain and suffering.
4. Turn Your Attention to a Neutral Person Who May Be Suffering
When you turn your attention to a neutral person, you can think of someone you know but have no strong feelings about, whether positive or negative. Again, take in the whole person and reflect on their hardships.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t know any specific details of their life. What matters is that they’re just like you. They experience old age, sickness, death, disappointment, and separation from loved ones, just as you do. This universal experience creates a sense of solidarity with all beings through compassion.
5. Bring to Mind a Difficult Person and Consider Their Suffering
Repeat the same process when you bring to mind a difficult person or your “enemy.” When you reflect on their struggles, it takes the sting out of your enmity. If you realize someone is suffering, it’s very difficult to sustain animosity.
“If they’re really as bad they seem, then the appropriate response is compassion rather than hatred,” Satyaraja insists. “If you see that they’re suffering, do you really want to increase their suffering? Probably not.” Then he quotes a line from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
6. Develop an Equal Response of Compassion Toward All Five People and the Whole World
In the sixth stage of karuna meditation, you bring to mind yourself and four other people, cultivating an equal response of compassion toward them all. Here, you can reflect that you, too, experience suffering, just like them. Then expand this desire to alleviate suffering to yourself, everybody in the room, and the whole world.
“And we just see that suffering, dukkha, is part of the human condition. … [It’s] like a huge cloud … hanging over the world, and you don’t have to go very far [to see it]” Sataraja says. “You just have to look at the news … [or] people around you, and you just see there’s a lot of dukkha in the world.”
10-Minute Karuna Guided Meditation Audio
Here’s a 10-minute audio with karuna meditation script, courtesy of Free Buddhist Audio.
How to Use This Recording:
- Read the steps above.
- Choose a comfortable meditation posture.
- Press “play,” close your eyes, and listen to instructions.
- Don’t worry about periods of prolonged silence. The sound of the bell will signal the start and end of each step.
What Are the Far and Near Enemies of Compassion?
In this five-minute excerpt, Satyaraja talks about the far and near enemies of compassion, such as cruelty and pity, which you need to reflect upon if you want to master karuna bhavana.
What Book Should I Read to Learn More About Buddhist Compassion Meditation?
If you want to learn more about Buddhist compassion meditation, I recommend a book titled Brahma Viharas: Divine Abodes by Jayan E. Romesh.
The Brahma Viharas are the sublime qualities: the essential nature and radiance of the enlightened heart. They are also known as the Four Immeasurables. As these qualities grow within us through diligent practice, they extend immeasurably to all living beings throughout all realms of existence.
They are the great removers of tension, great peace-makers in social conflict, and great healers of wounds suffered in the struggle for existence. These noble qualities reduce social barriers, build harmonious communities, awaken the slumbering generosity within us, and revive the joy and hope long abandoned.
Through deep contemplation and dedicated practice of The Brahma Viharas, we transform our hate, greed, and delusion. [The Brahma Viharas] should become our inseparable companions, and we should be mindful of them in our daily activities.
The Buddha tells us, “Cherish all living beings with a boundless heart, radiating kindness over the entire world.”
Final Thoughts on How to Practice Karuna Bhavana
“In the karuna bhavana, you may find, first of all, that you … don’t feel very much for other people’s suffering,” Satyaraja observes.
“Just stay with that, acknowledge that, and start looking for the seeds of some sort of response. It may take a while. But in that way, we actually get to know ourselves, and we get to know how we relate to suffering,” he concludes.
Complement karuna, the Buddhist meditation on compassion, with Brahma Viharas: Divine Abodes by Jayan E. Romesh and then revisit our articles on how to practice lovingkindness meditation, 3 best Sharon Salzberg books on lovingkindness, and 100 best quotes on kindness to improve mindfulness.
FREE mindfulness resources for stress relief
I’m a freelance writer and mindfulness advocate behind this blog. I started my meditation practice in 2014, and in 2017 I launched this website to share what I learn with others. Here are the three things you can do here:
1. Schedule a free consult if you want to learn Buddhist meditation.
2. Download free mindfulness resources for stress relief
3. Join Patreon for exclusive content and community meetings.
