Metta
Metta ( pali mettā ; Sanskrit maitrī 'friendship'; English loving kindness ) is one of the 40 meditation objects taught by the historical Buddha Siddharta Gautama . Translations for metta are: kindness, kindness, active interest in others, love, friendship, sympathy . Metta is often translated with the term "loving kindness" or "all-goodness", since in the eyes of some Buddhist authors the word " love " is too strongly tied to wanting tendencies, i.e. with selfish tendencies.
In the metta sutta , a discourse given by the Buddha, the latter describes metta as being comparable to a mother's love for her child. The goal here is to extend this attitude of loving-kindness to all sentient beings .
In Theravada Buddhism, metta is one of the "Ten Transcendent Virtues" ( pāramī ) and the "Four Immeasurable" ( brahmavihāra ).
Metta meditation
In metta meditation, a friendly and benevolent attitude towards all sentient beings is practiced. One begins by sending sentences of loving kindness (metta) to oneself, before addressing the same sentences to people who are close to one, then to neutral people and finally to people with whom one has difficulties. Before doing this, the practitioner should have enough experience in meditation to be able to block out disturbing thoughts and feelings.
However, such a complete metta meditation is time-consuming and is usually practiced in retreats of several hours . For everyday use, especially for beginners in metta meditation, it is recommended to first address loving-kindness to yourself. Typical formulations are
May I be free from danger.
May i be happy
May I be physically healthy.
May I go through life easily.
Similar phrases are known from the tradition of self-compassion:
May i be sure
May i be at peace
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself for who I am.
Research on metta meditation
A controlled psychological experiment at Stanford University showed that even a short metta meditation of a few minutes (for people not practiced in metta meditation) leads on average to a feeling of greater social connection with and a more positive attitude towards unfamiliar people.
A controlled study by Barbara Fredrickson ( University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ) and colleagues on 139 Compuware employees found that a course in metta meditation lasting several weeks led to an increase in positive emotions, which in the further course led to increased mindfulness , a greater sense of meaning , more positive relationships with other people and fewer physical complaints. As a result, these people were more satisfied with their lives and reported less depressive symptoms.
In 2009, Johnson and colleagues presented three case reports on the use of metta meditation in schizophrenic patients with negative symptoms . A subsequent pilot study with 18 schizophrenic patients showed a decrease in negative symptoms and an increase in positive emotions and psychological well-being after several weeks of training in metta meditation.
At the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Neurosciences in Leipzig, the Resource Project on the plasticity of the social brain has been running since 2013 under the direction of Tania Singer , in which the neuronal and hormonal effects of mental training and mindfulness are examined, as well as the Subjectively experienced changes as well as changes at the behavioral level. Metta meditation is part of the exercises that subjects undergo in one-year studies.
See also
literature
- Klaus-Josef Notz: Lexicon of Buddhism. Fourier Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-932412-08-7 .
- Sharon Salzberg : Metta Meditation - Buddha's revolutionary path to happiness. Safe in being . Arbor-Verlag 2003, ISBN 3-924195-90-0 .
- Tania Singer , Matthias Bolz (Hrsg.): Compassion in everyday life and research. Max Planck Society 2013. ISBN 978-3-9815612-1-0 . Free e-book at compassion-training.org . Several chapters deal explicitly with metta meditation / loving-kindness meditation.
Single receipts
- ↑ Entry "Mettā" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the dictionary of the Pali-Text Society
- ↑ Mettā-Sutta in the Sutta Nipāta Collection
- ↑ from Sharon Salzberg: Metta-Meditation, p. 42 (see literature)
- ↑ These formulations were taken from: Christoph Germer, Kristin Neff: The "Mindful Self-Compassion" training . In: Tania Singer , Matthias Bolz (Hrsg.): Compassion in everyday life and research. Max Planck Society 2013. ISBN 978-3-9815612-1-0 . E-book at compassion-training.org .
- ↑ Cendri A. Hutcherson, Emma M. Seppala, James Gross : Loving-kindness meditation Increases social connectedness. In: emotion . tape 8 , no. 5 , 2008, p. 720-724 , doi : 10.1037 / a0013237 .
- ↑ Barbara L. Fredrickson, Michael A. Cohn, Kimberly A. Coffey, Jolynn Pek, Sandra M. Finkel: Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. In: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . tape 95 , no. 5 , 2008, p. 1045-1062 , doi : 10.1037 / a0013262 .
- ↑ David P. Johnson, David L. Penn, Barbara L. Fredrickson, Piper S. Meyer, Ann M. Kring, Mary Brantley: Loving-kindness meditation to enhance recovery from negative symptoms of schizophrenia . In: Journal of Clinical Psychology . tape 65 , no. 5 , 2009, p. 499-509 , doi : 10.1002 / jclp.20591 .
- ↑ David P. Johnson, David L. Penn, Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ann M. Kring, Piper S. Meyer, Lahnna I. Catalino, Mary Brantley: A pilot study of loving-kindness meditation for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia . In: Schizophrenia Research . tape 129 , no. 2-3 , 2011, pp. 137–140 , doi : 10.1016 / j.schres.2011.02.015 .
- ^ Resource project at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
- ↑ Plasticity of the social brain
