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A brief meditation based on four phrases now, with a short statement for each part, beginning first with a moment of quiet.
[pause] Ring the bell.
An enlightened person is an ordinary person who has made an extraordinary effort.
[pause] Ring the bell.
Even the most apparently stable features of existence are impermanent, and this is so wherever there is time and space.
[pause] Ring the bell.
We experience suffering, and through this we can kindle the fire of compassion for everything that lives.[pause] Ring the bell.
It is better to visualise the qualities of compassion to develop them in ourselves than regard them only in the abstract.[pause] Ring the bell.
Now may all living things, or weak or strong,
Omitting none, tall, medium sized or short,
Subtle or gross of form, seen or unseen,
Those dwelling near or far away,
Born or unborn - may every living thing
Abound in bliss. Let none deceive or think
Scorn of another, in whatever way.
But as a mother watches oƒer her child,
Her only child, so long as she doth breathe,
So let him practise unto all that live
An all embracing mind. And let a person
practise unbounded love for all the world,
Above, below, across, in every way,
Love unobstructed, void of enmity.
(Latter: "Karaniya Metta Sutta", trans. Sangharakkshita (1949), and partly degenderised, The Enchanted Heart, Ola Leaves, 1980)
Ring the bell.