17· Metta: Loving Kindness Meditation for Neutral and Difficult Ones
In this loving kindness practice, we first consider the many "neutral" people in our lives, those who we are normally largely indifferent to. We reflect on how at the deepest level, just like us, they want to be happy and not suffer, and we offer them wishes of loving kindness. We then turn to a difficult person, someone who we see as bringing up suffering within us. We reflect on the causes and conditions that may have brought this difficult one to how they are today, and we offer them loving kindness and an aspiration that their suffering - and the suffering that they may cause to others - be transformed.