Deeds of Lovingkindness

Border Terrier

Today we did a meditation on lovingkindness.  This is a feeling of respect, wellbeing, caring, and feeling good.  We start with experiencing lovingkindness for ourselves, and spread the feeling to people who are part of our lives.  We start with those we love and progressively move on to those who make us uncomfortable in one way or another.  Finally, we radiate lovingkindness to the community, the United States, and the world.  What a wonderful meditation. Nothing can be wrong with "I love and I am kind." 

This is a formal practice dating back at well over two thousand five hundred years.

In addition to meditating on this feeling, we can perform deeds of lovingkindness.  This usually means giving to charity, caring for the sick and needy, and being a generally useful person in the world. 

We are  taught that deeds of lovingkindness are a cornerstone of our world.  We think that we are the ones who must perform deeds of lovingkindness, that we are responsible for making certain this happens.  When someone does a deed of loving kindness for us, it is really special.  It feels like the universe is working as planned.

Today two people performed such a deed for me, with no expectation of payback, praise, or special recognition.  They just did it and I am incredibly grateful.  Mr. Wonderful (not his real name) drives a van for a car dealership. He had one passenger and I was to be the other.  When I opened the front door, my beloved dog Flash ran outside and down the street.  Flash is faster than I am, and does not think before he acts - so he kept running further and further away.  I was unable to catch him.  Mr. W and his passenger said "take your time".  This immediately calmed me down.

Flash

I finally went into the house to get my shoes.
(I admit I was barefoot at this point).  When I 
came out, there were the two men gently guiding Flash to the house.  I was surprised and grateful.  

They had walked, or run, the length of
my street to capture the barking beast.  They had no thought about whether he was violent or might attack them.

This was an act of lovingkindness, a combination of compassion, love, respect and much more. It was unconditional, causeless love, the love we have not just for those nearest and dearest, because that's easy. It means radiating love to strangers and even to their dogs.  

These two men did something wonderful for me and my family.  There is no way to properly repay them or thank them.   The best I can do is to tell this story and be grateful for their lovingkindness to me and my dog.


One more thing - the meditation on lovingkindness can be found as the very first item posted on this blog.