Metta is a part of the Buddha’s heart teachings about lovingkindness, or the Brahma Viharas - compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, and “unbounded friendship” - often called as a group the “Heavenly Abodes.” This workshop will bring participants into experiences of lovingkindness and focus on how to bring about compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, and “unbounded friendship” in one’s daily life. We will look at sila (virtue), samadhi (concentration), and pañña (wisdom) as they relate to lovingkindness. Since our purpose is to cultivate lovingkindness and good will, the workshop will be of benefit to anyone who is interested in the topic, no matter what spiritual tradition you might be interested in, or for that matter, whether you are interested or involved in any spiritual tradition at all. The focus will simply be on how a person can cultivate a felt sense and attitude of lovingkindness toward oneself, others, and all beings everywhere.

Every Saturday Morning
10:00 to 12:00 noon

Workshop Leader: Fred Martinson
Fred is an art historian (Ph.D., U. Chicago) who taught at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for 30 years.  Fred has a special interest in the iconology of Buddhist art (“meaning” as well as style and context).  After specializing in the meaning of Buddhist subjects in Asian art for years, one day about 25 years ago he suddenly realized that there is a reason why those Buddhist images sit the way they do. At that point he began a meditation practice of his own. Since that time, he has studied with a number of different teachers and participates in a half-dozen meditation and study groups including one on Lovingkindness based on the teachings of Andrew Olendzki.