Tara Brach: Widening circles of compassion

Meditation: Widening the Circles of Compassion with Tara Brach

(Tara Brach, Jan. 31, 2021) We cultivate compassion (karuna) by attending to others with our full presence. With the steps of R.A.I.N., this meditation guides us to open to the vulnerability of another’s experience and offer our care. Start with someone with whom our relationship is uncomplicated -- without the reactivity of judgment or anger. Let's then explore extending our compassion to someone who triggers us in these ways. This meditation includes optional use of tonglen, the Tibetan practice of breathing in taking in suffering and breathing out sending out care.

A)  Awakening compassion when we are not reactive

B)  Awakening compassion when we feel judgment or anger

“Just Like You”

(Inspired by the Dalai Lama)

Walk gently on this earth with purposeful steps

You share this space with seven billion human beings

And countless other precious life forms

Just like you

They all want to be happy

Just like you

They all need love

We’re not going to survive unless we walk

Gently on this earth together,

Until we touch something in others that

Feels just like the shards of our own pain,

The fluttering warmth of our own joy,

Until we sew their wounds into our hearts

And seal it with our own skin

- Anonymous

• Tara Brach's book Radical Compassion
• Tara Brach's apple.com/us/podcast...​

Financial support enables free talks, so listeners who value them may want to offer: tarabrach.com/donation. With thanks and love, Tara