Intention without Object

 I think the most significant aspect of loving-kindness meditation is that it involves an act of sustained intention without a particular object in mind. This seems to accord with the Buddha's teachings on the emptiness of objects, and the way in which things are always in a state of flux. I was reading a translation of the Lankavatara Sutra where Buddha is said to have remarked:

All that is seen in the world is devoid of effort and action because all things in the world are like a dream, or like an image miraculously projected. This is not comprehended by the philosophers and the ignorant, but those who thus see things see them truthfully. Those who see things otherwise walk in discrimination and, as they depend upon discrimination, they cling to dualism. (in Goddard, 1994, p.278).

When I read this part of the sutra, I am reminded that there is a tendency for people to fixate an intention on a particular object, as though it were endowed with special powers that are divorced from the other circumstances which constitute its being. For instance, I might wish someone loving kindness thinking that doing so will give them special benefits or doing so might tap into their power. I might even wish loving kindness on someone with the intention of personally benefiting them, thus making a distinction between a "powerless" I and a "more powerful" someone else. In this way, it's possible for loving-kindness meditation to be used to reinforce this sense of separateness. In contrast, the Buddha states that the world is devoid of "effort" because everything exists in a kind of dream--a state of flux where things don't have a separate, inherent existence. To fixate on one thing is a kind of delusion because it ignores the way that reality does not operate from one or two isolated principles or moments. There is always a mutual influence of interlocking forces that define and shape
      In a sense, loving kindness also has no particular intention: it simply uplifts every sentient being without trying to discriminate between one appearance or another. When I find myself attaching to one person and rejecting another, the practice of metta counterbalances this tendency by reminding me of the equal regard we can give to all sentient beings as a whole.
    What would a pedagogy of loving-kindness look like, then? How can I take this practice of loving kindness meditation and transform it into a comprehensive education that would help people think metta, not just reciting metta? I am going to give a tentative sketch of what I had in mind:

1. Respect for life: studying biological systems, natural processes, and ecosystems, with the aim of gaining an aesthetic and contemplative view of all living beings in general (not just separating specific beings whom we find powerful or cute, such as pandas). Biology and ecology would be studied, along with cultural and literary representations of ecosystems.

2. Self and Other Acceptance. Studying the psychologies developed by Martin Buber, bell hooks, Carl Rogers, Simone DeBeauvoir and Albert Ellis, to craft a nuanced and reflective sense of how communities can foster self and other acceptance, with sensitivity to the ways that socialization influence our sense of identity.

3. Loving Kindness as Spiritual Practice: Studying the origins of Loving Kindness Practice (Metta Sutta), and looking at metta from a variety of spiritual traditions. Incorporating Loving Kindness Meditation into daily practice and reflection, as developed in steps 1 and 2.

Could a curriculum be developed around these three steps? I guess it's "too be continued"...

References

Goddard, Dwight, (ed) (1994), A Buddhist Bible. Boston: Beacon Press.