David Johnson, a meditation teacher and author of ‘A Path to Nibbana’, discusses forgiveness meditation technique and its benefits in overcoming emotional blocks. He shares personal stories of forgiving a toxic boss and anecdotes of students' forgiveness experiences. The podcast explores the link between Buddhist precepts and a peaceful mind, the power of the habit of forgiveness, and common mistakes in metta meditation. It also touches on the Buddha's forgiveness method and the use of forgiveness meditation in psychiatric care.
Forgiveness meditation helps address emotional blocks in meditation, releasing them and allowing for a peaceful and powerful mind.
Combining forgiveness meditation with moral living offers numerous benefits, such as replacing negative emotions with happiness, cultivating a peaceful mind, and enhancing personal power.
Deep dives
The Power of Forgiveness Meditation
Forgiveness meditation is a technique taught by meditation teacher David Johnson to address emotional blocks in meditation practice. It involves personally forgiving oneself or others for past wrongs. The process of forgiveness releases emotional blocks and softens painful feelings. By using phrases like 'I forgive myself for not understanding' or 'I forgive myself for causing pain', individuals can bring up personal stories and memories to address and forgive. This practice helps develop a peaceful and powerful mind, allowing individuals to react to difficult situations with forgiveness and reducing fear and anger.
Benefits of Forgiveness Meditation and Moral Life
Forgiveness meditation, when combined with moral living, offers numerous benefits. It replaces negative emotions with happiness and loving-kindness. Forgiving oneself and others softens emotional blocks and leads to relief and healing. Following moral precepts, such as not causing harm or lying, cultivates a peaceful mind and improves one's reputation. The practice of forgiveness empowers individuals to react to challenging situations with kindness and understanding rather than anger. Integrating forgiveness into daily life enhances personal power, happiness, and one's ability to handle unpleasant experiences.
Testimonials and Real-life Impact
Various individuals have shared their experiences with forgiveness meditation, highlighting the positive impact it has had on their lives. Testimonials include decreased guilt, relief from emotional tension, improved relationships, and transformations in perspective. By forgiving oneself and others, individuals have been able to let go of deep-seated anger, understand different viewpoints, and experience genuine happiness. Forgiveness practice has helped people develop compassion and react to situations with forgiveness rather than negativity or retaliation.
Integration and Dosage of Forgiveness Meditation
Forgiveness meditation can be incorporated into daily life as a habitual practice. At a minimum, dedicating 30 minutes per day to forgiveness meditation can help develop a strong habit of reacting with kindness and forgiveness. Forgiveness can also be practiced while engaging in other activities like walking or even mundane tasks. By forgiving one's self and others and letting go of negative emotions, individuals can experience lasting changes in how they react to challenging situations and develop a sense of personal power.
In this episode I am once again joined by David Johnson, a meditation teacher and author of ‘A Path to Nibbana’.
In this episode David describes the forgiveness meditation technique that he teaches to his students who encounter emotional blocks in meditation practice.
David recalls his own journey with forgiveness, including his experience forgiving a toxic boss, and shares his students’ accounts using this technique.
David also explains the links between keeping Buddhist precepts and a peaceful mind, and details other benefits of a moral life, including increase in personal power and acquisition of siddhi.
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Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep225-forgiveness-meditation-david-johnson-2
Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
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Topics Include:
00:00 - Intro
00:47 - Dealing with emotional blocks in meditation
01:47 - Metta vs breath as meditation object
02:37 - Advantages of metta meditation
03:16 - Emotional and psychological blocks to feeling good
04:20 - When the 6R’s aren’t enough
05:55 - The process of forgiveness
07:32 - How to forgive
08:47 - Don’t dredge the mind
10:09 - How David forgave his toxic boss
13:19 - Anecdotes of students’ forgiveness
17:51 - The power of the habit of forgiveness
19:27 - Phrases to unlock forgiveness
20:38 - A common metta meditation mistake
24:11 - The Buddha’s forgiveness method
25:19 - Meditation dosage
27:17 - David on psychiatry and therapy
31:22 - When to stop the technique
32:55 - Will forgiveness make me a pushover?
35:44 - Developing personal power
36:33 - David’s fears
37:30 - The root of fear
43:01 - Why keep the precepts
42:22 - How negative karma ripens
44:55 - Benefits of following the precepts
48:33 - Investing virtue for positive rewards
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Previous episode with David Johnson:
- https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep212-path-to-nibbna-david-johnson
To find our more about David Johnson visit:
- https://www.dhammasukha.org/forgiveness-meditation
- https://www.dhammasukha.org/david-johnson
For more interviews, videos, and more visit:
- https://www.guruviking.com
Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James
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