Now we come to the tenth:
"Gladdening the mind, I breathe in.
Gladdening the mind, I breathe out."
This is also an exercise for your nourishment,
for joy and happiness.
This exercise consists of...
touching the wholesome mental formations in you.
This is exactly what we spoke of...
when we mentioned the beautiful garden with many beautiful trees
that are still alive.
We touch, recognize what is not wrong in our consciousness --
capacity of being joyful, the capacity of being mindful,
the capacity of being forgiving.
In each of us there is the seed of...
loving kindness, maitri.
It is not true that you cannot love.
Even if you feel that you are afraid to love,
the capacity to love is in you
in the form of a seed.
In the beginning of the week, someone wrote to me a long letter
saying that...
he was afraid to love
because in the past he had tried...
and had suffered so much because of loving.
That is why he has told himself, "Never again, never again."
But because he has followed my teaching,
that is why...
that day was the first time when he touched the seed of love in him
and he knew that he can love, he has the capacity of loving,
and he is no longer afraid to say, " love you."
The seed of loving kindness...
is in each of us
that needs to be touched and recognized.
You have the willingness to make the other person happy.
You know that if you can make the other person happy,
you'll be happy too.
Maitri is the capacity to offer joy and happiness.
Maitri is not just the intention...
the good intention to make someone happy.
Because...
often you have good intentions to make him or her happy,
but because you don't know how to love,
you make the person you love suffer a lot.
So maitri is defined not as the "intention"...
to make the people happy alone,
but has the "capacity"
of offering joy and happiness to the person you love.
And among the people you love...
there is yourself.
When you practice Deep Relaxation,
loving kindness is directed to your body, to yourself.
When you embrace the...
the mental formation called...
joy and equanimity,
in yourself,
you direct your love toward yourself.
Your capacity of loving -- making the person happy is maitri.
And you can cultivate that love every day.
Karuna is compassion --
the capacity to relieve the suffering of someone,
the capacity of removing and transforming the suffering in the other person.
It's called karuna.
And you have the seed of karuna within yourself.
and as you practice cultivating maitri and karuna,
the energy of loving kindness and compassion grows in you,
and you can relate so easily to other living beings.
Communication becomes much easier.
And you suffer much less.
Joy and happiness become something possible.
And "gladdening your mind" here means...
to go back and recognize these wholesome mental formations in you:
first, in the form of seeds,
and then in the form of mental formations
manifested on the upper level of your consciousness.
When you are reminded...
that you are in a retreat with a good sangha,
not many people have the opportunity...
to take the time off for a retreat
and to practice in a sangha.
But you are in a retreat with a sangha
practicing together the way of awareness,
and that is touching something...
that can make you happy gladdening the mind...
mindfulness.
There are people who do not know where to go.
You know the path of transformation and healing.
You have tried and every time it has helped you.
You have faith in the Dharma.
If you touch that seed of confidence in you,
you gladden your mind.
You bring joy and peace to you.
Again, this is the practice of self-nourishment
in order to get stronger and go far
for your sake and for the people around you.