Mettā meditation is loving-kindness meditation.
One form of this meditation is to wish happiness towards:
Reciting a prayer before this kind of meditation helps to set intention. You can also use this prayer before insight practice.
The prayer below is my personal prayer I recite before Mettā meditation. It has two versions - a short and a long.
I most often recite the first and last verses of the long version (wishing loving-kindness first towards myself then towards all beings). Then everyone is involved!
May I be safe,
May I be happy,
May I have health,
May loving-kindness flow throughout my life.
May all living beings be safe,
May all living beings be happy,
May all living beings have health,
May loving-kindness flow throughout the lives of all living things.
May I have safety, and live free from danger and fear,
May I live in a safe haven,
May I have freedom from external violence and internal torment.
May I be happy, trusting in my ability to love,
May I be peaceful and less fearful of others,
May I relate skilfully to negative states of mind.
May I be healthy and free from physical pain,
May I live with good health,
May I live in harmony with my body.
May I be free from struggle in relationships and work,
May I live gracefully and with ease,
May I dwell in peace,
May loving-kindness flow throughout my life.
May all living beings have safety, and live free from danger and fear,
May all living beings live in a safe haven,
May all living beings have freedom from external violence and internal torment.
May all living beings be happy, trusting in their ability to love,
May all living beings be peaceful and less fearful of others,
May all living beings relate skilfully to negative states of mind.
May all living beings be healthy and free from physical pain,
May all living beings live with good health,
May all living beings live in harmony with their bodies.
May all living beings be free from struggle in relationships and work,
May all living beings live gracefully and with ease,
May all living beings dwell in peace,
May loving-kindness flow throughout the lives of all living beings .
Thanks for reading - I hope this prayer is useful to you, and has inspried you to develop your own loving-kindness prayers and practice.
Taking the time to develop your own set of prayers is well worth it - please take anything from mine that you find useful!