Lush monasteries in northeast Thailand often start each day before dawn with the soft recitation of the Karaniya Metta Sutta, planting seeds of goodwill before any chopping of wood or hauling of water. Within the Thai Forest Tradition, metta isn’t just another meditation technique tucked into a dusty manual—it weaves through every layer of practice and daily life.

Monastics typically begin their training by mastering samatha (calm-abiding) through mindfulness of breathing. Once concentration has settled like morning mist in the trees, guided sessions shift toward loving-kindness. Teachers—drawing on the example of Ajahn Chah and his disciples—lead systematic phrases: “May all beings be happy…,” expanding from close friends to the trickiest characters in one’s personal story. This gradual widening of the circle mirrors the forest’s own rhythms, where each creature is part of an interdependent whole.

Weekly schedules often include dedicated metta sittings, sometimes paired with walking meditation beneath tangled roots and towering trunks. During multi-day retreats—both in remote Thai outposts and global offshoots like Wat Pah Nanachat—participants practice extended periods of metta, allowing the heart to soften even when the body is sore. In recent years, digital gatherings have sprung up too, thanks to pandemic pivots: online metta workshops led by Western-forest teachers, offering a taste of forest simplicity to those locked down in urban apartments.

Integration goes beyond formal sittings. Daily chores—fetching alms, sweeping paths—become opportunities to cultivate kindness. A monk sweeping leaves dedicates each motion: “May all beings find ease in letting go.” This continuous undercurrent of goodwill helps wear down the hard edges of stress and tension, a welcome antidote in today’s 24/7 hustle.

Festivals like Loy Krathong see effigies floated with metta intentions, uniting community members in a shared wave of compassion. And as mental health conversations ramp up worldwide, the Thai Forest Tradition’s metta curriculum resonates more than ever, offering a roadmap for transforming inner turmoil into an open-hearted embrace of life’s ebb and flow.