We practice Loving Kindness meditation towards all sentient beings. Are the algae in the swimming pool and the ticks on the dog sentient beings?
A. In Loving Kindness meditation, there are two types; one is specific loving kindness, the other is unspecific or general loving kindness. For specific loving kindness meditation, you have to choose a person or a group of persons and say, “May these beings be happy and peaceful”, in that way you can concentrate on that person (or persons) to a certain extent. But for unspecific meditation you have to wish for the welfare of all living beings of the world then your mind is not well concentrated on all these beings but you have developed the spirit of loving kindness in you because you wish all these beings peace and happiness, then your mind becomes calm and concentrated to a certain extent. Specific loving kindness enables the meditator to concentrate better on the object of meditation than unspecific loving kindness. Any being which is regarded as living is included in unspecific Loving Kindness meditation.
