Lama Yeshe gave a series of talks about Maitreya Buddha and instructions on the yoga method of Maitreya in 1981 at Maitreya Instituut in the Netherlands. Universal Love is a beautiful collection of these teachings dedicated to cultivating loving-kindness and a tender heart.

Excerpts from Universal Love:

"... when we study Buddhism we're studying ourselves – the nature of our body, speech and mind – the main emphasis being on the nature of our mind and how it works in everyday life. The main topic is not something else, like what is Buddha, what is the nature of God or things like that. Why is it so important to know the nature of our own mind? It's because we all want happiness, enjoyment, peace and satisfaction and these experiences do not come from ice cream but from wisdom and the mind. Therefore we have to understand what the mind is and how it works."

"... tantra is the right practice for Westerners and of the utmost need in this twentieth century. After all, the Buddha wanted us to have as much perfect pleasure as possible; he certainly didn't want us to be miserable, confused or dissatisfied. Therefore we should understand that we meditate in order to gain profound pleasure, not to beat ourselves up or to experience pain. If entering the Buddhist path brings you nothing but fear and guilt then it's certainly not worth the effort."

"Maitreya is the manifestation of the love of all the buddhas – the supreme beings who have achieved limitless, universal love. When we practice the yoga method of Buddha Maitreya we unify with the universal love energy that is Maitreya by developing to their ultimate extent the limited qualities of love, compassion and purity that presently lie within us."