                 THE PRACTICE OF LOVING-KINDNESS
                           - METTA -

                     As Taught By The Buddha
                        In the Pali Canon


              Compiled and Translated from the Pali
                               by
                         NANAMOLI THERA


                      Wheel Publication #7


                  BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
                  Kandy              Sri Lanka

                        ISBN 955-24-0005-8

                   First Edition         1958
                   Second Impression     1964
                   Third Impression      1978
                   Fourth Impression     1981
                   Fifth Impression      1987
                   
                   DharmaNet Edition     1994
                                     

        This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
            via DharmaNet by arrangement with the publisher.
                                          
                                          
                          DharmaNet International
                   P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951


                          
                          
                          
                          INTRODUCTION

     The word "love" -- one of the most compelling in
the English language -- is commonly used for purposes
so widely separated, so gross and so rarefied, as to
render it sometimes nearly meaningless.  Yet rightly 
understood, love is the indispensable and essential
foundation no less for the growth and purification of the
individual as for the construction of a peaceful,
progressive and healthy society.

     Now love can be considered in two principal moods:
that of lovers for each other, and that of a mother
for her child.  In its spiritualised form, love can draw
its inspiration from either the one or the other.  Spiritual
love idealizing the love of lovers is often conceived as a
consuming flame, and then it sometimes aspires to 
purification through torture and the violence of martyrdom.
But spiritual love that looks for guidance to the love of a 
mother for her child uplifts itself to the ideal of the pure 
fount of all safety, welfare and spiritual health (and a mother 
best serves her child if she guards her own health).  It is 
this latter kind which the Buddha takes as the basis for his 
teaching of universal love.
     
     Where Greek distinguishes between sensual eros and 
spiritual agape English makes do with only the one word 
"love."  But the Pali language, like the Sanskrit, has many 
words covering many shades of meaning.  The word chosen by the 
Buddha for this teaching is //metta// from //mitta//, a friend (or 
better "the true friend in need").

     //Metta// in the Buddha's teaching finds its place as the 
first of four kinds of contemplation designed to develop a 
sound pacific relationship to other living beings.  The four 
are: //metta//, which will be rendered henceforward by "loving-
kindness," //karuna//, which is "compassion" or "pity," //mudita// 
which is "gladness at others' success," and //upekkha//, which is 
"onlooking equanimity."  These four are called Divine Abidings 
(brahma-vihara), perhaps because whoever can maintain any one 
of them in being for even a moment has lived for that moment 
as do the Highest Gods (the Brahma Deva).

     In the Buddha's teaching these four Divine Abidings, the 
"greatest of all worldly merit," if practiced alone, without 
insight into the true nature of existence, can lead to rebirth 
in the highest heavens.  But all heavenly existence is without 
exception impermanent, and at the end of the heavenly life-
span -- no matter how long it may last -- the being dies and is 
reborn according to his past actions.  This is because some 
craving for existence (for being or even for non-being) and 
some sort of view of existence that is not in conformity with 
truth still remain latent in him, to burst out again when the 
result of the good actions is spent.  And where he will be 
reborn after that is unpredictable though it is certain that 
he will be reborn.

     The Buddha's teaching of Insight is -- in as few words as 
possible -- the training in knowledge and seeing of how it is 
that anything, whatever it may be whether objective or 
subjective, comes to be; how it acquires existence only 
through dependence on conditions, and is impermanent because 
none of the conditions for its existence is permanent; and how 
existence, always complex and impermanent, is never safe from 
pain, and is in need of a self -- the will-o'-the-wisp idea, 
the rainbow mirage, which lures it on, and which it can never 
find; for the comforting illusion has constantly to be 
renewed.  And that teaching also shows how there is a true way 
out from fear of pain.  In its concise form this is expressed 
as the Four Noble Truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of 
suffering's origin (craving or need), the truth of suffering's 
cessation (through abandonment of craving), and the truth of 
the way leading to suffering's cessation.  These four truths 
are called the teaching peculiar to Buddhas (//Buddhanam 
samukkamsika-desana//) since the discovery of them is what 
distinguishes Buddhas.

     The way (the fourth Truth) is also called the Middle Way
because it avoids the two extremes of sensual indulgence and 
of self-mortification.  It's eight members are: right view, 
right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, 
right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.  The 
practice of loving-kindness alone will give effect in some 
measure to all the members except the first: but it is only 
with right view (without self-deception) that Nibbana can be 
reached.  Right View gives insight into the real nature of 
existence of being and non-being, with all its mirages and 
deceptions, and it is only with its help that the practice of 
loving-kindness is perfected, lifted out of the impermanence of 
even the highest heavens, and directed to the true cessation 
of suffering.

     That true cessation comes with the elimination of 
deception by wrong views and with the exhaustion of the stream 
of craving in its two forms of lust and hate.  This extinction 
of lust, hate and delusion, is called Nibbana.

                              *

     The discourses that follow show (in that order) the 
wretchedness of all anger and hate (there is no righteous 
anger in the Buddha's teaching); the rewards of loving-kindness;
the practice of loving-kindness as a meditation and contemplation; 
its result in rebirth; the seeing of all things and all existence 
as impermanent, suffering and not-self, that is needed in order to 
have a vision in conformity with truth, without which the first stage of 
unshakable deliverance cannot be reached (for it is with this 
insight into how being comes to be that it is seen why the 
price of birth and life, even in heaven, is death); and lastly 
the attainment of Arahantship, by which all lust, hate, and 
delusion are overcome, lust for being and even for non-being 
cured, and rebirth ended for good.

     But first, before coming to these discourses, some 
details from the meditation manual, the //Visuddhimagga// or "Path 
of Purification," will not be out of place.

     //Metta// (loving-kindness) is defined as follows: 
"Loving-kindness has the mode of friendliness for its 
characteristic.  Its natural function is to promote 
friendliness.  It is manifested as the disappearance of ill-
will.  Its footing is seeing with kindness. When it succeeds it 
eliminates ill-will. When it fails it degenerates into selfish 
affectionate desire".

     The //Visuddhimagga// recommends going to some quiet place, 
where one can sit down in a comfortable position.  Then, 
before starting the actual meditation, it is helpful to 
consider the dangers in hate and the benefits offered by 
forbearance: for it is a purpose of this meditation to 
displace hate by forbearance, and besides, one cannot avoid 
dangers one has not come to see or cultivate benefits one does 
not yet know.  

     Then there are certain types of persons towards 
whom loving-kindness should not be developed in the first 
stages.  The attempt, at the outset to regard a disliked 
person as dear to one is fatiguing, and likewise trying to 
regard a dearly loved friend with neutrality, and when an 
enemy is recalled anger springs up.  Again it should not be 
directed towards members of the opposite sex, to begin with, 
for this may arouse lust.  Right at the start, the meditation 
of loving-kindness should be developed towards oneself 
repeatedly in this way: "May I be happy and free from 
suffering" or "May I keep myself free from hostility and 
trouble and live happily" (though this will never produce the 
full absorption of contemplation).  It is by cultivating the 
thought "May I be happy" with oneself as example, that one 
begins to be interested in the welfare and happiness of other 
living beings, and to feel in some sense their happiness as if 
it were one's own:  "Just as I want happiness and fear pain, 
just as I want to live and not to die, so do other beings."  
So one should first become familiar with pervading oneself as 
example with loving-kindness.  Only then should one choose 
someone who is liked and admired and much respected.  The 
meditation can then be developed towards him, remembering 
endearing words or virtues of his, and thinking such thoughts 
about him as "may he be happy."  (In this way the full 
absorption of contemplation, in which the word-meditation is 
left behind, can be attained.)  

     When this has become familiar, one can begin to practice 
loving-kindness towards a dearly beloved companion, and then 
towards a neutral person as very dear, or towards an enemy 
as neutral.  It is when dealing with an enemy that anger can 
arise, and all means must be tried in order to get rid of it.  
As soon as this has succeeded, one will be able to regard an 
enemy without resentment and with loving-kindness in the same 
way as one does the admired person, the dearly loved friend, 
and the neutral person.  Then with repeated practice, jhana 
absorption should be attained in all cases.  Loving-kindness 
can now be effectively maintained in being towards all beings; 
or to certain groups of beings at a time, or in one direction 
at a time to all; or to certain groups in succession.

     Loving-kindness ought to be brought to the point where 
there are no longer any barriers set between persons, and for 
this the following example is given:  Suppose a man is with a 
dear, a neutral and a hostile person, himself being the 
fourth; then bandits come to him and say "we need one of you 
for human sacrifice." Now if that man thinks "Let then take 
this one, or that one," he has not yet broken down the 
barriers, and also if he thinks "Let them take me but not 
these three," he has not broken down the barriers either.  Why 
not?  Because he seeks the harm of him who he wishes to be 
taken and the welfare of only the other three. It is only 
when he does not see a single one among the four to be chosen 
in preference to the other three, and directs his mind quite 
impartially towards himself and the other three, that he has 
broken down the barriers.

     Loving-kindness has its "enemy within" in lust, which 
easily gains entry in its wake, and it must be well guarded 
against this.  The remedy for lust is the contemplation of 
ugliness (in the body) as in the Satipattana Sutta (Digha 
Nikaya Sutta 22 and Majjhima Nikaya Sutta 10).  Its "enemy 
without" is its opposite, ill-will, which finds its 
opportunities in the intervals when loving-kindness is not 
being actively practiced.  (Full details will be found in 
Chapter IX of the //Visuddhimagga//).

     In many discourses the Buddha lays emphasis on the need 
to balance contemplative concentration with understanding.  
The one supplies the deficiencies of the other.  Concentration 
alone lacks direction; understanding alone is dry and tiring.  
In the discourses that follow the simile of a mother's love 
for her child is given.  Now the incomparable value of a 
mother's love, which sets it above all other kinds, lies in 
the fact that she understands her child's welfare -- her love 
is not blind.  Not love alone, nor faith alone, can ever bring 
a man all the way to the cessation of suffering, and that is 
why the Buddha, as the Supreme Physician, prescribes the 
development of five faculties in balanced harmony: the 
faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and 
understanding.

     So concentration of love in its highest form -- the form 
that only the Buddha, and no one else, has given -- seen as a 
means to the end, becomes absolutely purified in one who has 
gained personal experience of the "supreme safety from 
bondage" (//anuttaram yogakkhemam//), which is Nibbana, as the 
ultimate welfare of beings.  For he knows from his own 
experience that their welfare is only assured permanently when 
suffering has been diagnosed, its origin abandoned, its 
cessation realized, and the way maintained in being.  Then he 
has verified the Four Noble Truths for himself and can 
properly evaluate beings' welfare.

     "Bhikkhus, it is through not discovering, not penetrating 
to four truths that both you and I have been trudging and 
traveling through the roundabout of rebirths for so long" 
(Digha Nikaya, Vol. II, p. 90).  For the benefit of all those 
who have not yet done this, the way has been discovered and 
pointed out by the Buddha and its practicability attested by 
the Arahants.

     The last discourse given in this collection, in fact, shows 
how this personal discovery and penetration to the Four Noble Truths 
can be achieved by using loving-kindness as the vehicle.

                
                
                        Note on Sources
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     References to the Anguttara Nikaya are to //nipata// followed by 
the number of the sutta. The reference to Samyutta Nikaya is to //samyutta//
followed by the number of the sutta.










                 THE PRACTICE OF LOVINGKINDNESS



                    The Wretchedness of Anger
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.  From the Anguttara Nikaya, 7:60
    (spoken by the Buddha)

     Bhikkhus, seven things gratifying and helpful to an enemy 
befall one who is angry, whether a woman or a man.  What are the 
seven?

     Here, bhikkhus, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy: "Let him 
be ugly."  Why is that?  No enemy relishes an enemy's beauty.  
Now when this person is angry, a prey to anger, ruled by anger, 
be he ever so well bathed, and well anointed, with hair and beard 
trimmed, and clothed in white, yet he is ugly through his being 
a prey to anger.  This is the first thing gratifying and helpful 
to an enemy that befalls one who is angry, whether a woman or a 
man.

     Also an enemy wishes thus for his enemy:  "Let him lie in 
pain."  Why is that?  No enemy relishes an enemy's lying in 
comfort.  Now when this person is angry, a prey to anger, ruled 
by anger, for all he may lie on a couch spread with rugs, 
blankets and counterpanes with a deerskin cover, a canopy and red 
cushions for the head and feet, yet he lies only in pain through 
his being a prey to anger.  This is the second thing gratifying 
to an enemy that befalls one who is angry, whether a woman or a 
man.

     Also an enemy wishes thus for his enemy:  "Let him have no 
prosperity."  Why is that?  No enemy relishes an enemy's 
prosperity.  Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled 
by anger, he mistakes bad for good and he mistakes good for bad, 
and each being taken wrongly in the other's sense, these things 
for long conduce to his harm and suffering, through his being a 
prey to anger.  This is the third thing gratifying and helpful to 
an enemy that befalls one who is angry, whether a woman or a man.

     Also an enemy wishes thus for his enemy: "Let him not be 
rich."  Why is that?  No enemy relishes an enemy's having riches.  
Now when a person is angry, a prey to anger, should he have 
riches gained by endeavor, built up by the strength of his arm, 
earned by sweat, lawful and lawfully acquired, yet the king's 
treasury gathers (in fines) through his being a prey to anger.  
This is the fourth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that 
befalls one who is a prey to anger, whether a woman or a man.

     Also an enemy wishes thus for his enemy:  "Let him not be 
famous."  Why is that?  No enemy relishes an enemy's having fame.  
Now when a person is angry, a prey to anger, ruled by anger, what 
fame he may have acquired by diligence he loses through his being 
a prey to anger.  This is the fifth thing gratifying and helpful 
to an enemy that befalls one who is a prey to anger, whether a 
woman or a man.

     Also an enemy wishes thus for his enemy:  "Let him have no 
friends."  Why is that?  No enemy relishes and enemy's having 
friends.  Now when this person is angry, a prey to anger, ruled 
by anger, the friends he may have, his companions, relatives and 
kin, will keep away from him through his being a prey to anger.  
This is the sixth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that 
befalls one who is a prey to anger, whether a woman or a man.

     Also an enemy wishes thus for his enemy:  "Let him on the 
dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a state of 
deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in hell."  
Why is that?  No enemy relishes an enemy's going to a good 
destination.  Now when this person is angry, a prey to anger, 
ruled by anger, he misconducts himself in body, speech and mind, 
and by his misconduct in body, speech and mind, on the 
dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of 
deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in hell, 
through his being a prey to anger.  This is the seventh thing 
gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry, 
whether a woman or a man.

         When anger does possess a man;
         He looks ugly; he lies in pain;
         What benefit he may come by
         He misconstrues as a mischance;
         He loses property (through fines)
         Because he has been working harm
         Through acts of body and speech
         By angry passion overwhelmed;
         The wrath and rage that madden him
         Gain him a name of ill-repute;
         His fellows, relatives and kin
         Will seek to shun him from afar;
         And anger fathers misery:
         This fury does so cloud the mind
         Of man that he cannot discern
         This fearful inner danger.
         An angry man no meaning knows,
         No angry man sees the Dhamma,
         So wrapped in darkness, as if blind,
            Is he whom anger dogs.

         Someone a man in anger hurts;
         But, when his anger is later spent
         With difficulty or with ease,
         He suffers as if seared by fire.
         His look betrays the sulkiness
         Of some dim smoky smoldering glow.
         Whence may flare up an anger-blaze
         That sets the world of men aflame.
         He has no shame or conscience curb,
         No kindly words come forth from him,
         There is no island refuge for
             The man whom anger dogs.
         
         Such acts as will ensure remorse,
         Such as are far from the true Dhamma:
         It is of these that I would tell,
             So harken to my words.

         Anger makes man a parricide,
         Anger makes him a matricide,
         Anger can make him slay the saint
         As he would kill the common man.
         Nursed and reared by a mother's care,
         He comes to look upon the world,
         Yet the common man in anger kills
             The being who gave him life.

         No being but seeks his own self's good,
         None dearer to him than himself,
         Yet men in anger kill themselves,
         Distraught for reasons manifold:
         For crazed they stab themselves with daggers,
         In desperation swallow poison,
         Perish hanged by ropes, or fling
         Themselves over a precipice.
         Yet how their life-destroying acts
         Bring death unto themselves as well,
         That they cannot discern, and that
              Is the ruin anger breeds.

         This secret place, with anger's aid,
         Is where mortality sets the snare.
         To blot it out with discipline,
         With vision, strength, and understanding,
         To blot each fault out one by one,
         The wise man should apply himself,
         Training likewise in the true Dhamma;
         "Let smoldering be far from us."
         Then rid of wrath and free from anger,
         And rid of lust and free from envy,
         Tamed, and with anger left behind,
             Taintless, they reach Nibbana.



                     How to get rid of Anger
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   
2.  From the Dhammapada, vv. 3 - 5, and Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 128
    (spoken by the Buddha).

         "He abused me, he beat me,
         He worsted me, he robbed me."
         Hate never is allayed in men
         That cherish suchlike enmity.
         "He abused me, he beat me,
         He worsted me, he robbed me."
         Hate surely is allayed in men
         Who cherish no such enmity.
         For enmity by enmity
         Is never in this world allayed;
         It is allayed by amity --
         That is an ancient principle.



3.  From the Anguttara Nikaya,  5:161
    (spoken by the Buddha)


     Bhikkhus, there are these five ways of removing annoyance, 
by which annoyance can be entirely removed by a bhikkhu when it 
arises in him.  What are the five?

     Loving-kindness can be maintained in being towards a person 
with whom you are annoyed: this is how annoyance with him can be 
removed.  Compassion can be maintained in being towards a person 
with whom you are annoyed; this too is how annoyance with him can 
be removed.  Onlooking equanimity can be maintained in being 
towards a person with whom you are annoyed;  this too is how 
annoyance with him can be removed.  The forgetting and ignoring 
of a person with whom you are annoyed can be practiced; this too 
is how annoyance with him can be removed.  Ownership of deeds in 
a person with whom you are annoyed can be concentrated upon thus: 
"This good person is owner of his deeds, heir to his deeds, his 
deeds are the womb from which he is born, his deeds are his kin 
for whom he is responsible, his deeds are his refuge, he is heir 
to his deeds, be they good or bad." This too is how annoyance with 
him can be removed.  These are the five ways of removing 
annoyance, by which annoyance can be entirely removed in a 
bhikkhu when it arises in him.




                 Loving-kindness and its Rewards
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4.  From the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 21
    (spoken by the Buddha)

     Bhikkhus, there are five modes of speech that others may use 
when they address you.  Their speech may be timely or untimely, 
true or untrue, gentle or harsh, for good or harm, and may be 
accompanied by thoughts of loving-kindness or by inner hate.

     Suppose a man came with a hoe and a basket, and he said,
 "I shall make this great earth to be without earth"; and he dug 
here and there and strewed here and there, and spat here and 
there and relieved himself here and there, saying "Be without 
earth, be without earth." What do you think, bhikkhus, would that 
man make this great earth to be without earth? -- No, venerable 
sir.  Why is that?  Because this great earth is deep and 
measureless; it cannot possibly be made to be without earth.  So 
the man would reap weariness and disappointment.

     Suppose a man came with lak or gamboge or indigo or 
carmine, and he said, "I shall draw pictures, I shall make 
pictures appear, on this empty space." What do you think, 
bhikkhus, would that man draw pictures, would he make pictures 
appear, on that empty space? -- No, venerable sir.  Why is that?  
Because that empty space is formless and invisible; he cannot 
possibly draw pictures, make pictures appear there.  So the man 
would reap weariness and disappointment.

     So too, bhikkhus, there are these five modes of speech that 
others may use when they address you.  Their speech may be timely 
or untimely, true or untrue, gentle or harsh, for good or for 
harm, and may be accompanied by thoughts of loving-kindness or by 
inner hate.  Now this is how you should train yourselves here:  
"Our minds will remain unaffected, we shall utter no bad words, we 
shall abide friendly and compassionate, with thoughts of 
loving-kindness and no inner hate.  We shall abide with 
loving-kindness in our hearts extending to that person, and we 
shall dwell extending it to the entire world as our object, with 
our hearts abundant, exalted, measureless in loving-kindness, 
without hostility or ill-will." That is how you should train 
yourselves.

     Even were bandits savagely to sever you limb from limb with 
a two-handled saw, he who entertaineth hate on that account in 
his heart would not be one who carried out my teaching.

     Bhikkhus, you should keep this instruction on the Simile of 
the Saw constantly in mind.



5.  From the Itivuttaka, Sutta 27 
    (spoken by the Buddha)

     Bhikkhus, whatever kinds of worldly merit there are, all are 
not worth one sixteenth part of the heart-deliverance of loving-kindness;
in shining and beaming and radiance the heart-deliverance of loving-kindness
far excels them.

     Just as whatever light there is of stars, all is not worth one
sixteenth part of the moon's; in shining and beaming and radiance the 
moon's light far excels it; and just as in the last month of the Rains, 
in the Autumn when the heavens are clear, the sun as it climbs the heavens 
drives all darkness from the sky with its shining and beaming and radiance; 
and just as, when night is turning to dawn, the morning star is shining 
and beaming and radiating; so too, whatever kinds of worldly 
merit there are, all are not worth one sixteenth part of the 
heart-deliverance of loving-kindness; in shining and beaming and 
radiance the heart-deliverance of loving-kindness far excels them. 



6. From the Anguttara Nikaya, 11:16
   (spoken by the Buddha)

     Bhikkhus, when the heart-deliverance of loving-kindness is 
maintained in being, made much of, used as one's vehicle, used as 
one's foundation, established, consolidated, and properly 
managed, then eleven blessings can be expected.  What are the 
eleven?

     A man sleeps in comfort;  he wakes in comfort;  he dreams no 
evil dreams;  he is dear to human beings;  he is dear to non-
human beings;  the gods guard him;  no fire or poison or weapon 
harms him;  his mind can be quickly concentrated;  the expression 
of his face is serene;  he dies without falling into confusion;  
and, even if he fails to penetrate any further, he will pass on 
to the world of High Divinity, to the Brahma world.



7.  From the Samyutta Nikaya, 20:3
    (spoken by the Buddha)

     Bhikkhus, just as clans with many women and few men are 
readily ruined by robbers and bandits, so too any bhikkhu who has 
not maintained in being and made much of the heart-deliverance of 
loving-kindness is readily ruined by non-human beings.  And just 
as clans with few women and many men are not readily ruined by 
robbers and bandits; so too any bhikkhu who maintains in being 
and makes much of the heart-deliverance of loving-kindness is not 
readily ruined by non-human beings.  So, bhikkhus, you should 
train in this way:  The heart-deliverance of loving-kindness will 
be maintained in being and made much of by us, used as our 
vehicle, used as our foundation, established, consolidated, and 
properly managed.  That is how you should train.



8.  From the Anguttara Nikaya, 1:53-55, 386 
    (spoken by the Buddha)

     Bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu cultivates loving-kindness for as 
long as a fingersnap, he is called a bhikkhu.  He is not 
destitute of //jhana// meditation, he carries out the Master's 
teaching, he responds to advice, and he does not eat the 
country's alms food in vain.  So what should be said of those who 
make much of it?



9.  From the Digha Nikaya, Sutta 33
   (spoken by the Arahant Sariputta).

     Here, friends, a bhikkhu might say:  "When the heart-
deliverance of loving-kindness is maintained in being and made 
much of by me, used as my vehicle, used as my foundation, 
established, consolidated, and properly managed, ill-will 
nevertheless still invades my heart and remains."  He should be 
told: "Not so.  Let the worthy one not say so.  Let him not 
misrepresent the Blessed One.  It is not good to misrepresent the 
Blessed One.  The Blessed One would not express it thus."  
Friends, it is impossible, it cannot happen, that when the heart-
deliverance of loving-kindness is maintained in being and made 
much of, used as one's vehicle, used as one's foundation, 
established, consolidated, and properly managed, ill-will can 
invade the heart and remain;  for this, that is to say, the 
heart-deliverance of loving-kindness, is the escape from ill-
will.




               Loving-kindness as a Contemplation
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10.  Metta Sutta
     From the Sutta-nipata, vv. 143 - 152
     (spoken by the Buddha)


         What should be done by one skillful in good
         So as to gain the State of Peace is this:

         Let him be able, and upright and straight,
         Easy to speak to, gentle, and not proud,
         Contented too, supported easily,
         With few tasks, and living very lightly;
         His faculties serene, prudent, and modest,
         Unswayed by the emotions of the clans;
         And let him never do the slightest thing
         That other wise men might hold blamable.

         (And let him think:) "In safety and in bliss
         May creatures all be of a blissful heart.
         Whatever breathing beings there may be.
         No matter whether they are frail or firm,
         With none excepted, be they long or big
         Or middle-sized, or be they short or small
         Or thick, as well as those seen or unseen,
         Or whether they are dwelling far or near,
         Existing or yet seeking to exist.
         May creatures all be of a blissful heart.
         Let no one work another one's undoing
         Or even slight him at all anywhere:
         And never let them wish each other ill
         Through provocation or resentful thought."
         And just as might a mother with her life
         Protect the son that was her only child,
         So let him then for every living thing
         Maintain unbounded consciousness in being;

         And let him too with love for all the world
         Maintain unbounded consciousness in being
         Above, below, and all round in between,
         Untroubled, with no enemy or foe.
         And while he stands or walks or while he sits
         Or while he lies down, free from drowsiness,
         Let him resolve upon this mindfulness:
         This is Divine Abiding here, they say.

         But when he has no trafficking with views,
         Is virtuous, and has perfected seeing,
         And purges greed for sensual desires,
         He surely comes no more to any womb.



11. Methodical Practice: from the Patisambhidamagga
    (traditionally ascribed to the Arahant Sariputta)

     The heart-deliverance of loving-kindness is practiced with 
unspecified extension, with specified extension, and with 
directional extension.
     
     That with unspecified extension is practiced in five ways as 
follows:  May all beings be freed from enmity, distress and 
anxiety, and may they guide themselves to bliss.

     May all breathing things... all creatures... all persons...
May all those who are embodied be freed from enmity, distress and 
anxiety, and may they guide themselves to bliss.

     That with specified extension is practiced in seven ways as 
follows:  May all women be freed from enmity, distress and 
anxiety, and may they guide themselves to bliss.  May all men... 
all Noble Ones... all who are not Noble Ones... all deities... 
all human beings... may all those in the states of deprivation be 
freed from enmity, distress and anxiety, and may they guide themselves 
to bliss.

     That with directional extension is practiced in ten ways as 
follows:

     May all beings in the eastern direction be freed from 
enmity, distress and anxiety, and may they guide themselves to 
bliss.  May all beings in the western direction... in the 
northern direction... in the southern direction... in the eastern 
intermediate direction... in the western intermediate 
direction... in the northern intermediate direction... in the 
southern intermediate direction... in the downward direction... 
May all those in the upward direction be freed from enmity, 
distress and anxiety, and may they guide themselves to bliss.

         May all breathing things...
         May all creatures...
         May all persons...
         May all who are embodied...
         May all women...
         May all men...
         May all Noble Ones...
         May all who are not Noble Ones...
         May all deities...
         May all human beings...

     May all those in the states of deprivation in the eastern 
direction be freed from enmity, distress and anxiety, and may 
they guide themselves to bliss...  May all those in states of 
deprivation in the upward direction be freed from enmity, 
distress, anxiety, and may they guide themselves to bliss.



12.  From the Abhidhamma Pitaka, Appamannavibhanga
     (traditionally ascribed to the Buddha)

     And how does a bhikkhu abide with his heart imbued with 
loving-kindness extending over one direction?  Just as he would 
feel friendliness on seeing a dearly beloved person, so he 
extends loving-kindness to all creatures.




         As practiced without Insight in the Four Truths
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

13.  From the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 99
     (spoken by the Buddha)

     "Master Gotama, I have heard it said that the Monk Gotama 
teaches the path to the retinue of the High Divinity.  It would 
be good if Master Gotama would teach me that."
     "Then listen and attend carefully to what I shall say."
     "Even so, sir," the student Subha Todeyyaputta replied.  The 
Blessed One said this.
     "And what is the path to the retinue of the High Divinity?  
Here a bhikkhu abides with his heart imbued with loving-kindness
extending over one quarter, likewise the second quarter, likewise 
the third quarter, likewise the fourth quarter, and so above, 
below, around, and everywhere and to all as to himself; he abides 
with his heart abundant, exalted, measureless in loving-kindness, 
without hostility or ill-will, extending over the all- 
encompassing world.  While this heart-deliverance of 
loving-kindness is maintained in being in this way, no action 
restricted by limited measurement is found there, none persists 
there.  Just as a vigorous trumpeter could easily make himself 
heard in the four directions, so too when the heart-deliverance 
of loving-kindness is maintained in being in this way no action 
restricted by limited measurement is found there, none persists 
there.  This is a path to the retinue of the High Divinity."



          As practiced with Insight in the Four Truths
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

14.  From the Anguttara Nikaya, 4:125
     (spoken by the Buddha)

     Here, bhikkhus, a certain person abides with his heart 
imbued with loving-kindness extending over one quarter, likewise 
the second quarter, likewise the third quarter, likewise the 
fourth quarter, and so above, below, around, and everywhere, and 
to all as to himself; he abides with his heart abundant, exalted, 
measureless in loving-kindness, without hostility or ill-will, extending 
over the all-encompassing world.

     He finds gratification in that, finds it desirable and looks 
to it for his well-being; steady and resolute thereon, he  abides 
much in it, and if he dies without losing it, he reappears  among 
the gods of a High Divinity's retinue.

     Now  the gods of a High Divinity's retinue have a  life-span 
of one aeon.  An ordinary person (who has not attained the Noble 
Eightfold Path) stays there for his life-span; but after he has 
used up the whole life-span enjoyed by those gods, he leaves it 
all, and (according to what his past deeds may have been) he may 
go down even to hell, or to an animal womb, or to the ghost 
realm.  But one who has given ear to the Perfect One stays there 
(in that heaven) for his life-span, and after that he has used up 
the whole life span enjoyed by those gods, he eventually attains 
complete extinction of lust, hate and delusion in that same kind 
of heavenly existence.

     It is this that distinguishes, that differentiates, the wise 
hearer who is ennobled (by attainment of the Noble Path) from the 
unwise ordinary man, when, that is to say, there is a destination 
for reappearance (after death, but an Arahant has made an end of 
birth).




15.  From the Anguttara Nikaya, 4:126
     (spoken by the Buddha)

     Here, bhikkhus, a certain person abides with his heart 
imbued with loving-kindness extending ... over the all-
encompassing world.

     Now whatever therein (during that state of contemplation) 
exists classifiable as form, classifiable as a feeling (of 
pleasure, pain, or neutrality), classifiable as perception, 
classifiable as determinative acts, or classifiable as 
consciousness, such ideas he sees as impermanent, as liable to 
suffering, as a disease, as a cancer, as a barb, as a calamity, 
as an affliction, as alien, as being worn away, as void, as not-
self.  On the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears 
(as a Non-Returner) in the retinue of the Gods of the Pure Abodes 
(where there are only those who have reached the Noble Path and 
where extinction of greed, hate and delusion is reached in less 
than seven lives without return to this world).  And this kind of 
reappearance is not shared by ordinary men (who have not reached 
the Noble Eightfold Path).




                           The Arahant
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~

16.  From the Anguttara Nikaya, 3:66
     (spoken by the Arahant Nandaka)

     Thus I heard.  On one occasion the venerable Nandaka was 
living at Savatthi in the Eastern Monestary, Migara's Mother's 
Palace.  Then Migara's grandson, Salha, and Pekhuniya's grandson, 
Rohana, went to the venerable Nandaka, and after salutation they 
sat down at one side.  When they had done so the venerable 
Nandaka said to Migara's grandson Salha:

     "Come, Salha, do not be satisfied with hearsay or with 
tradition or with legendary lore or with what has come down in 
scriptures or with conjecture or with logical inference or with 
weighing evidence or with a liking for a view after pondering it 
or with someone else's ability or with the thought 'The monk is 
our teacher.'  When you know in yourself 'These things are 
unprofitable, liable to censure, condemned by the wise, being 
adopted and put into effect, they lead to harm and suffering,' 
then you should abandon them.  What do you think?  Is there 
greed?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "Covetousness is the meaning of 
that, I say.  Through greed a covetous man kills breathing 
things, takes what is not given, commits adultery, and utters 
falsehood, and he gets another to do likewise.  Will that be long 
for his harm and suffering?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "What do 
you think, is there hate?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "Ill-will is 
the meaning of that, I say.  Through hate a malevolent man kills 
breathing things ... Will that be long for his harm and suffering?" 
-- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "What do you think? Is there delusion?" 
-- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "Ignorance is the meaning of that, I 
say.  Through ignorance a deluded man kills breathing things... 
Will that be long for his harm and suffering?" -- "Yes, venerable 
sir."

   "What do you think?  Are these things profitable or 
unprofitable?" -- "Unprofitable, venerable sir." -- "Reprehensible 
or blameless?" -- "Reprehensible, venerable sir." -- "Condemned or 
commended by the wise?" -- "Condemned by the wise, venerable sir." 
-- "Being adopted and put into effect, do they lead to harm and 
suffering, or do they not, or how does it appear to you in this 
case?" -- "Being adopted and put into effect, venerable sir, they 
lead to harm and suffering.  So it appears in this case." -- "Now 
that was the reason why I told you 'Come Salha, do not be satisfied 
with hearsay ... When you know in yourself "These things are unprofitable," 
then you should abandon them.'

     "Come Salha, do not be satisfied with hearsay ... or with 
the thought, 'The monk is our teacher.'  When you know in 
yourself: 'These things are profitable, blameless, commended by 
the wise, being adopted and put into effect they lead to welfare 
and happiness,' then you should practice them and abide in them.  
What do you think?  Is there non-greed?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." 
-- "Uncovetousness is the meaning of that, I say.  Through non-
greed an uncovetous man does not kill breathing things or take 
what is not given or commits adultery or utter falsehood, and he 
gets another to do likewise.  Will that be long for his welfare 
and happiness?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "What do you think?  Is 
there non-hate?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "Non ill-will is the 
meaning of that, I say.  Through non ill-will an unmalevolent man 
does not kill breathing things... Will that be long for his 
welfare and happiness?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "What do you 
think?  Is there non-delusion?" -- "Yes, venerable sir." -- "True 
knowledge is the meaning of that, I say.  Through non-delusion a 
man with true knowledge does not kill breathing things ... Will 
that be long for his welfare and happiness?" -- "Yes, venerable 
sir."

     "What do you think?  Are these things profitable or 
unprofitable?" -- "Profitable, venerable sir." -- "Reprehensible or 
blameless?" -- "Blameless, venerable sir." -- "Condemned or 
commended by the wise?" -- "Commended by the wise, venerable sir." 
-- "Being adopted and put into effect, do they lead to welfare and 
happiness, or do they not, or how does it appear to you in this 
case?" -- "Being adopted and put into effect, venerable sir, they 
lead to welfare and happiness.  So it appears to us in this 
case." -- "Now that was the reason why I told you 'Come Salha, do 
not be satisfied with hearsay ... when you know in yourself 
"These things are profitable ..." then you should practice them 
and abide in them.'

     "Now a disciple who is ennobled (by reaching the Noble Path), 
who has rid himself in this way of covetousness and ill-will and 
is undeluded, abides with his heart imbued with loving-kindness
extending over one quarter, likewise the second quarter, likewise 
the third quarter, likewise the fourth quarter, and so above, 
below, around, and everywhere, and to all as to himself; he 
abides with his heart abundant, exalted, measureless in 
loving-kindness without hostility or ill-will extending over the 
all-encompassing world.  He abides with his heart imbued with 
compassion ... gladness ... equanimity extending over the all-
encompassing world.  Now he understands this state of 
contemplation in this way: 'There is this (state of Divine 
Abiding in me who have entered the Stream).  There is what has 
been abandoned (which is the amount of greed, hate and delusion 
exhausted by the Stream-entry Path).  There is a superior goal 
(which is Arahantship).  And there is an ultimate escape from 
this whole field of perception.'

     "When he knows and sees in this way, his heart is liberated 
from the taint of sensual desire, from the taint of being, and from 
the taint of ignorance.  When liberated (by reaching the Arahant Path), 
there comes thereafter the knowledge that it is liberated.  He knows that 
birth is ended, that the Divine Life has been lived out, that what had to 
be done is done, and that there is no more of this to come.  He 
understands thus: 'Formerly there was greed which was bad, and now there 
is none, which is good.  Formerly there was hate, which was bad, and now 
there is none, which is good.  Formerly there was delusion, which was bad, 
and now there is none, which is good.'  So here and now in this very life 
he is parched no more (by the fever of craving's thirst, his fires of greed, 
hate and delusion are) extinguished and cooled out; experiencing bliss, he 
abides (for the remainder of his last life-span) divinely pure in himself."
