Tuesday, June 9, 2009

LoVingkiNdNess - Lessons in Metta



Karaniya Metta Sutta (Sn 1.8)
(combines both the interpersonal and radiant aspects of canonical expressions of metta)





This is what should be done


By one who is skilled in goodness,


And who knows the path of peace:...


Wishing: In gladness and in safety,


May all beings be at ease.




Whatever living beings there may be;


Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,


The great or the mighty,medium, short or small,

The seen and the unseen,


Those living near and far away,


Those born and to-be-born —


May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,


Or despise any being in any state.


Let none through anger or ill-will


Wish harm upon another.

Even as a mother protects with her life


Her child, her only child,


So with a boundless heart


Should one cherish all living beings;




Radiating kindness over the entire world


Spreading upwards to the skies,


And downwards to the depths;


Outwards and unbounded,


Freed from hatred and ill-will.



Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down


Free from drowsiness,


One should sustain this recollection.


This is said to be the sublime abiding....




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Basic radiating formula - Radiating metta in six directions:
He abides, having suffused with a mind of loving-kindnessone direction of the world,


likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth,and so above, below, around


and everywhere, and to all as to himself; he abides suffusing the entire universe with loving-kindness, with a mind grown great, lofty, boundless and free from enmity and ill will


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Basic intention and verse—Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta
Buddha explains that mental or intentional purity (manasā soceyyaṃ) is threefold: non-greed, non-ill-will and non-delusion. Regarding the manifestation of non-ill-will the discourse describes a virtuous person in the following manner:



He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. [He thinks,]


'May these beings be free from animosity,free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they look after themselves with ease!'


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