Goodwill for All

There’s a chant that we repeat twice a day, wishing goodwill to all beings, starting with ourselves. The image the Buddha gives in the Canon is of a man blowing a conch trumpet, and the sound goes everywhere. It doesn’t choose which direction it’s going to go. It goes all around. That’s the kind of attitude we want to develop. Because it* has* to be developed.

The human heart finds it is just as easy to feel ill will as it does to feel goodwill, depending on circumstances. But the problem is that if you have ill will for someone, it’s very easy to do unskillful things around that person, and then the karma becomes yours.

So for your own protection, you want to have goodwill for everybody. You have to ask yourself: What does goodwill mean? It’s a wish for happiness, a happiness that lasts. You have to think about: Where is it going to come from? It comes from skillful actions. Which means that if someone is acting in an unskillful or cruel way, you’re hoping that they will see the error of their ways and be willing to change—become more skillful. And that’s a thought you can have for anybody without hypocrisy.

Part of you may say, “Well, I’d like to see that person punished first.” But punishment rarely solves the problem. A lot of people who are being punished for crimes will very rarely admit that they actually did the crime. It’s better if people wake up and see that they are causing harm and that that harm is going to come back at them—and they’re willing to stop. So if you have that attitude, that they can do that—it is possible for people to change their ways—that’s going to change the way you act toward them. And that’s a good attitude to have.

This practice of universal goodwill is called a brahmavihāra*. Vihāra means a resting place or a place where people live. Brahma *refers to a high level of deva, those who can extend goodwill in all directions with a minimum amount of effort. So you’re lifting your mind to a higher level when you develop these attitudes.

And it is for your own protection. If you have goodwill for people who are harming you, you’re not likely to harm them. That way, whatever bad karma you have stops right there. As the Buddha said, even if bandits were cutting you into little pieces with a two-handled saw, you should have goodwill for them. If you happen to die at that time with ill will in your mind, it’s going to take you to a bad place. So you have to protect your goodwill as a mother would protect her only child.

That’s another image that comes from the Buddha. Sometimes it’s translated as you should love everybody as a mother would love her only child, but that’s impossible. What you want to do is protect your goodwill.

Think back on the days of the Buddha. There was no Social Security, there was no safety net for old people. Your safety net was your children. If you had only one child, you would protect that child with your life. In the same way the Buddha says to protect your goodwill with your life. As long as you can maintain goodwill, you’re safe.

So it’s an attitude you can develop as you understand what goodwill is, what it means. You’re not saying, “May you be happy doing whatever you are doing.” It’s “May you do the things that will lead to genuine happiness. Be generous. Be virtuous. Extend thoughts of goodwill.” When you extend that thought to someone else, that’s genuine goodwill. You’re respecting the fact that they’re an agent just like you’re an agent. And you want them to use their power of agency well.

Of course, you want to use your power of agency well, too. That’s what this practice is all about.