Search results for: metta

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  2. Duties
     … There’s that first line in Karaniya Metta Sutta, Karaniyam-attha-kusalena yantam santam padam abhisamecca: This is to be done by one skilled in aims, breaking through to the state of peace. No one is forcing you to aim at the state of peace. The Buddha never set himself up as a god. But, he says, if you look at the world the … 
  3. Page search result icon Tough Goodwill for a Tough World
     … Which is why that sutta we chant every now and then, the Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta, talks about how to live in a way that’s actually in harmony with universal goodwill. You’re easy to instruct. You don’t have lots of activities going around that involve taking advantage of other people. Your senses are under control. There’s a whole list at the … 
  4. Honesty
     … Ajaan Suwat, when he was here toward the last year or two of this time at Wat Metta: Up to that point we’d been doing the chanting in Pali with Thai translations. He turned to me one day and said, “It’s about time we started doing it in English around here.” So he had me do the English translations we chanted just … 
  5. Right View as Tool
    There’s a line toward the end of the Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta that describes the ideal meditator as “not attached to fixed views, but consummate in vision.” That’s how it’s often translated. It turns out, though, that the word “fixed” is not in the original. In other words, “not attached to views but consummate in vision”: That’s what the line actually … 
  6. A Friend to the World, A Friend to Yourself
    Metta, the word for goodwill, comes from mitta, which means friend. When you spread thoughts of goodwill, you’re spreading friendly thoughts. You’re trying to be a friend to yourself, a friend to the world. And it’s good to think about what that means—because it’s not just a quality of the thoughts. As the Buddha said, there are ways of … 
  7. Goodness & Goodwill
     … The word metta, goodwill, is described by the Buddha as a form of restraint, which is an interesting idea because it’s also an unlimited attitude. So what’s the restraint on something unlimited? Well, the unlimited part is that you have goodwill for all beings without exception. The limitation of the restraint is on your actions. In other words, simply thinking thoughts of … 
  8. The Thoroughbred Horse
     … Years back, I was sitting in on a class when someone was explaining the Karaniya Metta Sutta. He came to the first line, “This is what should be done by one who aims at a state of peace.” There was a hand. Someone said, “Wait a minute. I thought Buddhism didn’t have any shoulds.” The teacher spent the whole morning trying to explain … 
  9. The Resolve to Let Go
     … It would seem to be redundant with the resolve for non-ill will, but the texts say that non-ill will correlates to metta or goodwill, and harmlessness correlates to compassion. In other words, when you see that somebody is suffering, you don’t want to go and add a little bit more on. You’d prefer to see the end of suffering. This … 
  10. Why It’s Good to Know Why
     … Remember that line toward the end of the Karaniya Metta Sutta: “to be determined on this mindfulness.” After all, goodwill is not necessarily the natural state of the mind. Goodwill is easy in some cases and not easy in others. Ill will can be just as easy in some cases and not in others. Your mind can go either way. So you have to … 
  11. Passion for Dispassion
     … You don’t have to look anywhere else, just look at the kitchen in Wat Metta. Everybody’s commenting on everybody else—and everybody’s causing themselves to suffer. So we have to look at the things that we’re clinging to, and to see that they’re not worth it. Our passion for these things is what makes us suffer. Now, the Buddha … 
  12. Hedgehog Knowledge
     … Sometimes, you find you need to work with the 32 parts of the body, or you need metta meditation, or contemplation of death for specific problems that come up in the mind. But the home base here is the breath. After all, it’s where the Buddha found awakening. The breath is something that’s always there and always immediately relevant to whatever is … 
  13. No One Size Fits All
     … Ajaan Mun, they say, would do some metta meditation every morning right after he woke up, every afternoon right after he woke up from his afternoon nap, and then every evening before he went to bed. You can do this by reciting different phrases of goodwill or just stopping to think: What does it mean to have goodwill? What kind of happiness are you … 
  14. The Brahmaviharas on the Path
     … In the Metta Sutta in the Sutta Nipata , where the Buddha talks about how to express a thought of goodwill, he doesn’t simply say, “May all beings be happy.” That’s part of what he has to say, but not all. He goes through all the various categories of beings: long, middling and short; seen, unseen; big and small. But he also says … 
  15. The Stages of Meditation
     … This is why we chant the passages for metta , or goodwill, before we meditate together: to remind ourselves that we really do wish for happiness, true happiness. Everyone wishes for happiness, but when you look at the way people go about looking for happiness in their lives, you wonder exactly how much serious thought they give to what they’re doing. True happiness has … 
  16. Can All Beings Be Happy?
     … This is why part of the Karaniya Metta Sutta says, “May no being despise any other being anywhere.” Not simply, “May beings be happy,” but may they not act on the causes that would lead to unhappiness. Then the question is, to what extent can you influence that? There are some people you can influence. As the Buddha said, when you become generous, it … 
  17. A Questioning Attitude
     … There’s the idea that by doing metta practice you burn away your anger or by doing mindfulness practice or looking at things in terms of the three characteristics, you burn away your old sankharas. The Buddha heaped a lot of ridicule on the idea that you could burn away your old karma, burn away your old defilements simply through mindfulness or simply through … 
  18. Anxiety
     … When he talks about the rewards of metta practice, the rewards of goodwill, a lot of them have to do with the dangers that will not come to you when your mind is spreading goodwill in all directions. And here it’s useful to engage not only in the verbal fabrication of goodwill but also the in mental fabrication, perceptions that help strengthen your … 
  19. A Noble Path
     … There’s that verse in the Karaniya Metta Sutta where the Buddha says that just as a mother would risk her life to protect her only child, you should protect your attitude of goodwill. This doesn’t mean you’re going to go out and cherish everybody the same way she would cherish her child, or to fight off every injustice that’s going … 
  20. Views & Vision
     … It’s a distinction the Buddha makes in the Metta Sutta. He describes the ideal meditator as “not taken with views, but consummate in vision.” We spend most of our time talking about, “I think this about that, I think that about this, this is my opinion on politics, this is my opinion on the Michael Jackson feeding-fest in the media and whatever … 
  21. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … We tend to be a little spoiled here at Wat Metta, but there’s no guarantee that things will always be good. And even with all the food that comes here, sometimes you want something sour and there’s nothing sour at all for the day. You want something sweet, there’s nothing sweet. I’ve had times in the past when I was … 
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