… 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 …
… 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 …
… 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 …
… 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 …
Readings
1. Mettā Defined
§1.1 “Monks, these four things are born. Which four? Love [pema] is born of love. Aversion is born of love. Love is born of aversion. Aversion is born of aversion.
“And how is love born of love? There is the case where an individual is pleasing, appealing, & charming to (another) individual. Others treat that individual as pleasing, appealing, & charming …
… 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 …
… Learn this habit in all of your activities because it’s going to be
the habit that makes all the difference in your meditation—so that we
won’t hear horror stories about the monks from Wat Metta who don’t
observe things and don’t figure things out.
This habit of being observant, of noticing things, is one of the most
important gifts …
… If it doesn’t, you can go to metta, goodwill, both for yourself and
for people around you. This is ordinarily regarded as an antidote to
anger, but it’s an antidote to other things as well, like carelessness
and apathy. Remind yourself that you really do want to find true
happiness. Do you have any trouble wishing yourself true happiness?
You might want …
… It’s like that common misinterpretation in the English translation of
the Karaniya Metta Sutta about the mother looking after her child.
Some people translate it to mean that just as she would cherish and
love her only child, you should cherish and love all other beings. But
that’s impossible. There are a lot of beings out there who are very
unlovable. What …
… One time I was at a Buddhist study center where they were giving a
course on the Karaniya Metta Sutta. I’d given a course the weekend
before and was staying on to meditate and
read in the library. I learned that at this particular course, they
were going through the sutta line by line, first in Pali, and then
through different translations of …
… Of course the more stringent side of metta is that if you really do wish yourself happiness, what are you doing? Why are you living this way? Why do you do these things? Why do you say these things? Why do you think these things? If you were really serious about your happiness, you’d change the way you live. In this way, thoughts …
… The word good will—mettā—comes from mitta, or friend. As a quality, it means love, benevolence, familiarity, intimacy. When we imbue our mind with good will, we escape from animosity and hostility. In other words, we should remind ourselves that we’re going to stay with our friend at all times. We won’t go wandering off. We won’t leave our friend …
… In the
Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta, the Buddha talks about
all that goes into living a life that makes it possible for your
goodwill to be honest and sincere.
It requires being restrained. In fact, the Buddha calls goodwill a
type of restraint. You don’t usually think of it that way. As an
unlimited attitude, how is it restrained? It’s restrained in that …
… Nīla kasiṇa: staring at blue (or green).
9. Ākāsa kasiṇa: staring at the space in a hole or an opening.
10. Āloka kasiṇa: staring at bright light.
Four sublime abidings:
1. Mettā: goodwill, benevolence, friendliness, love in the true sense.
2. Karuṇa: compassion, sympathy, pity, aspiring to find a way to be truly helpful.
3. Muditā: appreciation for the goodness of other people and …
… Ajaan Suwat was once sitting in the sala at Wat Metta*. *He pointed to
Mount Palomar, which is across the large valley there, and asked some
of the lay people, “Is that mountain heavy?” Now, you know when an
ajaan asks a question like that, it’s a trick question. Nobody dared
to answer. So he provided the answer himself. He said, “If you …
… This is termed mettā-pāramī – the perfection of goodwill.
So when goodness arises within us, we can work for the welfare of others even when we sit with our eyes closed, perfectly still. But it’s the nature of ignorant people to believe that such a person is simply saving his own skin. They haven’t looked deep inside.
The teachers of the past …
… Is your way of
life really in line with that intention?
That chant we had just now, the Karaniya Metta Sutta: Go back and look
at the first several passages. It doesn’t start out immediately with
just saying goodwill for everybody. It talks about how you live: You
want to be someone who takes criticism easily, someone who’s not so
busy with …
… Develop that as a habit so that when something scary comes along, your first thought is mettā. The fact that this happens more frequently the more you meditate is normal because there’s less going on in your daily experience, which means that things inside the mind have more opportunity to come bubbling up to the surface. In any event, if you know that …
Readings | The Sublime Attitudes: A Study Guide on the Brahmavihāras
Readings 1. Mettā Defined §1.1 “Monks, these four things are born. Which four? Love [pema] is born of love. Aversion is born of love. Love is born of aversion. Aversion is born of aversion. “And how is love born of love? There is the case where an individual is pleasing, appealing, & charming to (another) individual. Others treat that individual as pleasing, appealing, & charming …
