Buddhist Hour
Script No. 456
Broadcast live on 3MDR 97.1FM
9 PM to 10 PM
On Friday 1 December 2006 CE 2550 Buddhist Era

This script is entitled:

"Lifetimes of Learning "
Class 21 - Exploring the Perfection of Loving Kindness

Tonight we will introduce the ninth Perfection, which is the Perfection of loving-kindness or metta in the Pali language.

Buddhism states that at the root of all our suffering are three mental states called greed, hatred and ignorance. The way these three negative ingredients in our minds manifest to us is through our experience of our own "self" grasping nature.

Our core values and trusts revolve around "I", "mine", "my", "me" as the basis of our quest for happiness and fulfilment. We are seeking to satisfy our "I" cravings and demands first and foremost (greed), and seeking to avoid the things that we have aversion to (hate), as the principle methods of attaining happiness for ourselves. It is our habit from our many past existences.

The Buddha found out that as long as we follow the root values of greed, hate and ignorance we will never attain any lasting peace or happiness. These are the ingredients of our suffering, not our happiness.

In order to see what are the true causes of wellbeing and happiness we need to throw off our habits and culture of following these three poisons. It takes wisdom to recognise the truth about how our minds, our consciousness and our feelings really produce suffering or happiness. Buddhism shows us that wisdom can only arise in a mind that is free from the gross defilements, and is therefore pure, clean and peaceful.

Buddhist practice is to identify our minds natural antidotes to the three root negative mental states and train ourselves by practicing these antidotes until they become our new habitual way of living. This is what the various components of the Buddhist Eightfold Path enable us to do.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes:

"Until now, regardless of reality, we have nurtured within ourselves a whole complex of self-cherishing thoughts. We believe in something that we hold very dear and we regard as precious, something that is like the core of our being; and this is accompanied by a powerful belief in our existence as an individual being with an independent reality. The belief that there is a substantially real self, and the cherishing of one's own interest at the expense of others, are the two main thoughts and emotions we have nurtured within us throughout our many lives. But what is the result of this? What benefit does it bring?" 1.

His Holiness continues:

"We are continually suffering, we are continually experiencing negative thoughts and emotions, so our self cherishing hasn't really got us very far." 1.

And:

"In fact, these beliefs are the source of suffering and misery, even for the individual." 1.

Furthermore:

"Now in contrast, if you shift your focus from yourself to others, extend your concern to others, and cultivate the thought of caring for the wellbeing of others, then this will have the immediate effect of opening up your life and helping you to reach out. In other words, the practice of cultivating altruism has a beneficial effect not only from the religious point of view but also from the mundane point of view, not only for long-term spiritual development but even in terms of immediate rewards." 1.

In brief we can say practicing generosity, loving kindness and morality helps us weaken and then abandon our habitual greed and selfishness. The practice of loving-kindness and morality helps us to weaken and abandon our habitual self-centredness. Mindfulness and concentration help us to abandon our ignorance.

Loving-kindness helps us recognise that other beings' needs and hopes are equal to our own. Each beings’ needs have the same status as our own. It is unbalanced to be ego-centric, recognising and serving only our own needs, the needs of one person.

If we always put our needs first then we automatically operate in a loop of greed and hate. Our habitual way to get relief from selfish desire is to chase after and hold onto what we want, our habitual way to get relief from hate is to try and control our environment and the others in it to stop them doing what we don't want.

Practicing loving-kindness or metta is to do with how we relate to the other beings in our world through our thoughts, actions and speech.

We can see that as we look around the world there is a vast array of behaviours that human beings use to relate to the other beings that they interact with in their life. Not only is there an incredible range of behaviour evident, we can also see that human beings often relate completely differently to various other beings depending on the nature of their relationship.

If the other beings are family, for example, the behaviour is often loving and caring. If the other beings are animal or insects, for example, the behaviour may even include depriving those other beings of their life.

Buddhist culture says that our mind should make no such distinctions in our behaviour towards others such as this. Each being has his or her own life and existence. Every being is subject to pain and suffering, yet seeks happiness. In that sense we are all alike. We are all, no matter what our living circumstances are, following our nature to survive and behaving to fulfil our needs.

Buddhist practice is to refrain from thoughts and actions which are harmful towards others through such practices as keeping the five precepts for example, and to industriously promote actions and behaviour which is for the welfare and benefit of others.

Hate and greed are not the basis of how to relate to others in our world if we want to become happy or wish to develop wisdom. When we experience hate or greed towards others we need to immediately apply the antidote of friendliness, or loving-kindness or patience with vigour to stop the unwholesome mind in its tracks.

Hate and greed bind us to the lower states of consciousness. If we want to develop the superior jhana concentration states and have the extraordinary benefits of strong mindfulness then we have to dispense with the gross and mild forms and manifestations of hate and greed first.

Achariya Buddharakkhita writes:

"The Pali word metta is a multi significant term meaning loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness and non-violence. The Pali commentators define metta as the strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others. Essentially metta is an altruistic attitude of love and friendliness as distinguished from mere amiability based on self-interest. Through metta one refuses to be offensive and renounces bitterness, resentment and animosity of every kind, developing instead a mind of friendliness, accommodativeness and benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others. True metta is devoid of self-interest. It evokes within a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. Metta is indeed a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love." 2.

Also that

"Metta is the protective and immensely patient attitude of a mother who forbears all difficulties for the sake of her child and ever protects it despite its misbehavior. Metta is also the attitude of a friend who wants to give one the best to further one's wellbeing. If these qualities of metta are sufficiently cultivated through metta-bhavana — the meditation on universal love — the result is the acquisition of a tremendous inner power that preserves, protects and heals both oneself and others." 2.

Just to spell out the nature of anger and hate so we have no doubt about it please consider the following quote from Master Hsing Yun. When our weakness or error is defined with such clarity we can use it as a lever to pry ourselves away from it forever.

The Abhidharmakosha and Vijnaptimatratasiddhi Shastra both say that anger is a condition in which the mind roils with trouble and cannot find peace because it has turned its back on wisdom and its claws against others. Anger comes in many forms: resentment, hatred, jealousy, cruelty, abuse, taking delight in the misfortunes of others. Anger has many names, but essentially it is always caused by a deluded belief that the illusory self has lost control over something that is important to it. This loss of control produces an ignorant rage during which we attempt to restore whatever equilibrium we thought should have been there. If this rage happens in the moment, we call it anger or fury. If it burns more slowly over a longer period of time, we call it hatred or jealousy or resentment. The cause is always the same; the illusion has been threatened and rather than learn it elects to harm". 3.

Contemplate that all beings suffer. Why would you want to increase the suffering of another? Why do you want another being's life to become harder and their struggle worse because of your anger?

In Heart of a Buddha it is written:

"Our problems are not solved
by physical force,
by hatred,
by war."

"Our problems are solved
By loving-kindness,
By gentleness,
by joy." 4.

As we clearly understand the basis of our need to cultivate loving-kindness the next thing we need to know is how do we do it?

The Buddha taught his monks the Metta Sutta, that is a teaching that focuses on three distinct aspects of practicing and developing metta.

The first aspect is instruction on practicing loving kindness in:

"one's day to day conduct. The second part as a technique of meditation or culture of mind leading to samadhi - higher consciousness …. And the third part underlines a total commitment to the philosophy of universal love ….- loving kindness through all body, verbal and mental activities." 2.

Buddhist teachings include instructions to develop our loving kindness through meditation practice called metta meditation. Once developed, our meditation on the practice of metta is then extended into our everyday lives to transform our behaviour towards others, whether they be our loved ones, beings we only have a little contact with, and finally even towards people we have had disagreements with in the past. We wish them all to be well and happy.

Tonight we will read the Metta Sutta for you. If you regularly chant this sutta in the Pali language, particularly before or after your metta meditation, you will create many wholesome causes to promote your loving kindness and destroy the kammic seeds of hate. The Venerable U Nandiya says:

"The Buddha does not ask us to learn any of his teachings for recitation only. So the recitation of the "Metta Sutta" is good, but the Buddha did not mean it to be merely recited. He exhorted us to follow and practice the instructions in it so that we might realize Metta as the best state of heart in the world."

Therefore do not be satisfied with the mere recitation of the "Metta Sutta" but strive to know its meaning with a view to practicing it and to make it suffuse your being. That is the most essential fact. Meditation does not mean merely to think about it, but to practice it in your daily life." 5.

There are ten benefits of loving-kindness as taught by The Buddha and listed in the Visuddhi Magga or The Path of Purification by Acharya Buddhaghosa. These ten are:

1. Sound and undisturbed sleep
2. Waking up happy and comfortable after sleep
3. Not having undesirable dreams
4. Liked by others
5. Liked by non-human beings such as devas
6. Obtain protection and help from devas or heavenly beings
7. Obtain protection against certain forms of harm
8. Concentrate on anything one wishes with ease.
9. Acquire a beautiful and serene appearance
10. Be able to die in an unconfused state.

An eleventh benefit is that having cultivated metta helps you to be reborn in a good state in your next birth.

When our metta is well developed we will not be impatient with others around us, we will seldom become irritated or annoyed when dealing with normal everyday imperfections and interruptions of life, we will be able to discuss things with others calmly, in ways which are effective in maintaining harmony and co-operation and we will have secured the basis of our own mental peace and ease in the world.

Finally, why is metta listed as the ninth of Ten Perfections? Achariya Buddharakkhita has writen:

"Metta has been identified as that specific factor which ‘ripens’ the accumulated merit acquired by the ten ways for the acquisition of merit, such as generosity, virtue, etc. Again, it is metta, which brings to maturity the ten exalted spiritual qualities known as ‘perfections’." 2.

1. His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the XIVth Dalai Lama. 2000. The Dalai Lama's Book of Transformation. Published by Thorson's Publishing, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 77-85 Fullham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB.

2. Acharya Buddharakkhita. Metta The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love. The Wheel Publication No. 365/366 (Kandy: 1989). Transcribed from the print edition in 1995 by Jane Yudelman under the auspices of the DharmaNet Dharma Book Transcription Project, with the kind permission of the Buddhist Publication Society.

3. Venerable Master Hsing Yun. 1996. Being Good, Buddhist Ethics for Everyday Life. Published by Weatherhill Inc, 568 Broadway, Suite 705, New York, NY 10012.

4. Amitabha Publications. 2005. Heart of a Buddha. Published by Amitabha Publications, Taiwan.

5. U Nandiya, The Buddhists' Three Jewels, Metta Sutta - Discourse on Loving Kindness, http://www.buddhism.ndirect.co.uk/, accessed 28 November 2006.

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