NEWSLETTER

KARANIYA METTA SUTTA

I wrote two pieces in preparation for the December newsletter. One was a holiday toolkit of practices to use during difficult times the other was a piece on remembering to see the beauty in decay as well as freshness. Neither piece felt finished. I wanted to give you something relevant to the holidays, something useful, but the slippery eel continued to evade me. This holiday season I’ve decided to give you one of my favorite suttas. It is the karaniya metta sutta, the sutta on loving kindness. It has been my guide and teacher for 29 years now. I offer this gift to you in the hope that it will bring as much joy and insight to you as it has brought to me.

KARANIYA METTA SUTTA

What should be done by one skillful in good

So as to gain the State of Peace is this:

Let him be able, and upright and straight,

Easy to speak to, gentle, and not proud,

Contented too, supported easily,

With few tasks, and living very lightly;

His faculties serene, prudent, and modest,

Unswayed by the emotions of the clans;

And let him never do the slightest thing

That other wise men might hold blamable.

(And let him think:) "In safety and in bliss

May creatures all be of a blissful heart.

Whatever breathing beings there may be.

No matter whether they are frail or firm,

With none excepted, be they long or big

Or middle-sized, or be they short or small

Or thick, as well as those seen or unseen,

Or whether they are dwelling far or near,

Existing or yet seeking to exist.

May creatures all be of a blissful heart.

Let no one work another one's undoing

Or even slight him at all anywhere:

And never let them wish each other ill

Through provocation or resentful thought."

And just as might a mother with her life

Protect the son that was her only child,

So let him then for every living thing

Maintain unbounded consciousness in being;

And let him too with love for all the world

Maintain unbounded consciousness in being

Above, below, and all round in between,

Untroubled, with no enemy or foe.

And while he stands or walks or while he sits

Or while he lies down, free from drowsiness,

Let him resolve upon this mindfulness:

This is Divine Abiding here, they say.

But when he has no trafficking with views,

Is virtuous, and has perfected seeing,

And purges greed for sensual desires,

He surely comes no more to any womb.

Jacqueline

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