Buddhist Spectrum

Discourse on loving-kindness in Buddhism - Karaniya Metta Sutta

Dr. Vidhura MAHENDRA

It is not an intricate task to cultivate a fine mental-balance of between material awareness and a responsibility for the society alike

A good society often bears great results and vice versa in a village or country. Children are often taught to behave well both at home and in community during their schooling with the likes of religious edification.

Imagine the number of times that an old vulnerable slipped the road due to a roadside banana skin, the times someone gets pricked by an old rusty nail protruding from a wood plank and a person falling into an uncovered manhole while ambling in the night. Not rare! Humans have the tendency to forget what they have learnt or read as time goes by. However, it is not an intricate task to cultivate a fine mental-balance of between material awareness and a responsibility for the society alike.

Buddha had constantly shown gratitude towards the environment; e.g. animals, trees, birds and other living beings via countless acts.

Buddhist philosophy expresses the interrelationship of the globe and its living beings.

Nothing can be evolved spontaneously and everything relies on one another’s dependence.

The humans and the animals exist due to the process of photosynthesis (the food production in plants subsequent to energy transfer from the Sun) that depends on the Sunlight.

Therefore we can consume plants, grains and fruits but killing is not acceptable as that leads to fear (Bhaya) among the animals. No living creature challenges the killing as all treasure the life. Buddhism teaches the significance of Karuna (compassion) and Metta (kindness or loving-kindness) which lead to the notion of loving yourself without material attachment that leads to the reflection upon the society for the betterment.

Implying compassion or kindness to your friend and foe alike may sound a bitter pill to swallow by any stretch of imagination, but practising such phenomena leads to lesser magnitude of facing dire straits consequentially as the Buddha himself proven umpteen times.

‘Karaniya Metta’ Sutta which is often referred simply as the ‘Metta’ Sutta is the Buddhist discourse found in the ‘Sutta Nipata’ and ‘Khuddakapatha’. Ten verses in length, the Metta Sutta extols both the virtuous qualities and the meditative development of metta (Pali), traditionally translated as ‘loving-kindness’ or ‘friendliness’.

The event that led to the recital of ‘Karaniya Metta’ Sutta follows as when the Buddha was staying at the town of Savatthi, a group of monks, having received subjects of meditation from the master proceeded to a forest to spend the rainy season (vassana).

The tree deities or the holy beings inhabiting the forest were worried by their arrival, as they had to descend from tree abodes and dwell on the ground.

However, they hoped the monks would leave soon; but finding that the monks would stay the rainy season of three months, pestered them in different ways, during the night with the intention of scaring them away.

Living under such conditions being impossible, the monks went to Buddha and informed him of their intricacies, he then instructed them the Karaniya Metta sutta and advised their return equipped with the sutta for their protection.

The monks went back to the forest, and practised the instruction and infused the whole atmosphere with their radiant thoughts of ‘metta’ or loving-kindness.

The holy beings too affected by this power of love, hereafter allowed them to meditate in peace. The discourse gets divided into two parts. The first detailing the standard of ‘moral conduct,’ required by one who wishes to attain Purity and Peace, and the second the method of practice of ‘metta’.

The simple English translation of the ‘Karaniya Metta Sutta’ from the Chanting Book: Morning and Evening Puja and Reflections from Hemel Hempstead: Amaravati Publications, 1994 goes as follows:

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness.
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways
Peaceful and calm and wise and skilful
Not proud or demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings.
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
It is not born again into this world.

In fact, Amaravati is a Buddhist monastery, serenely situated in the countryside of Hertfordshire, UK, where Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike arrive from all over the world to attend various programmes on Buddhism and its teachings.

As a unique ‘Dhamma offering’ or ‘Dhamma dana’, they have various Buddhist publications for the folks who come to assimilate Dhamma on free and unrestricted basis.

From the word go they follow Buddhism to its core level starting from offering a ‘pure vegetarian’ food etc.

Karaniya Metta Sutta is often recited as part of religious services in the Theravada tradition.

Cultivating metta through the recitation of the Karaniya Metta Sutta is sometimes believed to have apotropaic (having the power to prevent evil or bad luck) powers within the Theravada tradition and more commonly associated in the ‘Thun Suttas’, in which ‘Mangala Sutta’ and ‘Ratana Sutta’ have been the rest of the trio.

ABHIDHAMMA IN A NUTSHELL - XIV:

Evil thoughts

In our daily life, we come across some unhappy feelings. Particularly when one is engaged in some unwholesome act, thoughts that occur in mind are not pleasant. People do evil acts with evil thoughts. Those evil thoughts are associated with evil minds. This episode introduces the evil thoughts associated with evil minds.

In Chiththa Paramaththa 12 types of Akusala Chiththas were described. Associated with those Chiththas there are 14 types of Chethasikas. Those are known as “Immoral Mental States” or Akusala Chethasikas. 14 of them could be categorised as below:

* Moha Chathushkaya

1. Moha - Delusion
2. Ahirika - Shamelessness to commit wrong
3. Anoththappa - Fearlessness to commit wrong
4. Uddhachcha - Restlessness
* Lobha Thrikaya
5. Lobha - Attachment
6. Dhitti - Misbelief
7. Mana - Conceit
* Dhosha Chathushkaya
8. Dhosha - Hatred
9. Issa - Jealousy
10. Machchariya - Avarice
11. Kukkuchcha - Worry
12. Thina - Sloth
13. Midhdha - Torpor
14. Vichikichcha - Doubt

The first four mental states are common to every immoral consciousness. Therefore, they are known as Sabba Akusala Sadharana Chethasika. Lobha or Attachment is found in eight types of Lobha Mulika Chiththas or the Consciousness rooted in attachment. Misbelief or Dhitti is found in four types of consciousness accompanied by wrong view (Dhittigatha Samprayuktha) and Conceit or Mana in four types disassociated with wrong view (Dhittigatha Viprayuktha).

Chethasikas contained in Dhosha Thrikaya is found with two types of consciousness rooted in illwill (Dwesha Mulika Chiththas). Sloth and Torpor (Thina - Middha) is found in five prompted consciousness (Sasankarika) of Akusala Chiththas and Doubt (Vichikichcha) is found only in the consciousness associated with doubt in Moha Mulika Chiththas.

Now each of these Chethasika would be elaborated in detail.

(1) Moha - Delusion

Moha clouds one’s knowledge with regard to Kamma and its consequences and the four noble truths. It obstructs one to understand the real nature of an object. When one is performing any evil act, the consciousness arise is always associated with this Chethasika.

(2) Ahirika - Shamelessness

This is not the ordinary shamelessness. This is the shamelessness to commit wrongful acts and of their consequences. The opposite of this Chethasika is Hiri and is a moral mental state. The one who doesn’t have Hiri would commit any evil act as that one is not ashamed of doing it. This Chethasika is also common to all immoral consciousness.

(3) Anoththappa - Fearlessness

This is again not the ordinary fearlessness or braveness. It is the fearlessness to commit any evil act and of their consequences. When one is performing any evil act that person is not fear of its consequences. Therefore, this mental state is also found in any immoral consciousness.

Usually these two Chethasikas: Hiri and Oththappa are found together. Even in the ordinary meaning these two are considered to be two of the dominant factors in the civilized world as its absence make the society wild.

(4) Uddhachcha - Restlessness

Being one of five hindrances, Uddhachcha is the unsettled state of mind. When one engages in an evil act, that person’s mind runs here and there due to the nature of that unwholesome act.

This is the mental state with regard to that nature. Yet again this is together with above three Chethasikas common to all immoral consciousness.

In addition it’s worth mentioning here that there are moral mental states opposed to some of the above immoral mental states which would be described in future.

In short, Panna or the Wisdom opposes Moha, Hiri and Oththappa opposes Ahirika and Anoththappa and Sathi may be taken as the opposition of Uddhachcha.

Next episode will elaborate rest of the immoral mental states.

Reference:

A Manual of Abhidhamma

by Ven. Narada Maha Thera

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Buddhism for Children

Book: Buddhism, stages one to five

Authoress: Suranganie Dayaratne

Publisher: The ‘Buddhist’ TV Channel

Reviewed by: P. Wattegama

It is a matter for serene joy that the Television Channel ‘The Buddhist’ located at Sambodhi Vihara which is dedicated to the task of propagating Buddhism both locally and internationally, has stepped beyond the confines of its electronic medium activity and produced a series of textbooks in English on Buddhism for young learners.

The writer Suranganie Dayaratne possessing post-graduate qualifications in Buddhist Education and experience in Journalism and Guidance Counselling is fully equipped with necessary attributions to undertake the task.

The series comprises five books graded from Book One to Five corresponding to appropriate age groups meant for use in English medium Dhamma schools as Class textbooks.

Sinhala medium Dhamma Schools have been in existence in Sri Lanka since 1885 when the first such Dhamma School was set up in Galle by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. With the emergence of private English medium schools during the last two decades and the growth of their student population, the need was felt for Dhamma Schools in the English medium to impart to the children the basics of Buddhism and Buddhist values since the English medium would invariably be misfits in the traditional Dhamma Schools.

A limited number of English medium Dhamma Schools have been set up in Temples in urban areas.

The English medium Dhamma Schools conduct formal classes following their own syllabuses from Grade One to Grade Four and the syllabii prescribed by the Colombo YMBA from Grade 5 to Diploma Level. While the YMBA has provided text books for its scheme of examinations the Dhamma Schools have to depend on the text books available in the market for use in the primary classes.

A number of series of text books for primary classes have appeared in the market. This is an unchartered area and the books though commendable on their individual merits are yet in an experimental stage and have considerable scope for improvement from the perspective of new vision and methodology.

Suranganie ventures into this area in this background and would invariably have gone through a considerable mass of preliminary reflection before finally adopting the content, style and methodology of the series.

Given that Buddhism as a subject of study is profound in content, the selection of themes that would appeal to the young minds and their presentation in a language and style within their vocabulary and range of understanding is a formidable task.

Suranganie has displayed her versatility and imaginativeness in meeting this challenge with commendable success. Selection of themes for lessons for each level has been done with considerable care. They accord well with the level of understanding and range of interests of the respective age groups.

The language used is lucid and intelligible. It stands to the credit of the writer that all five books are replete with a profusion of eye-catching and children-oriented illustrations that present the lesson contents to the children’s imagination with enhanced liveliness.

The lesson contents are varied and comprehensive. The dryness of the central themes is relived by the inclusion of social themes and cultural elements which are essential for a religious education. In sum, the series meets, substantially, the requirements of religious instruction at Primary Level. It is commendable that the usefulness of Activity Exercises has been recognised.

However, they are not continued beyond Book 2. Suranganie probably has good reasons for such limitation. But one might have preferred to see this component throughout the series. All in all, Suranganie Dayaratne deserves commendation of all who are concerned with the teaching of Buddhism at Primary Level for bringing out a series of textbooks which well satisfies their needs.

The Buddhist Column: Seeing gods

Sachitra MAHENDRA

Buddhism is commonly known as an atheistic philosophy. Speaking of which, many get it wrong that the Buddhism does not accept gods’ existence. The first point is a good trend, but the second point is not.

Comparatively Buddhist stand on gods has a clear-cut difference with that of other major theistic religions. Linguistically speaking it’s a case-situation: ‘gods’ is put in lower-case whereas it is written in upper-case in other religious writing.

It is clearly shown even in idioms of English, a language closely linked with Christianity. Idioms such as ‘play God’, ‘for God’s sake’ and ‘honest to God’ always have upper-case reference.

This case-situation has a relevance to what I am going to say. Apart from ordinary pronouns, English grammar allows the usage of upper-case for the purpose of respect. The Buddhist writing never uses the word with an upper-case, which is to say the Buddhism accepts but does not glorify the gods.

When it comes to gods in Buddhist context, most of us still have a misbelief or a misinterpretation. We think it’s fictional mainly because the philosophy is famous for its practical sense. The Buddha’s encounter with the ‘daughters of the death god’ and ‘preaching to gods’ are mostly considered fictional in this background. Seeing is not always believing - at least speaking of Buddhism.

Halfway through the meditation the meditator will encounter the illusions made within the mindset. Some take it as an improvement of the mental situation, but actually it is not. You have to be so careful dealing with such situations.

The Buddha was on his way to the most supreme sainthood a man could ever achieve, the Buddhahood. The daughters of the death god are said to have been sent to lure the Buddha back into normal lay track, as an illusion. But the Buddha was under determined meditation, hence he could not be lured so easily.

If a normal human being was in the Buddha’s position, it is said, he could have vomited and undergone harsh physical conditions.

On the other hand, the normal human being could not have seen the beings, unless he was in meditation. Dhammapada starts with the stanza spelling out that the mind is the forerunner of all, and evidently mind has an utmost power simply over everything. This is quite the case with the Buddha.

In this background, I think, the Buddha had definitely preached to gods, but the human beings with normal mindsets would not have had the power to see them physically.

Bottomline: we are not in a mental position to arrive in conclusions on actual presence of gods.

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