Chapter 9

(Tape 21 / Ps: 1-54)

Today we begin the chapter on the divine abidings (the brahmÈ vihÈras), chapter nine. We may expect the Commentator to give us the meanings or the definition of brahmÈ vihÈra, mettÈ and so on at the beginning of the chapter. It should be done that way, but the definitions and meanings are given towards the end. Let’s go to the explanation of the words brahmÈ vihÈra in paragraph 105.

“And here it may be asked: But why are loving-kindness, compassion, gladness, and equanimity, called divine abidings? And why are they only four? And what is their order? And why are they called measureless states in the Abhidhamma?”

“It may be replied: The divineness of the abiding (brahmavihÈratÈ) should be understood here in the sense of best and in the sense of immaculate.” We need to look at the PÈÄi words ‘brahmÈ’ and ‘vihÈra’. ‘BrahmÈ’ can mean the best or immaculate. When we say the word ‘brahmÈ’, the first meaning that usually comes to mind is a being, a higher kind of celestial being that is called brahmÈ. BrahmÈ beings are better than or higher than beings belonging to the sense-sphere or belonging to the world of human beings or lower celestial beings. So the word ‘brahmÈ’ came to mean the good or the best and also immaculate or pure.

“For these abidings are the best in being the right attitude towards beings.” These abidings or actually these practices of meditation are the best because they are the right attitude towards beings - loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

“And just as BrahmÈ Gods abide with immaculate minds, so the meditators who associate themselves with these abidings abide on an equal footing with BrahmÈ Gods.” Another explanation is ‘brahmÈ vihÈra’ means vihÈra like that of the brahmÈs. ‘VihÈra’ means living or abiding, so abiding like that of brahmÈs. It is said that the brahmÈs in their world just practice peaceful kinds of meditation. There is nothing for them to do other than going into jhÈnas, peaceful kinds of meditation. So ‘brahmÈ vihÈra’ means the abiding of the brahmÈ gods. So they are called divine abidings in the sense of best and in the sense of immaculate. We can explain it as the best way of abiding, or the best way of living, or living like that of the brahmÈs. It is translated as divine abidings or sometimes they are called sublime states.

There are four brahmÈ vihÈras or four divine abidings. They are (1) mettÈ (loving-kindness), (2) karuÓÈ (compassion), (3) muditÈ (gladness), (4) upekkhÈ (equanimity). Today we will study mettÈ. Let’s go to the explanation of mettÈ in paragraph 92. We should clearly understand what is meant by this word ‘mettÈ’ (loving-kindness).

“Now as to the meaning firstly loving-kindness, compassion, gladness and equanimity: it fattens (mejjati), thus it is loving-kindness (mettÈ).” The word ‘mettÈ’ is derived from a PÈÄi root. The PÈÄi root is ‘mid’. It has the meaning to fatten. Actually here it means to be moist or something like sticky. That is because when you have love for someone, you are sort of attached or glued to that person. “It is solvent (siniyhati) is the meaning.” It is moist or it is gluttonous. That is why it is called mettÈ. That is one explanation.

Another explanation is : “Also: it comes about with respect to a friend.” A friend is called ‘mitta’ in PÈÄi. The state of a friend or the behavior of a friend is called ‘mettÈ’. That is according to PÈÄi grammatical rules. In this second explanation the word ‘mettÈ’ comes from the word ‘mitta’, which means a friend. The behavior of a friend or behavior towards a friend is called ‘mettÈ’.

What is mettÈ? It is a kind of love, but it is not mixed with attachment or craving. It is pure, wholesome desire for the well-being of beings, for the welfare of beings.

If you have studied Abhidhamma, you will know that there are 52 mental factors or 52 cetasikas. Among the 52 mental factors mettÈ is adosa. Adosa is non-hatred or non-anger. MettÈ is the opposite of anger or the opposite of hatred. It is the wholesome desire for the well-being or welfare of all beings. Now we can go to the beginning of the chapter.

When we want to practice mettÈ meditation or loving-kindness meditation, what we must do first is to review the danger in hate and to review the advantage in patience. That is before doing something we must know the danger in the opposite of what we are going to do and also the benefits of the thing we are going to do.

First we need to review the danger in hate. When we see the danger in hate or in anger, we will want to avoid. We will want to get away from that hate or anger.

“To start with he should review the danger in hate and the advantage in patience. Why? Because hate has to be abandoned and patience attained in the development of this meditation subject and he cannot abandon unseen dangers and attain unknown advantages.” If he does not see any danger, he cannot abandon them. If he does not see the advantages, he will not attain them. First the meditator has to see the danger in hate and the advantage in patience.

Danger and hate should be seen in accordance with such Suttas as this. There are many Suttas where Buddha taught about the danger in hate and the advantage of patience. (Tape cuts away and it sounds like SayÈdaw is beginning anew.)

Today we begin the chapter on the divine abidings. The PÈÄi word for divine abidings is ‘brahmÈ vihÈra’. The definition of that word is towards the end of the chapter. The word ‘mettÈ’ or ‘loving-kindness’ is defined as that which is moist or which is gluttonous. MettÈ or loving-kindness is a wholesome desire for the well-being of all beings.

Before we practice loving-kindness meditation this book says that we must do two things. One is to review the danger in hate and the other is to review the advantage in patience. If we do not see the danger in hate, we will not be able to abandon hate. If we do not see advantages in being patient, we will not get these advantages. So danger in hate and advantage in patience should be reviewed.

This we could do by reading some Suttas. The first is the danger in hate. “Friends, when a man hates, is a prey to hate and his mind is obsesses by hate, he kills living beings” and so on. When a man is angry, he may kill a being or do something to injure another person and so on. So there is this danger in hate or this danger in anger. There are many Suttas similar to this Sutta in the Sutta PiÔaka. The reference given here is A, 1, 216. If you want to read the original Sutta, that is the English translation, I can give you the reference. ‘A’ means A~guttara NikÈya. The translation of A~guttara NikÈya is named ‘Gradual Sayings’. There are five books or five volumes in this collection. So this is in Gradual Sayings, volume 1, page 196. You may read there in more detail.

“And the advantage in patience should be understood according to such Suttas as these:

‘No higher rule, the Buddhas say, than patience,

and no NibbÈna higher than forbearance

Patience in force, in strong array:

Tis him I call a brahman’.”

Here a brahman means a h man. So Buddha said I call him a holy man who has patience as an army or as a force and who is strong in forbearance.

“No greater thing exists than patience.” These are from other Suttas. By reviewing, by reading, by remembering these Suttas we can see danger in hate and advantage in patience.

After reviewing danger in hate and advantage in patience what should we do? “Thereupon he should embark upon the development of loving-kindness for the purpose of secluding the mind from hate seen as a danger and introducing it to patience known as an advantage.”

“But when he begins, he must know that some persons are of the wrong sort at the very beginning and that loving-kindness should be developed towards certain kinds of persons and not towards certain other kinds at first.” So when we practice loving-kindness meditation, we must first understand to whom we must first practice loving-kindness meditation. In this book it is said that “loving-kindness should not be developed at first towards the following four kinds of persons: an antipathetic person (That means a person whom you hate.), a very dearly loved friend, a neutral person, and a hostile person. Also it should not be developed specifically towards the opposite sex, or towards a dead person.” It will be explained later.

Why should it not be developed toward antipathetic persons and others? That is because to put antipathetic persons in a dear one’s place is fatiguing, It is very difficult. So we should not begin with such persons and other persons also. We should not radiate thoughts of loving-kindness to them in the beginning.

It should not be developed towards persons of the opposite sex because lust can arise in the person who practices loving-kindness towards persons of the opposite sex. It is not suitable to practice loving-kindness towards persons of the opposite sex in the beginning or maybe it is better not to practice specifically, but one may practice to all men or to all women. That we should do. Or if we can really keep ourselves from getting lustful thoughts or attachment, we may be able to do that. But it is very difficult especially in the beginning to keep these thoughts from coming up in our mind. So it is best to avoid persons of the opposite sex in the beginning.

The it says that it should not be developed towards a dead person. We can send thoughts to him, but we cannot get any jhÈnas from that practice. The story of a young monk is given here. He was familiar with jhÈna through loving-kindness. That means he practiced jhÈna through loving-kindness. He could enter into jhÈna easily. But when he practiced loving-kindness towards his teacher and tried to enter into jhÈna, he could not do that. So he went to another Elder and asked him why he could not do that. He said I am familiar with the jhÈnas through loving-kindness meditation, but now I practice loving-kindness meditation to my teacher and I could not get into the jhÈna.

What did the Elder say? “Seek the sign, friend.” Just that. ‘Seek the sign’ means examine your object, the object of your meditation. “He did so. Finding that his teacher had died, he proceeded with developing loving-kindness inspired by another and attained absorption.” So he changed his object to another person who was living. We cannot send thoughts of loving-kindness to a person who is dead and at the same time we don’t know that they are dead.

What about your parents who have died and you want to send thoughts to them? is that possible? I think it is because I am doing that. I send thoughts to them. I know they are dead. So I think of them as reborn in some other state, say, a state among the devas and I send thoughts to them. In that way we can practice loving-kindness to dead persons. But if you don’t know that they are dead and you are sending thoughts to them as living persons, it won’t help.

Student: Is there a difference between sending thoughts of goodwill and attaining jhÈna?

Teacher: You attain jhÈna after you send thoughts. It will be explained here. In order to attain jhÈna you have to practice seriously and try to break the barriers. And after the barriers are broken you are said to get the access concentration. Then you continue practicing loving-kindness and you will get jhÈna.

Student: Even towards a person that is dead?

Teacher: Oh, no. You cannot attain jhÈna, but you can send thoughts to those persons.

“First of all it should be developed only towards oneself, doing it repeatedly thus.” When we practice loving-kindness, we begin with ourselves. Then there are questions and answers about practicing towards oneself as to whether it is in accordance with the teachings in other books. That is because in the Texts it does not say that first you should practice loving-kindness towards yourself and then that you practice to other beings. It is not explicitly said. It may seem to conflict with those Texts. But the author says here that it does not conflict. That is because it refers to absorption. In the PÈÄi Texts when it says “A monk pervades one direction with his heart filled with loving-kindness” and so on, that means for jhÈna for absorption.

“But this [initial development towards oneself] refers to [making oneself] an example.” Practicing towards oneself is to make ourself an example. “I am happy. Just as I want to be happy, and I dread pain, just as I want to live and not to die, so do other beings.” So may they be happy, live long and so on. In order to make ourselves an example first we practice loving-kindness towards ourselves.

Practicing loving-kindness towards ouselves will not lead to the attainment of any absorption. “For even if he developed loving-kindness for a hundred or a thousand years in this way..absorption would never arise.” But it is best to begin with ourselves and then to practice towards other beings.

In paragraph 10 “for even if he developed loving-kindness for a hundred or a thousand years in this way ‘I am happy’’.” Actually it is not ‘I am happy’ but ‘May I be happy’. When you practice loving-kindness towards yourself, you say to yourself ‘May I be happy’. You repeat it in your mind ‘May I be happy. May I be happy.’ The PÈÄi word for ‘I am happy’ and ‘May I be happy’ is the same. In PÈÄi it is ahaÑ avero homi. ‘Avero homi’ may mean either ‘I am happy’ or ‘May I be happy’. Here it means may I be happy. When you practice loving-kindness towards yourself, you do not say ‘I am happy. I am happy’, but you say ‘May I be happy’. So it is taking oneself as an example.

“I visited all quarters with my mind

Nor found I any dearer than myself,

Self is likewise to every other dear;

Who loves himself should (not ‘will’) never harm another.”

When you look at all beings, there is no one dearer than yourself. For other persons it is also the same. If you love yourself, you do not harm others. So he should pervade himself with loving-kindness.

“After that, in order to proceed easily, he can recollect such gifts, kind words, etc., as inspire love and endearment, such virtue, learning, etc., as inspire respect and reverence met with in a teacher or his equivalent or a preceptor or his equivalent, developing loving-kindness towards him in the way beginning ‘May this good man be happy and free from suffering’.” After practicing towards ourselves, we practice towards a person. Because the book is written for monks it says it should be practiced towards a teacher or towards a preceptor. Or it should be for someone who is like a teacher or who is like a preceptor.

When I teach meditation, my sequence of sentences is: “May I be well, happy and peaceful; may my teachers be well, happy and peaceful.” Only after that do I say “May my parents be well, happy and peaceful.” That is because for monks, for those who have left the home-life teachers come first before parents. Parents are left behind. Teachers are like parents to a monk. We put teachers before parents. But lay people may practice towards parents first and teachers later.

“But if this bhikkhu does not rest content with just that much and wants to break down the barriers, he should next after that, develop loving-kindness towards a very dearly loved friend.” After practicing towards a revered teacher, one should practice towards a very dearly loved friend.

“Then towards a neutral person, as a very dearly loved friend” - ‘as a dearly loved friend’ is not correct. Venerable ©ÈÓamoli misunderstood some words here. What is meant here is after the very dearly loved friend he practices towards a neutral person. Then after the neutral person he practices towards the hostile person. So first you practice towards a very dearly loved friend. When you have practiced for some time, you gain familiarity with the practice. Then you move to a neutral person. Then after practicing towards a neutral person, you move towards a hostile person if there is any.

“And while he does so, he should make his mind malleable and wieldy in each instance before passing on to the next.” That means not to do like we do every day. We say “May I be well, happy and peaceful; may my friends be well, happy and peaceful; may the indifferent persons be well, happy and peaceful; may the unfriendly persons (That means the hostile persons.) be well, happy and peaceful.” We are doing all that in one sitting. But in fact what we should do is practice towards a dearly loved person for some days. Then we should practice for some days towards a neutral person and then towards a hostile person.

Student: In paragraph 12 it says “then towards a neutral person as a very dearly loved friend” -

Teacher: No, that is not so.

Student: That should be eliminated?

Teacher: ‘As a very dearly loved friend’ - that should go. And also “then towards a hostile person as neutral” - ‘as neutral’ should go.

If you have no enemy, the you don’t have to do that. “But if he has no enemy, or he is of the type of a great man who does not perceive another as an enemy even when the other does him harm, he should not interest himself as follows: ‘Now that my consciousness of loving-kindness has become wieldy towards a neutral person, I shall apply it to a hostile one’.” This is because he has no hostile persons. He has no enemies. And he should not find one and practice this.

Wit regard to practicing towards a hostile person we come to some problems here. “If resentment arises in him when he applies his mind to a hostile person because he remembers wrongs done by that person, he should get rid of the resentment by entering repeatedly into loving-kindness [jhÈna] towards any of the first-mentioned persons and then, after he has emerged each time, directing loving-kindness towards that person.” These are the ways of getting rid of resentment. But this first way is something like strange. Don’t you find it strange? We don’t know how to practice loving-kindness meditation. We are going to practice loving-kindness meditation. He instructs us to enter into jhÈna to get rid of resentment. We don’t even practice loving-kindness yet. Here the author is saying you should go into jhÈna to get rid of resentment. I don’t know why it is put at the beginning. Maybe it should go at the end. That is the first one.

“But if it does not die out in spite of his efforts, then:

Let him reflect upon the saw

With other figures of such kind,

And strive, and strive repeatedly,

To leave resentment far behind.”

That means to reflect upon the simile of the saw and other teachings, teachings of the Suttas. “He should admonish himself this way: ‘Now, you who get angry, has not the Blessed One said this: “Bhikkhus, even if bandits brutally severed limb from limb with a two-handled saw, he who entertained hate in his heart on that account would not be one who carried out my teaching.”

I always point out this teaching. I think when Jesus said “Give the other cheek”, he was just echoing this piece of advice. He may have learned these teachings when he was in India. Some people believe that during the lost years he went to India and learned from Buddhist monks there.

Then the others:

“To repay angry men in kind

Is worse than to be angry first;

Repay angry men not in kind

And win a battle hard to win.”

I like this very much.

“The weal of both he does promote,

His own and then other’s too,

Who shall another’s anger know

And mindfully maintain his peace.’

“To repay angry men in kind is worse than to be angry first. Repay not angry men in kind and win a battle hard to win.” If somebody gets angry with you and you don’t get angry, reckon yourself as having won a battle hard to win.

Then there are some other Suttas. “Bhikkhus, there are seven things gratifying and helpful to an enemy that happen to one who is angry, whether a man or a woman.” I hope you have read all of these. There are some things which your enemy wants you to be or not to be. Why let them get their satisfaction by being angry? That is the gist of this Sutta.

“As a log from a pyre, burnt at both ends and fouled in the middle, serves neither for timber in the village nor for timber in the forest, so is such a person as this I say.” A person who gets angry is like a stick used in cremating dead bodies. It cannot be used as timber in the village or in the forest.

“If you are angry now, you will be one who does not carry out the Blessed One’s teaching; by repaying an angry man in kind you will be worse than the angry man and not win the battle hard to win; you will yourself do to yourself the things that help your enemy; and you will be a pyre log.” This is the second method of getting rid of resentment. This is reflecting upon the teachings of the Buddha with regard resentment.

Then we have the third one. “If his resentment subsides when he strives and makes effort in this way, it is good. If not then he should remove irritation by remembering some controlled and purified state in that person, which inspires confidence when remembered.” When you are angry with some person, try to see good things in him instead of seeing bad things in him. When we are angry with someone, we tend to see only the bad things in him. We don’t want to see or we refuse to see the good things in him. Here the advice is to remember “some controlled or purified state in that person.”

That means to remember the good things in him. Remembering them your resentment may disappear.

Then the advice given here is that there are people who are purified and controlled as to their bodily actions, or as to their verbal actions, or as to their mental actions. Try to find whatever is good in him. It may be his bodily actions, or his speech, or his mind. Whatever is good in him try to see it. Try to get rid of resentment.

“But there may be another in whom not even one of these three things is controlled.” What about a person who has none of these? It is said that some person may be good in his bodily behaviour, but not in his speech. Or there may be someone who is controlled in speech but not in his bodily behaviour. But what if there is a person who does not even have one of these three things? “Then compassion for that person should be aroused thus.” Here instead of practicing mettÈ you practice compassion (karuÓÈ) towards that person. “Though he is going about in the human world now nevertheless after a certain number of days he will find himself in [one of] the great hells or the sixteen prominent hells. For irritation subsides too through compassion.”

What about a person who has all three of these controlled states? “Then he can remember any of the three in that person, whichever he likes; for the development of loving-kindnesstowards such a person is easy.”

“And in order to make the meaning of this clear the following Sutta from the Book of Fives should be acted in full.” So he wants us to read the Sutta in full. That is in Gradual Sayings, third volume, page 137.

The fourth method is to admonish yourself thus:

“Suppose an enemy has hurt

You now in what is his domain,

Why try yourself as well to hurt

Your mind? - That is not his domain.”

What is ‘his domain’ ? ‘His domain’ means my body. He has hurt me bodily. “Why try yourself as well to hurt your mind?” When you get angry, your mind is also hurt. So why do you do that?

Student: So he can hurt your body, but hurting your mind is your doing.

Teacher: That’s right.

“In tears you left your family.” That is not so. “You left your family who were in tears.” You left them and they were crying when you left. It is not that you left with tears.

Student: Maybe both.

Teacher: No, no. Because you have thought about it thoroughly and decided to leave them. So you do not feel any regret or sorrow in leaving them. But your parents or your family members may not want you to go forth. So they may be crying. So ‘in tears’ is describing your family, but not you.

“You left your family who were in tears.

They had been kind and helpful too.

So why not leave your enemy,

The anger that brings harm to you?”

You left your family who were kind to you. Why don’t you leave your enemy the anger that brings harm to you?

“This anger that you entertain

Is gnawing at the very roots

Of all the virtues that you guard -

Who is there suchh a fool as you?

Another does ignoble deeds,

So you are angry - How is this?

Do you then want to copy too

The sort of acts that he commits?

Suppose another, to annoy,

Provokes you with some odious act,

Why suffer anger to spring up,

And do as he would have you do?

If you get angry, then maybe

You make him suffer, maybe not;

Though with the hurt that anger brings

You certainly are punished now.”

That means right now you inflict yourself with anger which is suffering.

“If anger-blinded enemies

Set out to tread the path of woe,

Do you by getting angry too

Intend to follow heel to toe?

If hurt is done you by a foe

Because of anger on your part,

Then put your anger down, for why

Should you be harassed groundlessly?”

That means your anger is put on a wrong object. “If hurt is done you by a foe because of anger on your part” - that really means because you are there the other peerson can hurt you. So actually you are the cause of his hurting you.

“Then put your anger down, for why should you be harassed groundlessly.” ‘Groundlessly’ here means that you are vexed on a wrong object. You should be angry with yourself or something like that because you are also the cause of this hurt that is done by another person.

“Since states last but a moment’s time

Those aggregates, by which was done

The odious act, have ceased, so now

What is it you are angry with?”

That is applying the Law of Impermanence here.

“Whom shall he hurt, who seeks to hurt

Another, in the other’s absence?

Your presence is the cause of hurt;

Why are you angry, then, with him?”

Yourself is the cause. This is admonishing oneself with these reflections or considerations.

Then the next one, the fifth one is: “He should review the fact that he himself and others are owners of their deeds (kamma).” That means review the Law of Kamma. “Will not this kamma of yours that has anger as its source lead to your own harm? For you are the owner of your deeds, heir of your deeds” and so on. When you get angry, you have unwholesome mental states (akusala). This akusala will give you painful results because beings are owners of their deeds.

“And this is not the kind of deed to bring you to full enlightenment, to undeclared enlightenment.” ‘Undeclared enlightenment’ is the translation here of Pacceka Buddha.

Student: Pacceka?

Teacher: Yes, in Sanskrit ‘pratyeka’. They are in some ways like Buddhas and in some ways like Arahants. They are a step higher than the Arahants but lower than the Buddhas. The Buddha is called ‘sammÈsambuddha’. ‘SammÈ’ means rightly. ‘Sam’ means by oneself. ‘Buddha’ means enlightenment.

Student: How do you admonish yourself? It seems like if you were angry with yourself or somebody, it creates problems. It seems like there needs to be some kind of control of what you are doing. It says he should admonish himself.

Teacher: The verses given are how you admonish yourself. That means you talk to yourself. You reflect on the meaning of the verses. I am angry with him. Since I have anger in my mind, I am hurting myself. So why should I get angry? Talking to oneself is what is meant by admonishing here.

So Pacceka Buddha - the PÈÄi word ‘pacceka’ means separate, so separate Buddhas. They become a Buddha without the help of any person. That is why they are called ‘Sambuddha’. They are self-enlightenend ones. But they are not called ‘sammÈsambuddha’ because they are not as great as the fully enlightened ones. Here it is translated as ‘undeclared enlightenment’. Maybe the word ‘undeclared’ is used because the Pacceka Buddhas do not usually live in the villages or the cities. They are ones who want to be secluded and live in the Himalayas. They seldom visit or go to the places where human beings live. That is why they are called ‘undeclared Buddhas’.

So this anger will not bring you to full enlightenment as a Buddha, or to enlightenment as a Pacceka Buddha, or to enlightenment as a disciple and so on. So you talk to yourself in this way.

Also as you reflect on yourself, you reflect on the other person. Now he is angry with me. His anger will not lead him to enlightenment as a Buddha and so on. The anger will give him painful results. In this way you may be able to get rid of resentment.

The next, the sixth one is to review the special qualities of the Master’s former conduct. You must think of the Bodhisatta.In the Buddha’s lives as a Bodhisatta he had done many noble things. By reflecting on his former conduct you may be able to get rid of resentment.

A number of JÈtakas are referred to here. The first one is the SÊlavant Birth Story. Do you have the JÈtaka book here?

Student: Yes.

Teacher: You can find these JÈtakas in that book. “When his friends rose to prevent his kingdom of 300 leagues being seized by an enemy king who had been incited by a wicked minister in whose mind his own queen had sown hate for him, he did not allow them to lift a weapon.” The other king seized him and buried him to the neck and he was left at the cemetery with the other ministers. Even though he was treated that way, he did not get angry with that king. With much effort he got out of that state and went back to his palace. Then he made peace with the other king. The king whose name was SÊlavant practiced patience or forbearance with the other king who tried to kill him. In the same way you should not have anger towards such persons.

In paragraph 28 the second story is about KhantivÈdi. The Bodhisatta was a hermit at that time. He practiced patience at that time. The king was a very cruel person at that time. The king met the hermit and asked “What are you?” The hermit answered “I am a monk.” Then the king asked “What do you practice?” He answered “I am a preacher of patience.” “The king had him flogged with scourges of thorns and had his hands and feet cut off, he felt not the slightest anger.” Although his hands and feet were cut off he did not feel any anger towards that king.

When the king left the hermit, a general came and asked him to get angry with the king. “Please hate the king. Please get angry with the king, so he will not suffer such painful consequences.” The hermit said “People like me do not hate. People like me do not get angry.” That is what he said.

The next one is about C|Äa-DhammapÈla. The Bodhisatta was a child in this story. He was killed by his own father.

The next JÈtaka is about an elephant. The Bodhisatta was reborn as an elephant at that time.

“The elephant, when struck by the stout shaft,

Addressed the hunter with no hate in mind:

‘What is your aim? What is the reason why

You kill me thus? What can your purpose be?”

Actually what the elephant said was: “Whose order was this?, Whose order is this?”, not ‘what can your purpose be?’ The elephant asked who had ordered him to be killed.

The hunter had been ordered by the queen to kill the elephant because the elephant had a tusk. It is said that the tusk had six kinds of rays, rays of six colors. That is why the elephant was called ‘Chaddanta’. ‘Cha’ means six. ‘Danta’ means tusk. It is not six tusks but six-colored tusks. Although the elephant could easily kill the hunter, he did not. He practiced patience or forbearance.

The next JÈtaka is about a great monkey. The Bodhisatta was born as a great monkey at that time. The great monkey saved a man from a rocky chasm, a rocky pit. The man could not get out of the pit by himself. So the monkey saved him. After saving him the monkey was tired. So he said to the man “Let me rest a little and put my head on your lap.” While he was resting the man thought:

“Now this is food for human kind

Like other forest animals

So why then should a hungry man

Not kill the ape to eat?

I’ll travel independently (Actually it is I’ll travel satiated.)

Taking his meat as a provision;

Thus I shall cross the waste, and that

Will furnish my viatcum.”

So he struck the great monkey with a big rock, but the monkey was not killed. His head was broken. So he climbed up a tree and said “You are a very ungrateful person. As I am a Bodhisatta, I will not hurt you. I will not kill you. I will even show you the way out of this wilderness.” The monkey jumped from tree to tree. The blood from his head dropped to the earth. Following those drops of blood the man was able to get out of the waste or wilderness.

The next JÈtaka is about a serpent king. The Bodhisatta was reborn as a serpent in this Sutta. He had power but he did not use his power to kill his tormentors. This is B|ridatta.

The next is another serpent. In another life Buddha was reborn as a serpent. It is the same thing.

In paragraph 34 the Bodhisatta was reborn as the roya nÈga, Sa~khapÈla. It is a royal nÈga again. So the Buddha was reborn as a snake for many lives.

There are some people who find it difficult to accept that a person could die here and be reborn as a snake. They find it hard to believe that a human being could die and be reborn as a snake or an an animal because they are thinking of evolution. It is not evolution. It is just that a person dies here and is reborn there as a result of his kamma. It is possible.

The other day I was reading a book about past lives. In that book the author said he regressed patients back to former lives. He was asking one patient what did you see then. So in one life the patient said “I am a dog now.” So he remembered his past life as a dog or a wolf there. It was reported in that book.

In Myanmar there was a monk who said that he had been a snake. As a snake he ate eggs. One day when he was looking for an egg, a man saw him and killed him with a spear. The snake did not die quickly. He was put on a heap of rubbish and left to die. He died and was reborn as the son of that man. When he grew up, he could remember his past life as a snake. He remembered how he had suffered before he died after he was struck by the spear. He was so apprehensive, he was so afraid of suffering that he became a monk so that he might not be reborn as a snake again.

Such things can happen. You can find people that have been animals in their past lives. Some may not want to tell you or some just don’t remember. There are people who have been reborn as animals and remember those lives.

There are so many stories. The next one is MÈtuposaka. Here it is an elephant. “Now it is in the highest degree improper and unbecoming to you to arouse thoughts of resentment, since you are emulating as your Master that Blessed One. The PÈÄi word means that you are pointing to him as your Master. You are referring to him as your Master. It is not ‘emulating’.You are claiming the Buddha is your Master. So we should review the qualities of the Master’s former conduct.

“He should review the Suttas that deal with the beginninglessness [of the round of rebirths].” Beings have lives in the past and they will have lives in the future. This series of lives is called ‘the round of rebirth’. Nobody knows or nobobody can tell when this round of rebirth begins. That is why the round of rebirth is called ‘beginningless’. There is no beginning although we know there is a middle. We are in the middle of this round of rebirths. There will be many more rebirths and there have been millions of rebirths in the past. We do not know the beginning of it or the beginning of it cannot be known.

In this beginingless round of rebirths the person with whom you are angry has been your father, your mother, your brother, your sister and so on. So Buddha said it is very difficult in this saÑsÈra to find a person who has not been your father, your mother and so on. So that person with whom you are angry might have been your father or your mother in your past life. So it is not proper to be angry with him.

The reference is given as S., 2, 189-190. That is the SaÑyutta NikÈya. The SaÑyutta NikÈya is translated as Kindred Sayings. So in the English translation it is in Kindred Sayings, volume 2, page 128. These references in the book are for the PÈÄi Texts.

The next method is to review the advantages of loving-kindness. There are eleven advantages to be gained from the practice of loving-kindness. They will be explained in detail towards the end of the chapter. So if you are angry and do not practice loving-kindness, you will not get these advantages.

The next one is the resolution into elements. You resolve that person into elements. “Now you who have gone forth into homelessness, when you are angry with him, what is it you are angry with? Is it head hairs you are angry with? Or body hairs? Or nails? Or teeth? Or skin?” and so on. So you ask yourself are you angry with head hairs and so on. That is the resolution into elements.

I always say cut him into pieces. If you are familiar with the teaching of aggregates, you may say “Am I angry with material aggregate, or consciousnesss aggregate, or formation aggregate?” and so on.

The last one is to try the giving of a gift. So when you are angry with a person, give him a gift. “It can either be given by himself to the other or accepted by himself from the other.” You may accept a gift given by him for you or you may give him a gift. You may give him a present. That is because when a person accepts a present, the mind becomes soft. So you may be able to get rid of resentment in this way.

A story is given here. “As happened to the senior elder who received a bowl given to him at the Cittapabbata Monastery by an almsfood-eater elder who had been three times made to move from his lodgingby him, and who presented it with these words ‘Venerable sir, this bowl worth eight ducats was given by my mother who is a lay devotee, and it is rightly obtained’, let the good lay devotee acquire merit’.” The other monk maybe was a resentful monk. He made the other monk give up his lodging three times.

You know when you are living in a monastery which is the property of the Sa~gha, you are given a place to live. It may be a small room. But if a monk comes who is senior to you and there are no other places to give to him, then you have to give your place to that monk. That is because he is senior to you, he is older than you.

So that monk went there and got his place three times, I think out of malice. So the other monk donated a bowl to him saying “This bowl worth eight ducats was given to me by my mother who is a lay devotee” and so on.

“A gift for taming the untamed

A gift for every kind of good.”

Giving accomplishes everything. That is what is said here. By giving you can do anything. It is something like that.

We should not apply this wrongly. Especially in our countries in Asia we say “Giving accomplishes everything. So give him a bribe.” Once a car was stopped by a policeman in this country. The grandchild was driving and her grandmother was with her. The grandmother said “Give him some pocket-money or give him a bribe.” Then the girl said “Grandmother, it is not Myanmar. We cannot do that here.”

Now we have the breaking down of barriers. “When his resentment towards that hostile person has been allayed, then he can turn his mind with loving-kindness towards that person too, just as towards one who is dear” and so on. After reflecting in different ways, then you will be able to get rid of resentment. Then you practice towards him too until the barriers are broken.

“The characteristic of it is this.” I think - can you say ‘indication of this’? That means you may judge from this when the barriers are broken and when they are not. The PÈÄi word is ‘lakkhaÓa’. ‘LakkhaÓa’ is usually translated as characteristic. Sometimes it may be translated differently. I think ‘indication’ is better here. “The indication of it is this.”

Then there is a story about four persons. The robbers come and ask to give one person for sacrifice. If you can yourself or any other person, you have not broken down the barriers. Only when you cannot give anyone are the barriers broken. If you say “Take me to be killed. Do not take them.”, then you are not impartial. You want your own destruction. That is partiality towards others. So you have not broken the barriers if you say that. The barriers are only broken when you say “Do not take any person.” You see the other three persons as yourself. You do not find anybody to be given for the sacrifice. Only then are the barriers broken. That means you see these four kinds of persons equally, imparitally. When the barriers are broken, you are said to gain the sign and access. Here there is no special gaining of access concentration, but when the barriers are broken, you are said to gain access concentration. After you have access concentration, you go on until you get jhÈna. “At this point he has attained the first jhÈna which abandons five factors” and so on.

Then we have the Texts and the Commentary. In the explanation of the words and how to practice meditation the practice of mettÈ meditation is given according to what is taught in the PaÔisambhidÈmagga. That is the 528 ways of practicing mettÈ. Please look at the handout today. This is how we practice mettÈ in 528 ways. If you look at the first column there are twelve kinds of persons to whom we send thoughts of loving-kindness. In the second column are the ten directions - the four cardinal directions, the four corners, and down and up. In the third column are the four modes of loving-kindness - May they be free from enmity. May they be free from displeasure. May they be free from affliction. May they live happily or keep themselves happily. In these four ways we practice towards persons. We can practice mettÈ following this chart in 528 ways.

If you look at column one, there should be some space between #5 and #6. The first five are called ‘non-specific pervasion’. From #6 through #12 there is specific pervasion. When we say all beings, we mean all beings. ‘All breathing things’ means all beings. ‘All creatures’ means all beings. ‘All persons’ means all beings. ‘All those who have personality’ means all beings. The first five mean all beings without specification. Then for #6 we say “may all women”, so in that case no men are specified. Then we say “may all men” and no women are specified.

When we practice loving-kindness meditation, we combine these three columns in different ways. First we say “May all beings be free from enmity, free from displeasure, free from affliction and live happily.” Then we say “May all breathing things be free from enmity, free from displeasure, free from affliction and live happily” and so on. Then we come to #12. “May all beings in states of loss be free from enmity, free from displeasure, free from affliction and live happily.”

Next we combine it with directions. In PÈÄi the word for direction comes first, but in English it comes later. So it is a little strange. So you say “May all beings in the eastern direction be free from enmity, free from displeasure, free from affliction and live happily.” May all breathing things, may allcreatures, may all persons and so on in the eastern direction be free from enmity and so on.

Following this you practice toward 48 in non-specific mode and 480 in the specific mode. So in this way there are 528 ways of practicing mettÈ. We have practiced this a number of times in this country. It takes about 45 or 50 minutes to practice all 528.

In paragraph 53 there is the explanation of the word ‘satta’. A being is called ‘satta’ because “any craving for it, has held (satta) it, has gripped (visatta) it, that is why ‘a being (satta)’ is said.” A being is called a ‘satta’ because he is attached to his life.

“But in ordinary speech this term of common usage is applied also to those who are without greed, just as the term of common usage ‘palm fan (tÈlavanta)’ is used for different sorts of fans [in general] even if made of split bamboo.” A being is called ‘satta’. Why is he called ‘satta’? Because he has attachment to things. What about calling an Arahant a ‘satta’? An Arahant is also called a being. An Arahant is a person who has eradicated all mental defilements. He has no attachment at all. Still he is called a ‘satta’. The Commentator explains “In ordinary speech this term of common usage is applied also to those who are without greed.” Although literally ‘satta’ means a person who has attachment, it is applied both to beings who have attachment and those who do not have attachment.

The author points out the PÈÄi word ‘tÈlavanta’ as an example. ‘TÈlavanta’ means a fan made of palm leaves. This word is used for other fans as well whether they are made of palm leaves or not. Now they are made of paper or split bamboo, but still they are called ‘tÈlavanta’ in PÈÄi. In the same way a person who has attachment is called ‘satta’ and a person who does not have attachment is called ‘satta’.

Can you give me some examples in English? You know what is meant here? There is a town called 29 Palms near Palm Springs. There may be more than 29 palms now or less than 29 palms, but the city is still called 29 Palms.

I looked up the word ‘pen’ in the dictionary. What is the original meaning of the word ‘pen’? It comes from French and Latin. The original meaning is feather. So at first pens were made of feathers or quills. Now pens are not made of feathers or quills but we still call them ‘pens’. So it is usage.

In paragraph 54 there is an interesting word, ‘puggala’. “ ‘Pum’ is what hell is called.” Actually it is ‘put’. In Sanskrit it is ‘put’. “They fall (galanti) into that, is the meaning.” The PÈÄi word is puggala and the Sanskrit word is pudgala.

This word is interesting because it reflects a certain belief in Hinduism. According to Hinduism you will go to hell after death if you do not have offspring, if you do not have sons and daughters. If you live without having a son or a daughter, you will go to hell. That is why brahmans always point out to monks that we are the ones who are going to hell. We have no family. We have no offspring. It is a brahman belief. That is why they have to be householders for some years. Even though they want to become monks, they have to be householders for some years and have a family. Then they can leave the family. So those who have no sons or daughters will go to hell. ‘Puggala’ means those who are going to hell, such persons. But later on ‘puggala’ came to be applied to every being.

The word for son in PÈÄi is ‘putta’ and in Sanskrit it is ‘putra’. ‘Tra’ means to protect. ‘Putra’ means a person who protects you from hell because when you have a son, you won’t go to hell. You are protected from hell. So a son is the person who protects you from going to hell. He is called ‘putra’.

Student: That is the same word as in SÈriputta?

Teacher: That’s right. Later on it just meant a son. This is a Hindu belief, but the word was used by Hindus as well as Buddhists. I think the others you can read by yourselves. For next week read until the end of the first immaterial jhÈna.

SÈdhu! SÈdhu! SÈdhu!

(Tape 22 / Ps: 55 – 124)

I thought that I had finished loving-kindness, but I think that I will go back a little. When you practice loving-kindness, first you try to see the danger in anger or in hate and also you try to see the advantages in patience. Then you practice loving-kindness first towards yourself, later towards a person who is dear, then towards a neutral person, and lastly towards an enemy. When you are able to break down the barriers - that means when you have mental impartiality towards these four kinds of persons, you are said to have broken the barriers. With the breaking of barriers comes access concentration. In other kinds of meditation we can say at this point you get the learning sign and at another point you get the counterpart sign. But here there is no separate learning sign and counterpart sign. There is no special sign. When you have broken the barriers, you are said to have obtained the counterpart sign. At that moment you also obtain the access concentration. Then you dwell on the beings and cultivate further so that you obtain jhÈna. With mettÈ one can get up to the third jhÈna with the fourfold method and the fourth jhÈna in the fivefold method.

Then we have the Texts and Commentary beginning with paragraph 44. The Text given here is a stock-phrase Text found in many Suttas and also in Abhidhamma. The references given here are from Vibha~ga which is in Abhidhamma and DÊgha NikÈya which is in Sutta PiÔaka. In Sutta PiÔaka and Abhidhamma PiÔaka you find this passage again and again whenever loving-kindness meditation is described.

Then there is the explanation of the words. In paragraph 47 about the middle “Just as to oneself; equality with oneself without making the distinction ‘This is another being’, is what is meant. Or alternatively equally (sabbattatÈya),with the whole state of mind; not reserving even a little, is what is meant.” What it really means here is not being distracted outside even a little. So with the whole state of mind you practice loving-kindness meditation, not to be distracted outside even a little.

Then in about the middle of paragraph 48 “measureless through familiarity and through having measureless beings as its object” - so it is called ‘measureless’ because it is practiced again and again. So you are very familiar with that meditation, that kind of jhÈna. Or it can mean it is measureless through having measureless beings as its object. Since its object is measureless, it is also called ‘measureless’.

Student: In paragraph 48 it says “endued with loving-kindness”. Is ‘endued’ right or do they mean ‘embued’?

Teacher: Endued with loving-kindness.

Student: Shouldn’t it be ‘embued’?

Teacher: Endued, yes. I think they mean the same thing. It means endowed with or embued with.

Then there is the description of the 528 modes of loving-kindness. That was explained last week.

In paragraph 53 there is the explanation of the word ‘being (satta)’. “They are held (satta), gripped (visatta) by desire.” The PÈÄi word is just to be attached. ‘Visatta’ means very attached to by way of desire. So they are called ‘satta’ in PÈÄi. Those who have no greed are also called ‘satta’ because it is the common term or usage for beings actually.

The example given here is tÈlavanta in PÈÄi. ‘TÈlavanta’ means palm fan, a fan made of palm leaves. Later on anything which is used to fan is called a ‘tÈlavanta’ whether it is made with palm leaves or whatever. The same name is applied to that thing.

Last time I pointed out the word ‘pen’ in English. ‘Pen’ really means a feather. Even though it may not be a feather, still it is called ‘pen’.

Do you see the word ‘akkhara-cintaka’? “However, [in the world] etymologists (akkhara-cintaka) who do not consider meaning have it that it is a mere name.” ‘Akkhara’ means letters and ‘cintaka’ means fingers, so the fingers of letters. That means grammarians or etymologists. There are two kinds of etymologists here. One kind of etymologist did not search for the meaning of the word, the literal meaning of the word. They said it is just a name given to the being. So don’t worry whether it means to be attached to or whatever. So it is a mere name for them. “While those who consider meaning” - there are other kinds of etymologists who said it has a meaning. They said that the word comes from ‘sattva’ in Sanskrit. A being is called ‘sattva’ because it has a bright principle, ‘sattva’. This refers to the teaching of the Samkhya system in Indian philosophy. Samkhya system teaches that there are three principles - the sattva, rajas and tamas. They are given in footnote 6.

I think that I talked about ‘puggala’ last time. ‘Put’ means hell and ‘gala’ means to fall, so falling to hell. Those who fall to hell are puggala. The Hindu belief is that you go to hell if you do not have any offspring.

In footnote 7 “Here when the aggregates are not fully understood, there is naming (abhidÈna) of them and of the consciousness” - I think ‘of the’ should go. “There is naming of them and consciousness of them as self (attÈ).” That means we do not understand the real nature of them as aggregates, we call or give a name to these aggregates, self (attÈ). We understand it as attÈ. So ‘consciousness’ here really means understanding. We know or understand these aggregates as attÈ. “That is to say, the physical body or alternatively the five aggregates.” The Sub-Commentary is explaining the word ‘attÈbhÈva’. You can find the word in paragraph 54. Personality (attÈbhÈva) is explained here. ‘AttÈ’ means attÈ and bhÈva’ means something arising from it. ‘Something’ here means the naming and knowing. Naming and knowing arise from it. Therefore it is called ‘bhÈva’. How naming and how knowing? Knowing as attÈ. So that is called ‘attÈbhÈva’ in PÈÄi or in Sanskrit.

In paragraph 56 “And here may all beings be free from enmity is one absorption.” The Sub-Commentary also said something about absorption or jhÈna here. The word used is appanÈ. AppanÈ is normally translated as absorption or jhÈna. But I think if we translate it as something like application, it makes more sense.

When we practice loving-kindness meditation, we practice in four ways. May all beings be free from enmity, that is one. May all beings be free from affliction, that is the second one. May all beings be free from anxiety, that is the third one. May they live happily, that is the fourth one. Each one is an application.

The Sub-Commentary explains that you can get jhÈna just by saying this one sentence - “May all beings be free from enmity. May all beings be free from enmity. May all beings be free from enmity.” This is called ‘one absorption’ or ‘one application’.

In the explanation of these ‘free from affliction’ means free from mental affliction. ‘Free from anxiety’ I think is not an accurate translation. The PÈÄi word is anigha. That means free from dukkha. You may have noticed on the sheet I gave you last week that I changed them. The second application is translated as “May all beings be free from displeasure.” The third application is translated as “may all beings be free from affliction.” ‘Free from affliction’ means free from bodily suffering, free from pain. ‘Free from displeasure’ means free from domanassa or mental affliction. The fourth one is “May they live happily.” Literally it means may they hold themselves happily or may they maintain their bodies or themselves happily. It is all right if we just say “May they live happily.” So there are four absorptions, four applications.

Then there are eleven benefits to be enjoyed from the practice of loving-kindness meditation. One sleeps in comfort, one wakes up in comfort and so on.

In paragraph 71 references are given for “like fire in the case of the lay woman devotee UttarÈ”. You are referred to chapter 12, paragraph 34. You will come to that later, not now, not today. On ‘Dha’ refers to the Commentary the Dhammapada. If you want to read the story in more detail you may read the book Buddhist Legends, part 3, page 103. “Like the poison in the case of the SaÑyutta Reciter the Elder C|Äa-SÊva” - we don’t know this story because the Sub-Commentary did not explain this. Maybe it was very well-known at the time this Commentary was written down. But now nobody knows about this Elder C|Äa-SÊva. “Like the knife in the case of the novice Sa~kicca” - this also is in the Commentary to the Dhammapada. You may read the same book Buddhist Legends, part 2, page 238 and the following pages.

Now we go to compassion. Compassion is karuÓÈ in PÈÄi. It will be explained later. “One who wants to develop compassion should begin his task by reviewing the danger in lack of compassion and the advantage in compassion.” Then he practices compassion.

Compassion takes beings in suffering or beings in distress as object. So it is a little different than the object of loving-kindness meditation. Loving-kindness meditation takes all beings whether they are suffering or whether they are enjoying, so all beings. KaruÓÈ takes all beings who are in distress, who are suffering.

When we want to practice karuÓÈ meditation, we have to find a person who is in distress, who is suffering, mentally as well as physically. So we have to find such a person. If we cannot find such a person, what should we do? Then we can arouse compassion for an evil-doing person. There may be some person doing evil. Even though he is happy right now, he is going to suffer in his next lives. So he is the object of compassion also. We can practice to such a person.

Student: Bhante, were people so happy at that time they could not find a person in suffering?

Teacher: They may be having fun right now doing evil things, but they are going to suffer the consequences of wrong doing in the next life. You can think of that and take them as the object of karuÓÈ.

Then the comparison is given to a man who is caught with stolen goods and who is condemned to death. He is given food and all these things, but he was not happy. In that story in paragraph 79 it says “giving him a hundred blows in sets of four.” Actually it is not in sets of four, but at every crossroads. A crossroads is called ‘a set of four’ because four roads meet there. So at every crossroads he was given a hundred blows. The people give him things to eat. Although he may be eating and although he may even be enjoying it, he is going to suffer death. In the same way a person who is doing evil may be enjoying himself now, but he will suffer. So he can be the object of karuÓÈ.

Then there may be some person who does not do evil, who does profitable deeds, but he may be overtaken by one of the kinds of ruin beginning with the ruin of health, or ruin of relatives, or ruin of property and so on. That person also can be the object of karuÓÈ meditation. A person who does not do evil things but who does meritorious deeds, good things, may be in poor health, or may have disease, or may have lost relatives, or may have lost his property and so on. So he can be the object of karuÓÈ.

In paragraph 81 the second paragraph it says “And here too”. The ‘too’ is misplaced. That should go after “He too deserves the meditator’s compassion.” Not only the person who does evil, but he also deserves compassion. “He too deserves the meditator’s compassion.

“Even with no such ruin, thus ‘In reality he is unhappy’.” Now there is a person who does good. He has not been overtaken by any one of the ruins. So he is well off. He is in prosperity. What do you do with him? You can still practice karuÓÈ towards him. “ ‘In reality he is unhappy’, because he is not exempt from suffering of the round [of becoming].” He is not exempt from suffering old age, disease and death in the end. And so such a person can be the object of karuÓÈ meditation.

So in fact anybody can be the object of karuÓÈ meditation, depending on how you regard that person, how you look at him. But it is better to find a person who is in real distress, who is in real suffering and practice karuÓÈ towards that person. If you cannot find such a person, then you may practice towards the other persons.

Here also there is the breaking down of barriers. Then one practices meditation until one gets jhÈna. This meditation can also lead to the attainment of third jhÈna or fourth jhÈna.

The next one is gladness (muditÈ). Since it is gladness, its object must be people who are in prosperity, who are in happiness. Beings who are in happiness are the objects of muditÈ meditation. You practice this towards a dear person and so on.

In paragraph 85 it says ‘a boon companion’. What is ‘a boon companion’? The PÈÄi word is soÓÉsahaya. ‘SoÓÉa’ means a tavern, a drinking place. SoÓÉsahaya means a drinking companion. That means a very intimate and very kind relationship towards that person. Do you use this word ‘boon companion’?

Student: I don’t think so. ‘Boon’ is something like lucky or a gift. In French there is ‘bon vivant’ which is a high liver or a drinker. That’s French though. Actually a drinking companion makes a lot of sense.

Teacher: When you practice compassion, what you do is to reflect “This being indeed has been reduced to misery. If only he could be free from this suffering.” That is how you practice compassion. That is in paragraph 78. When you practice karuÓÈ, you say “May he be free from suffering. May he get free from this suffering.” That is the way of practicing compassion towards beings.

In muditÈ what do you say? “This being is indeed glad. How good! How excellent!” That is muditÈ. So when you practice muditÈ, you say “He is happy. He is in prosperity. How good! How excellent!” That is how you practice muditÈ meditation. When you want to practice muditÈ meditation, you choose a person who is in happiness, who is in prosperity. Then you say “He is happy. He is prosperous. How good! How excellent!” You practice like that.

“But if his boon companion or the dear person was happy in the past but is now unlucky and unfortunate, then gladness can still be aroused by remembering his past happiness.” Or “In the future he will again enjoy similar success” and so on. You can still practice muditÈ towards that person.

Then the is breaking down of the barriers and so on. This meditation also leads to third jhÈna or fourth jhÈna.

The last one is upekkhÈ (equanimity). “One who wants to develop equanimity must have already obtained the triple or quadruple jhÈna in loving-kindness, and so on.” That is if you want to attain jhÈna through this meditation. First you must attain three jhÈnas or four jhÈnas by the practice of loving-kindness, or compassion or gladness.

“He should emerge from the third jhÈna [in the fourfold reckoning], after he has made it familiar, and he should see danger in the former [three divine abidings] because they are linked with attention given to being’s enjoyment (or given to attachment to beings) in the way beginning ‘May they be happy’ and so on.”

“Because resentment and approval are near, and because their association with joy is gross” - actually because they are gross due to association with joy. It is not that association with joy is gross, but they are gross. They are said to be gross because they are associated with joy. There is sukha with them. So they are said to be gross. “And he should also see the advantage in equanimity because it is peaceful.”

How do you practice equanimity towards people? What do you say? It is not given here. We will meet it later. You just say “Beings have kamma as their property.” Just that. It is kamma. Beings suffer or enjoy according to their kamma. Beings have kamma as their property, as their matrix, as their relative and so on. Thinking of the law of Kamma is one way of practicing upekkhÈ meditation.

“Therefore he should arouse equanimity towards the neutral person in the way already stated. Then through the neutral one” - I think ‘through the neutral one’ should go. It should be “Then he should break down the barriers in each case between the three people, that is, the dear person, then the boon companion, and then the hostile one, and lastly himself. And he should cultivate that sign, develop and repeatedly practice it.” Here since he has attained three jhÈnas or four jhÈnas with mettÈ meditation and others, he reaches here the fourth jhÈna or the fifth jhÈna.

“But how then? Does this arise in one whom the third jhÈna has already arisen on the basis of the earth kasiÓa, etc.? It does not.” Not anybody who has gained jhÈna with other meditation can obtain the fourth jhÈna or the fifth jhÈna through upekkhÈ. He has to have gained jhÈnas through mettÈ, karuÓÈ or muditÈ meditation. Then he can gain the fourth jhÈna or the fifth jhÈna through the last one, through upekkhÈ meditation.

“Does this arise in one whom the third jhÈna has already arisen on the basis of the earth, etc.? It does not. Why not? Because of the dissimilarity of the object.” Let us say you get the first, second, third jhÈna taking the earth kasiÓa, the earth disk as object. Then the object of your jhÈna is the earth disk. Here the object of your jhÈna must be beings. So there is difference of object. “Because of the dissimilarity of the object. It arises only in one in whom the third jhÈna has arisen on the basis of loving-kindness, etc., because the object is similar.” That is the end of the four divine abidings.

Now comes the general exposition. The first part has the meanings of mettÈ, karuÓÈ, muditÈ and upekkhÈ. “Now as to the meaning firstly of loving-kindness, compassion, gladness and equanimity: it fattens, thus it is loving-kindness.” The PÈÄi word ‘mejjati’ really means it sticks. So it is sticky.

“It is gluttonous (not solvent).” When you have mettÈ, you are as it were glued to the person. “It is gluttonous is the meaning.” , not solvent.

“Also: it comes about with respect to a friend (mitta), or it is behaviour towards a friend, thus it is loving-kindness (mettÈ).” The first explanation takes it that mettÈ comes from the root ‘mit’ and the suffix ‘tÈ’. The second one takes it that the word ‘mettÈ’ comes from the word ‘mitta’. Mitta is changed to mettÈ by a grammatical rule. So mettÈ first is derived from a root and a suffix and secondly is derived from a word and a suffix.

The second one is karuÓÈ. It is explained here. “When there is suffering in others it causes (karoti) good people’s hearts to be moved (kampana), thus it is compassion (karuÓÈ). Or alternatively, it combats (kiÓati) others’ suffering, attacks and demolishes it, thus it is compassion.” Here whether you really demolish the suffering of others is not important. It is immaterial. When karuÓÈ arises in one’s mind, it arises in this manner. It arises in this mode of wanting to remove suffering from others.

“Or alternatively, it is scattered (kiriyati) upon those who suffer, it is extended to them by pervasion, thus it is compassion (karuÓÈ).” It is the desire for beings to be free from suffering, to be free from distress.

The next one is muditÈ. “Those endowed with it are glad (modanti), or itself is glad (modati), or it is the mere act of being glad (modana), thus it is gladness (muditÈ).” MuditÈ is just defined as gladness.

Next there is upekkhÈ. “It looks on at (upekkhati), abandoning such interestedness as thinking ‘May they be free from enmity’ and having recourse to neutrality, thus it is equanimity (upekkhÈ).” Equanimity is not indifference. It takes beings as object. It is just impartiality. It is not disregarding them all together.

Then there is discussion of the characteristics etc. of each one. “Loving-kindness is characterized here as promoting the aspect of welfare.” That means actually occurring in the mode of desiring welfare. “Its function is to prefer welfare. It is manifested as the removal of annoyance.” I just want to say ‘ill will’ here. Its proximate cause is seeing lovableness in beings. It succeeds when it makes ill will subside, and it fails when it provides (selfish) affection.” ‘Selfish’ is put in parentheses. Is there unselfish affection? Here what is meant is attachment. If you have attachment or lobha, you fail.

Compassion actually is desire to remove suffering from others. “Compassion is characterized as promoting the aspect of allaying suffering. Its function resides in not bearing other’s suffering. It is manifested as non-cruelty. Its proximate cause is to see helplessness in those overwhelmed by suffering. It succeeds when it makes cruelty subside and it fails when it produces sorrow.” This is very important. “It fails when it produces sorrow.” When you practice compassion, you just practice compassion and you don’t go into feeling sorry. That is very important.

When we see some people injured by some person for example, we are not only sorry for them, but we may be angry with the person who inflicted pain on them. When we do that, we are going beyond the scope of compassion. We are getting into akusala, unwholesome mental states. Compassion is a wholesome mental state, a highly developed wholesome mental state. When we practice compassion, we just have the desire for them to be free from suffering. We cannot say that we suffer with them because if we suffer with them, we have unwholesome mental states in our mind. We do not suffer with them. We have compassion for them. We sympathize with them. That is important in karuÓÈ. Many people confuse karuÓÈ with this enemy, sorrow.

“Gladness is characterized as gladness (produced by other’s success). Its function resides in being unenvious. It is manifested as the elimination of aversion (boredom).” We were talking about aversion and boredom on my way here. The PÈÄi word used is ‘arati’. ‘Rati’ means delight and ‘a’ means not. So it is non-delight in other people’s, other beings’ success etc. I don’t think that we can call it boredom. Perhaps aversion also is not so good here. Can you think of another word which means non-delight? MuditÈ is the opposite of envy actually. When you envy somebody, you are not pleased with his success or his prosperity. You don’t take delight in his success. The word ‘arati’ here means that, not taking delight in other people’s success and so on. “it succeeds when it makes non-delight subside, and it fails when it produces merriment.” That is merriment with attachment.

Student: Sometimes you say sympathetic joy for gladness?

Teacher: Yes. Sympathetic joy and some also translate it as altruistic joy. Sympathetic joy may be better because ‘gladness’ can mean any kind of gladness. Maybe here the translator wanted to be literal. ‘MuditÈ’ just means gladness, but I think sympathetic joy is a better word for it.

“Equanimity is characterized as promoting the aspect of neutrality towards beings” and so on. “Its proximate cause is seeing ownership of deeds (kamma) thus: ‘Beings are owners of their deeds. Whose [if not theirs] is the choice by which they will become happy, or will get free from suffering, or will not fall away from the success they have reached?” ‘Will get free from suffering’ refers to karuÓÈ (compassion). ‘Will not fall away from the success they have reached’ refers to muditÈ. When you practice muditÈ, you may say “May they not fall away from this prosperity, or this success, or this happiness.” You can say like that too. On the other page it said you may say “This being is indeed glad. How good! How excellent!” You can say either way.

“It succeeds when it makes resentment and approval subside (Resentment is dosa and approval is lobha.), and it fails when it produces the equanimity of unknowing.” ‘The equanimity of unknowing’ is the indifference of ignorance or just ignorance.

“The general purpose of these four divine abidings is the bliss of insight and an excellent (form of future) existence. That peculiar to each is respectively the warding off of ill will and so on.” This paragraph is not difficult to understand.

The next paragraph is the near and far enemies. Each one has two kinds of enemies, the near enemy and the far enemy. “The divine abiding of loving-kindness has greed as its near enemy.” That is why it is very important when you practice loving-kindness that you do not have greed or attachment for that person. Sometimes they are very similar. So you may take one for the other. So the near enemy is greed or attachment since both share in seeing the good things, seeing virtues.

“Greed behaves like a foe who keeps close by a man, and it easily finds an opportunity. So loving-kindness should be well protected from it. And ill will which is dissimilar to the similar greed, is its far enemy like a foe ensconced in a rock wilderness. So loving-kindness must be practiced free from fear (free from danger) of that; for it is not possible to practice loving-kindness and feel anger simultaneously.”

“Compassion has grief based on the home life (That is feeling sorry.) as its near enemy, since both share in seeing failure.” Cruelty is the far enemy.

Now sympathetic joy or gladness (muditÈ) - its near enemy is joy based on the home life. That means becoming merry, joyful with attachment. “And aversion (boredom) - or non-delight- which is dissimilar to the similar joy, is its far enemy.” So something like envy is its far enemy. So gladness should be practiced free from fear or danger of that.

“Equanimity has the equanimity of unknowing based on the home life as its near enemy.” That is not knowing, ignorance. It is ignorance that is not accompanied by pleasurable feeling or displeasurable feeling. So this ignorance is accompanied by indifferent feeling and shares in ignoring faults and virtues.

“And greed and resentment, which are dissimilar to the similar unknowing are its far enemies.” Its far enemies are greed and resentment. “Therefore equanimity must be practiced free from fear of that.”

Each of these has two enemies, the near enemy and the far enemy. We should be careful with both the near enemy and the far enemy.

“Now zeal (chanda) consisting in desire to act is the beginning of all these things. Suppression of the hindrances, etc., is the middle. Absorption is the end.” So jhÈna is the end.

“Their object is a single living being or many living beings, as a mental object consisting in a concept.” Because beings are a concept it is called a ‘concept’.

“The extension of the object takes place either in access or in absorption. Here is the order of it. Just as a skilled ploughman first delimits an area and then does his ploughing, so first a single dwelling should be delimited and loving-kindness developed towards all beings there in the way beginning ‘In this dwelling may all beings be free from enmity’.” Then when you have gained experience with that, you may extend your range of loving-kindness by taking two dwellings, three dwellings, four dwellings and so on, until the whole village, the district, the kingdom, one direction and so on up to one world sphere, or even beyond that. You develop loving-kindness to beings in such areas.

That is why when I teach loving-kindness, I teach in two ways. The first is by way of person: “May I be well, happy and peaceful. May my teachers be well, happy and peaceful. May my parents be well, happy and peaceful.” and so on. The other way is: “May all beings in this building be well, happy and peaceful. May all beings in this area, in this city, in this county, in this state, in this country, in this world, in this universe be well, happy and peaceful.” And then “May all beings in general be well, happy and peaceful.” The meditation is extended little by little.

Now the outcome, what kind of results you can get from the practice of these four divine abidings. “Just as the immaterial states are the outcome of the kasiÓas, and the base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception is the outcome of concentration, and Fruition Attainment is the outcome of insight, and the attainment of cessation is the outcome of serenity coupled with insight, so the divine abiding of equanimity is the outcome of the first three divine abidings.” In order to be successful in the fourth one you first have to be successful in the first three divine abidings.

“For just as the gable rafters cannot be placed in the air without having first set up the scaffolding and built the framework of beams, so it is not possible to develop the fourth jhÈna in these without having already developed the third jhÈna in them.”

In paragraph 104 it says that immaterial states are the outcome of the kasiÓas. ‘KasiÓa’ really means jhÈna developed on the kasiÓa. You take the kasiÓa as the object of meditation. Then you practice meditation and get jhÈna. If you do not get r|pÈvacara jhÈna, then you do not get ar|pÈvacara jhÈnas. That is why it says the immaterial states are the outcome of the kasiÓa jhÈnas. “The base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception is the outcome of concentration.” The ar|pÈvacara jhÈna is the outcome the third ar|pÈvacara jhÈna concentration. “Fruition Attainment is the outcome of insight.” When you practice vipassanÈ meditation and become enlightened, you gain Fruition Attainment. So Fruition Attainment is the outcome of insight meditation.

“The attainment of cessation is the outcome of serenity coupled with insight.” There is an attainment called ‘cessation attainment’. That means the cessation of mental activities. It is a very highly developed type of jhÈna. In order to get into that jhÈna you must first have all the eight or nine jhÈnas. You enter into first jhÈna and emerge from it. Then you enter into second jhÈna, third jhÈna and so on until you reach the fourth ar|pÈvacara jhÈna. After emerging from the first jhÈna, you practice vipassanÈ. Then you enter into the second jhÈna (That is samatha or serenity meditation.) and practice vipassanÈ on that jhÈna or the factors of jhÈna. So here vipassanÈ and samatha go in a coupled way. It is stated here as the outcome of serenity coupled with insight. The explanation of the attainment will be given at the end of the book.

Now questions - “And here it may be asked: But why are loving-kindness, compassion, gladness and equanimity, called divine abidings?” The PÈÄi word for divine abiding is ‘brahmÈ vihÈra’. ‘VihÈra’ means living. Here it is translated as abiding. The word ‘brahmÈ’ has two meanings here. One meaning is the best and the other meaning is faultless, so immaculate. These abidings are the best because they are the right attitude towards beings. These are the right attitudes which we should have towards beings. Therefore they are called ‘the best’.

“And just as BrahmÈ Gods abide with immaculate minds, so the meditators who associate themselves with these abidings abide on an equal footing with BrahmÈ Gods.” The Brahmas have immaculate minds. So their minds are not contaminated by some of the mental defilements. A person who practices any one of these meditations is like a BrahmÈ. That is because the BrahmÈ Gods in the world of BrahmÈs always practice these four divine abidings. They live with these four divine abidings. They have no other thing to do. So these meditations are called ‘brahmÈ vihÈra’. It is the abiding like that of the brahmÈs. They are called divine abidings in the sense of the best and in the sense of immaculate. They are the best way of abiding or the faultless way of abiding.

Why are they only four? The answer that is given is that the way of purity is fourfold. “Loving-kindness is the way to purity for one who has much ill will, compassion is that for one who has much cruelty, gladness is that one for one who has much non-delight, and equanimity is that for one who has much greed.”

“Also attention given to beings is only fourfold, that is to say, as bringing welfare, as removing suffering, as being glad at their success, and as unconcern, [that is to say, impartial neutrality.]” That is the second.

“And one abiding in the measureless states should practice loving-kindness and the rest like a mother with four sons, namely, a child, an invalid, one in the flush of youth, and one busy with his own affairs; for she wants the child to grow up, wants the invalid to get well, wants the one in the flush of youth to enjoy for long the benefits of youth, and is not at all bothered about the one who is busy with his own affairs. That is why the measureless states are only four as ‘due to paths to purity and other sets of four’.”

Then the order - the order is just loving-kindness, compassion, gladness and equanimity.

Now why are they called measureless? In paragraph 110 “For their scope is measureless beings.” That means their object is beings without measure, without exception. All of them occur with a measureless scope for their scope is measureless beings.

“Instead of assuming a measure such as ‘loving-kindness, etc., should be developed only towards a single being, or in an area of such an extent’, they occur with universal pervasion.” What does that mean? Then when you practice loving-kindness towards a person, it cannot be called measureless?

The translation is a little off the mark. What is meant here or what is written by the original author is that even when you are practicing towards one person, it can be called measureless because you do not limit your loving-kindness to one part of the body. That is what is meant here. “Even in regard to a single being they occur with universal pervasion without assuming a measure as ‘loving-kindness should be developed in this much part of him’.” So it is not like “May his head be well, happy and peaceful. May the upper part of his body be well, happy and peaceful” and so on. You take the whole being. So even with regard to a single person it can be called measureless. That’s what is meant here.

The next topic is producing three jhÈnas and four jhÈnas. The first three can produce how many jhÈnas? Three or four. The last one can produce the fourth or the fifth, only one jhÈna.

There is a discussion here with an opponent. Beginning with paragraph 112 there is an argument and counterargument. The opponent pointed to a Sutta. He took the Sutta to mean that all four or five jhÈnas can be obtained by the practice of mettÈ, karuÓÈ and muditÈ. The form we see in that Sutta may point to that if you are not really familiar with Abhidhamma. Buddha said that after you practice loving-kindness, you should go on making this loving-kindness with vitakka and vicÈra, then without vitakka but with vicÈra and so on. So when you read it superficially, you also may think that you can get all four or five jhÈnas through mettÈ meditation and so on. That is not so.

So the author said: “He should be told: Do not put it like that. For if that were so, then contemplation of the body, etc., would also have quadruple and quintuple jhÈna.” The Buddha taught about contemplation of the body also in the same way, but contemplation of the body can only produce the first jhÈna, not the other jhÈnas.

“There is not even the first jhÈna in the contemplation of feeling or in the other two.” ‘Or in the other two’ is wrong. In its place we should say “But there is not even the first jhÈna in the contemplation of feeling, let alone the second and so on.” When you practice feeling contemplation, you cannot get even the first jhÈna, let alone the second, third, fourth and fifth. “So do not misrepresent the Blessed One by adherence to the letter.” The he explained this.

In paragraph 114 about five lines down it says “but the Blessed One had no confidence yet in that bhikkhu.” That was the word about which I was talking to you. Actually the Buddha scolded that monk by saying “So too, some misguided men merely question me and when the Dhamma is expounded [to them], they still fancy that they need not follow me.” So that monk asked the Buddha to teach him, and he did not practice. Then again he asked the Buddha to teach him. The Buddha saw that he had the capability to become an Arahant, so this time the Buddha taught him again. So can you give me another word like scold?

Student: Chastise?

Teacher: Chastise, yes, very good. So the Buddha chastised him. It is not that the Buddha had no confidence in him. He misread the word. Actually it is the right word but with an accent. So the Buddha chastised the monk.

When you read the Sutta, it seems to mean that you can practice loving-kindness meditation and then you can get first, second, third, fourth and fifth jhÈnas. However what the Buddha meant there is that you practice mettÈ meditation and you may get the first jhÈna, second jhÈna or third jhÈna, but do not be content with that. Try to get higher jhÈnas by taking other subjects of meditation, not mettÈ meditation. If you want to get the fourth or fifth jhÈna, you have to practice another kind of meditation, not mettÈ meditation. By the practice of mettÈ meditation you can only get the third or fourth jhÈna. That is what is meant.

In footnote 17 “Mere unification of the mind: the kind of concentration (samÈdhÈna) that is undeveloped” - I think that is ‘not too developed’ is better, not ‘undeveloped’ because it is a little developed, but not developed enough.

Next we will go to paragraph 119, the highest limit of each. “And while they are twofold by way of the triple-quadruple jhÈna and the single remaining jhÈna, still they should be understood to be distinguishable in each case by a different efficacy consisting in having ‘beauty as the highest’, etc., for they are so described in the Haliddavasana Sutta.” ‘Beauty in the highest’ is not a good translation for the word. It is liberation with the beautiful as object. Here ‘liberation’ means jhÈnas, jhÈnas which take pleasant things as object. “So loving-kindness is the basic support for the liberation with the beautiful as object.”

“One who abides in compassion has to come to know thoroughly the danger in materiality, since compassion is aroused in him when he sees suffering of beings that has as its material sign (I think ‘material sign’ should go.) cause, form beaten with sticks, and so on.” ‘Form’ means a body.

In paragraph 123 there is a lot of existent and non-existent things in that passage. What we should keep in mind is that happiness (sukha) and pain (dukkha) are said to be existent because they belong to paramattha. They belong to reality. Sukha as well as dukkha are among the mental factors. Sukha is pleasurable feeling and dukkha is displeasurable feeling. They are among the 52 mental factors or mental states. Therefore they are said to be existent things.

A being is non-existent according to ultimate reality or in the ultimate sense. A being is just a combination of mind and matter or a combination of the five aggregates. When we say ‘a being’, it is non-existent. And when we say ‘sukha’ and ‘dukkha’, they are existent. If you keep that in mind, I think you will understand paragraph 123.

UpekkhÈ is not interested in the happiness of beings or in the suffering of beings. It takes just the beings as an object, not the happiness or the suffering of beings, not the sukha or dukkha of beings.

A person who practices upekkhÈ meditation becomes skilled in taking what is non-existent, that is beings, as object. So it is easier for such a person to take the non-existent, the other kinds if non-existent things as object, that is the base, which is non-existent as to individual essence of consciousness, which is a reality. The third ar|pÈvacara jhÈna (the third immaterial jhÈna) takes the non-existence of the first ar|pÈvacara jhÈna.

Non-existence itself is non-existent. Non-existence is a concept. It is not reality. A person who is skilled in taking concept as object when he practices upekkhÈ meditation will find it easy to take the non-existent or nothingness of the first ar|pÈvacara consciousness when he tries to get the immaterial jhÈnas.

In order to get the third ar|pÈvacara jhÈna you have to take the absence of the first aruÈpÈvacara jhÈna as object. You know that the ar|pÈvacara jhÈnas are the immaterial jhÈnas. Most of the jhÈnas that we are talking about are the material jhÈnas. How to get the immaterial jhÈnas will be described in the next chapter.

Student: Immaterial jhÈna is formless jhÈna?

Teacher: Formless jhÈna, that’s right. In order to get the third formless jhÈna you have to meditate on the absence of the first formless jhÈna. That absence is nothing. That is just a concept. If you are skilled in taking concept as object when you practice upekkhÈ meditation, then you will find it easier here to take nothingness as object. That is what is explained in paragraph 123. The sentences are long and involved, so it is not easy to understand.

So please keep in mind that when it says ‘existent’ here it means sukha and dukkha. And when it says ‘non-existent’ it means beings because beings are non-existent in the ultimate sense.

OK. The others are not difficult to understand. Footnote 20 is very good because even in the Burmese edition there is a mistake. In the Sinhalese edition the reading is right and he took the Sinhalese edition here.

You may not understand. “Reading in both cases ‘avijjamÈna-gahana-dakkhaÑ cittaÑ”, not dukkhaÑ. Dukkha and dakkha have two very different meanings. ‘Dakkha’ means skill and ‘dukkha’ means suffering. So here the correct reading should be dakkha and not dukkha. There is just the difference of an ‘a’ and ‘u’. He detected this. That is very good.

By the practice of these you fulfill the ten pÈramitÈs. In TheravÈda Buddhism there are ten pÈramitÈs to be fulfilled by Bodhisattas and any person. These pÈramitÈs are mentioned in paragraph 124. “And to all beings they give gifts.” That means giving. That is the first pÈramitÈ. “And in order to avoid doing harm to beings they undertake the precepts of virtue.” That is the second pÈramitÈ. The first is dÈna and the second is sÊla. “They practice renunciation for the purpose of perfecting their virtue.” That is the third pÈramitÈ. “They cleanse their understanding (PaÒÒÈ that is the fourth.) for the purpose of non-confusion about what is good and bad for beings. They constantly arouse energy (viriya) having beings’ welfare and happiness at heart. When they have acquired heroic fortitude through supreme energy, they become patient (khanti) with beings’ many kinds of faults. They do not deceive (That means truthfulness.) when promising ‘We shall give you this; we shall do this for you.’ They are unshakably resolute upon beings’ welfare and happiness.” Resoluteness is the eighth pÈramitÈ. In PÈÄi it is called ‘adhiÔÔhÈna’, firmness or resolution. “Through unshakable loving-kindness (That is the ninth.) they place them first [before themselves].” Actually what it means is they do favor first. The PÈÄi word is pubbakÈri. ‘Pubba’ means first and ‘kÈri’ means doing. ‘They do first’ means that they do not wait for you to ask a favor, they do first. So “Through unshakable loving-kindness they do favor first. Through equanimity (the tenth pÈramitÈ) they expect no reward. Having fulfilled the [ten] perfections, these [divine abidings] then perfect all the good states classed as the ten powers, the four kinds of fearlessness, the six kinds of knowledge not shared [by disciples] and the eighteen states of the Enlightened One. This is how they bring to perfection all the good states beginning with giving.” These ten pÈramitÈs can be fulfilled by the practice of these four divine abidings.

There is so much to talk about. I intended to go to the next chapter, but I cannot. So please read chapter ten for next week.

SÈdhu! SÈdhu! SÈdhu!