Karaniya Metta Sutta In Pali And English

[Antenor Ketkaew]

Ithelped me a great deal to see what the underlying teaching was for this loving-kindness practice I kept coming across. The translation of metta to goodwill and kindness makes sense to me, and this sutta helps me see where my sticking points are, what other states of mind I need to let go of, in order to allow goodwill to arise in place of these other defilements. Also, while this sutta does have the word wishing, I can view it as a state of mind rather a wish, an attitude to develop towards others.

But for those who have felt uncomfortable with it, or like more details, I hope seeing this sutta is helpful to you. It reminds me of the areas I need to work on, that there is more to this practice than just wishing others goodwill, and I can see how it fits into other areas of practice.

Metta Sutta means something in Buddhism, Pali. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

1. Metta Sutta. One should be diligent and upright, gentle and not vain glorious, free from deceit. Let none, out of anger, or through resentment, wish misery to another. A person should cherish boundless goodwill towards all beings, like a mother fostering her only son. SN.vss.143-52; also Khp.p.8f.; where it is called Karaniyametta Sutta, by which name it is more popularly known.

This sutta was preached by the Buddha to five hundred monks who had obtained from him a formula for meditation and dwelt in a region in the Himalaya. The gods there were alarmed by the goodness of the monks and tried to frighten them away. The monks, constantly harassed, sought the Buddha at Savatthi. He preached this sutta to them and admonished them on the practice of goodwill. They followed his advice, and the gods, understanding, left them in peace (KhpA.232ff.; cp. DhA.i.313ff).

2. Metta Sutta. Once when the Buddha was at Haliddavasana, a discussion arose between some monks and some Paribbajakas as to whether there was any difference between their respective doctrines since they both inculcated the practice of goodwill, compassion, sympathy, and equanimity. The monks consulted the Buddha, who told them that the Paribbajakas were ignorant of how to cultivate these qualities, of what was their goal and their excellence, their fruit and their ending.

He then proceeded to explain to them that these are cultivated through the seven bojjhanga; goodwill has the beautiful for its excellence, compassion the infinity of space, sympathy the infinity of consciousness, and equanimity the sphere where nought exists. (S.v.115f).

1. Metta Sutta. On four kinds of persons to be found in the world those who irradiate all quarters with goodwill, compassion, sympathy and equanimity. These are born after death in various Brahma worlds; if they happen to be disciples of the Buddha, they will no more return to the world of men. A.ii.128.

3. Metta Sutta. When a man has developed emancipation of the mind through goodwill, compassion, sympathy and equanimity, by the sign less (animitta) and getting rid of the thought I am, it cannot, be said of him that he has failed to find escape from the opposite qualities. A.iii.290f.

4. Metta Sutta. Nine qualifications which, if they accompany the observance of the fast days, make such observance fruitful the eight precepts (abstention from killing, etc.), and irradiating the world with thoughts of goodwill. A.iv.388f.

Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).

Search found 15 books and stories containing Metta Sutta, Mettā-sutta; (plurals include: Metta Suttas, suttas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

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We are in a most fortunate period of blossoming in Buddhism, where this ancient wisdom is born anew with every breath and given expression through living stories of the dharma in our daily lives. But even teachers who rarely share the words of the Pali Canon, know its value.

I chose this particular sutta to share, the Metta Sutta, because metta is a practice that we do regularly in class, and hopefully in our own meditations. I have seen the power of the practice of metta to transform lives and especially relationships. The act of well-wishing that through regular practice helps us come home to a way of being in skillful relationship to all that arises in our awareness.

The veils of thoughts and difficult emotions that activate unskillfulness may weigh heavily. But our mindfulness practice, and especially our metta practice, helps us to soften, lighten and even release these veils. As we have experienced in past explorations, we can unveil, and then don the veils with a new understanding, carry them lightly, and even dance with them.

The main part of the metta sutta of course is the blessing itself. The wording may seem a bit different from what we do in class, but the heart of it is recognizable. And especially as women, we can appreciate and relate to the reference to that maternal kind of love, whether we are mothers or not, because the oxytocin that is activated when we care for another being of any species, is what is being cultivated. (In our Zoom class, we have a number of beloved dogs and cats in attendance who occasionally appear on screen to the delight of all.)

Stephanie is the author of three meditative books and has taught her Marin Insight women's meditation group since 2004, now on Zoom. Contact for an invitation. She serves as a board member of the Buddhist Insight Network.

The story of the Buddha's reciting the Metta Sutta provides insight into the motivation one might develop toward meditating on the underlying meaning of this sutta and the powerful influence metta can have both on oneself and others.

Herein, this Lovingkindness Sutta was spoken by the Blessed One, not by disciples, etc.; and that was when bhikkhus, who had been harassed by deities on the slopes of the Himalayas, had gone to the Blessed One's presence; and it was uttered then at Savatthi as a meditation subject with the purpose of [providing] a safeguard for those bhikkhus. That, it should be understood in brief to start with, is how the clarification of the source illustrates those questions.

But in detail it should be understood as follows. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi when the [time for the] taking up of the Residence for the Rains was near at hand. Now on that occassion many bhikkhus from various countries, who were desirous of taking up residence for the rains in various places after taking a meditation subject in the in the Blessed One's presence, had approached the Blessed One.

And there he had expounded meditation subjects suitable for the eighty-four thousand shades of temperament in the following way, that is to say: for those of lustful temperament he showed Loathesomeness as a meditation subject of the eleven kinds as with consciousness and without consciousness; for those of hating temperament the fourfold meditation subject beginning with Lovingkindness; for those of deluded temperament, the meditation subject consisting in Mindfulness of Death, etc.; for those of speculative thinking temperament, Mindfulness of Breathing, the Earth Universal, etc.; for those of faithful temperament, the subjects consisting of the Recollections of the Enlightened One, etc.; and for those of intelligent (discovering) temperament, the Definition of the Four Elements.

So when [a party of] five hundred bhikkhus had learnt each a meditation subject in the Blessed One's presence and were seeking a suitable resting place with a village as alms resort, eventually in the outland country they came in sight of a mountain forming part of the Himalaya range. While its surface glittered like blue quartz crystal, it was embellished with a cool dense shady green forest grove and a stretch of ground strewn with sand resembling a net or a silver sheet; and it was furnished with a clean spring of grateful cool water. Now when the bhikkhus had spent one night there and the dawn was drawing near, they attended to the needs of the physical frame and then went for alms into a town not far distant. The town was connected with a thousand clans and constructed as a community-residence, and the people there had faith and confidence.

Since it is hard in the outlands to get a sight of those gone forth into homelessness, they were happy and joyful when they saw the bhikkhus, and they fed them and begged them to stay on for the three months (of obligatory residence during the Rains) and they had five hundred work-rooms built and furnished with all such necessities as beds, chairs, pots for drinking and washing water, and so on. On the following day the bhikkus went into another town for alms, and there too the people served them in like manner and begged them to stay on for the Rains. The bhikkhus consented subject to there being no obstacle. The re-entered the wood, where they [arranged to keep up] energy night and day by having a wood-block struck for the watches, and abiding much in reasoned attention, they went to the roots of trees and sat down.

Then one day when all had assembled at the time for waiting on the Senior Elder of the Community, he asked them "Friends, when you first entered into this wood, the color of your skin was quite pure and bright for some days and your faculties were clear; but now you are lean and pale and jaundiced. What does not suit you here?" Then a bhikkhu said 'Venerable sir, at night I saw and heard such-and-such a dreadful object and I smelt such-and-such a smell, and so my mind was not concentrated", and all told in the same way what hadhappened. The Senior Elder said "Friends. two kinds of entry upon Residence for the Rains have been described by the Blessed One, and this resting place does not suit us. So let us go to the Blessed One and ask about another resting place that will suit us."

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