The Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta in Depth

This sutta (sutta, a discourse of the Buddha) is the one the Buddha taught to five hundred monks, so that they might cultivate mettā (loving-kindness), bringing about peace, happiness and friendship toward all beings, and protecting them from non-human beings who would harm them.

The Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta

Karaṇīyam atthakusalena
yantaṁ santaṁ padaṁ abhisamecca
sakko ujū ca suhujū ca
suvaco cassa mudu anatimānī

A person of good family, skilled in what is beneficial, who wishes to awaken to the peaceful state, should fulfill the threefold training. Such a person should be capable, upright and straightforward, easy to advise, gentle and not proud,

Santussako ca subharo ca
appakicco ca sallahukavutti
santindriyo ca nipako ca
appagabbho kulesu ananugiddho

content, easy to support, with few duties, living lightly, with senses calmed and stilled, with the wisdom that protects oneself, not brash, and not entangled with families.

Na ca khuddaṁ samācare kiñci
yena viññū pare upavadeyyuṁ
sukhino vā khemino hontu
sabbe sattā bhavantu sukhitattā

They should not commit even the slightest wrong for which other wise people might criticize them. They should spread a friendly heart to all beings, thinking: may all beings be happy at heart, secure, and come to happiness.

Ye keci pāṇabhūtatthi
tasā vā thāvarā vā anavasesā
dīghā vā ye mahantā vā
majjhimā rassakā aṇukathūlā

Whatever living beings there are that have the breath of life, whether trembling or steady, thin or stout, with long bodies or large, middling or short,

Diṭṭhā vā ye ca adiṭṭhā
ye ca dūre vasanti avidūre
bhūtā vā sambhavesī vā
sabbe sattā bhavantu sukhitattā

seen or unseen, living far away or near, already born or still seeking birth: may all these beings come to happiness.

Na paro paraṁ nikubbetha
nātimaññetha katthaci naṁ kiñci
byārosanā paṭīghasaññā
nāññamaññassa dukkhamiccheyya

Let no one bully another or look down on anyone anywhere. Out of anger or resentment, let them not wish suffering on one another.

Mātā yathā niyaṁ puttaṁ
āyusā ekaputtamanurakkhe
evampi sabbabhūtesu
mānasaṁ bhāvaye aparimāṇaṁ

Just as a mother cherishes her only child, born of her own body, even to the point of giving up her life, so a person of good family skilled in what is beneficial should cultivate mettā in the heart, boundless, toward all beings. Just so,

Mettañca sabbalokasmiṁ
mānasaṁ bhāvaye aparimāṇaṁ
uddhaṁ adho ca tiriyañca
asambādhaṁ averaṁ asapattaṁ

that person should cultivate mettā in the heart, boundless, toward the whole world: above, below and all around, unconfined, without enmity and without foes.

Tiṭṭhañcaraṁ nisinno vā
sayāno vā yāvatassa vigatamiddho
etaṁ satiṁ adhiṭṭheyya
brahmametaṁ vihāraṁ idhamāhu

Whether that person who cultivates mettā is standing, sitting or lying down, for as long as they are free of drowsiness, for that long they should keep this mindfulness firmly established. The wise call this way of dwelling the brahmavihāra (divine abode) in this Dhamma (the teaching) and discipline of the noble ones.

Diṭṭhiñca anupagamma
sīlavā dassanena sampanno
kāmesu vineyya gedhaṁ
na hi jātu gabbhaseyyaṁ punaretīti

The person who cultivates mettā, not relying on views, virtuous and endowed with vision, having removed delight in sensual pleasures, will surely not come to lie in a womb again.

Mettasuttaṁ niṭṭhitaṁ

Here ends the Mettā Sutta.

Once, when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī, five hundred monks received meditation subjects from the Blessed One and then looked for a suitable (sappāya) place to spend the rains retreat. They went together into a forest in the Himalayas, in a border region.

The monks were virtuous and made effort day and night at the foot of the trees in that forest. The tree deities, overpowered by the radiance of these virtuous monks, had to come down from their tree mansions and wander about with their children, homeless. So they agreed together to show the monks frightening sights, to make them afraid so that they would abandon the trees that were the deities’ mansions. The tree deities conjured up terrifying ogre forms that stood before the monks at night, made frightening noises and gave off foul smells. The monks’ minds became agitated and they could not bring their minds to a single object. They grew pale, fell ill with jaundice-like wasting and suffered severe headaches. Their faculties lost their clarity, so they went together to see the Blessed One and told him everything.

The Blessed One surveyed the whole of Jambudīpa and found no other lodging suitable for those monks apart from that very place. So he taught them this sutta, as a protection against danger from non-human beings, and for the sake of jhāna (meditative absorption) as a basis for vipassanā (insight). The five hundred monks went back to spend the rains retreat in that forest, and in the end they all realized the Dhamma.

”…Go, monks. Go and stay at that very lodging…”

Furthermore… a monk who lives in the forest should know how to look after himself.
How should he look after himself?… Like this:
spread mettā at two times, in the evening and in the morning;
recite the protective chants (paritta) at both times; contemplate the unattractive (asubha) at both times;
develop mindfulness of death (maraṇassati) at both times;
and reflect on the eight great grounds for spiritual urgency at both times.
Birth, aging, sickness, death and the four kinds of suffering in the lower realms
are called the eight great grounds for spiritual urgency (mahāsaṁvegavatthu).

This is an important sutta that lets us see the practice of mettā bhāvanā (the cultivation of loving-kindness) more clearly. It is also a means by which all of us who wish to follow in the Teacher’s footsteps, to leave behind the defilements and the mass of suffering, can gain confidence in the teaching of the Perfectly Self-Awakened Buddha.

The principles of recitation are:

1. The one chanting must pronounce every syllable of the text without distortion, chanting with correct pronunciation.
2. Know the meaning of the passage being chanted.
3. Have a mind of mettā, wishing the greatest benefit for those to whom we spread mettā.
4. Have confidence in the power of the paritta, and confidence in the qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha (the community of the Buddha’s disciples).

The content of this sutta is ten verses in all, divided into three parts:

• Verses 1-3 set out the qualities of one who is to cultivate mettā meditation, and the practice for anyone who wishes to reach nibbāna (the end of suffering).
• Verses 4-5 are the spreading of mettā without borders and without measure, to arahants (the fully awakened) and ordinary people alike, to beings of every kind, in every direction.
• Verses 6-10 are the cultivation of the brahmavihāra and the benefits of cultivating it, which can finally lead to the path, its fruit and nibbāna.

Verse 1

Karaṇīyam atthakusalena
yantaṁ santaṁ padaṁ abhisamecca
sakko ujū ca suhujū ca
suvaco cassa mudu anatimānī

• karaṇīyaṁ: what should be done
• attha: benefit; benefit visible to the eye, benefit beyond what the eye can see, the highest benefit
• kusalena: wholesome, skillful
• yantaṁ: that which
• santaṁ: the state of peace
• padaṁ: what is to be attained, the deathless state (meaning nibbāna)
• abhisamecca: having attained
• sakko: sakka, capable, courageous
• ujū: upright and honest, without the deceit that hides one’s own faults, not pretending, without sāṭheyya (craftiness), not claiming qualities one does not have
• suhujū: thoroughly upright, a mind that is not crooked, straight in body, speech and mind
• suvaco: easy to advise; when someone points something out, one listens, accepts it well and is ready to correct oneself
• mudu: gentle, humble and modest, able to accept whatever comes one’s way
• anatimānī: not proud (the pride of holding oneself better than others), not exalting oneself and putting others down

Verse 1 speaks of the four groups of the Buddha’s followers, beginning with the monks, who practice the Dhamma wishing to attain nibbāna. They must cultivate the three trainings (sikkhā): sīla (virtue), samādhi (concentration) and paññā (wisdom).

Virtue, the starting point, is the holy life of the teaching (sāsana-brahmacariya) and a condition for the holy life of the path (magga-brahmacariya), leading to the attainment of nibbāna. Here it means the fourfold purity of virtue (catupārisuddhi-sīla, virtue at four levels), namely:

1. Restraint by the monastic code (pātimokkha-saṁvara-sīla), led by faith: for example the five and eight precepts of laypeople and the 227 rules of monks. Each training rule must grow into wholesome states of mind. It is not kept out of stress or pressure, but followed with knowledge and understanding.
2. Restraint of the senses (indriya-saṁvara-sīla), led by mindfulness: guarding the senses, namely eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind, so that lust, irritation, intoxication and infatuation do not arise while seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking.
3. Purity of livelihood (ājīva-pārisuddhi-sīla), led by energy: seeking shelter, clothing, medicine and food without doing anything dishonest.
4. Virtue concerning the requisites (paccaya-sannissita-sīla), led by wisdom: the virtue connected with using the four requisites, reflecting on them with wisdom. This is what is called being skilled in what is beneficial.

Concentration here means concentration at the level of mettā jhāna, namely the first, second and third jhāna (by the Suttanta method).

Wisdom here means the wisdom of the noble path and the noble fruit, which comes from using mettā jhāna as a basis and then developing vipassanā until one is able to attain the noble path and the noble fruit.

A monk skilled in what is beneficial should fulfill the three trainings: virtue, concentration and wisdom.