January 3 – Growing fat with kindness

Dear Friends,

Let’s move into chapter 1 of Christina Feldman’s Boundless Heart. This chapter is a deep dive into the first quality of heart. The Pāli word for this quality is mettā. Christina describes the roots of this word:

The word metta draws on the Pali/Sanskrit word mitta, which translates as “friend.” In turn mitta draws on an earlier Sanskrit word mit that translates as “growing fat with kindness” or “spreading out”—spreading out in friendliness to the world.

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Christina then provides a translation of the Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta.

The Mettā Sutta is chanted everyday, all over the world, in temples, monasteries, communities, by individuals, by groups. It’s an aspirational teaching of how we can wish for loving kindness, for all beings everywhere, without exception. Here’s a little background to this discourse:

A group of monks went to a beautiful forest in the foothills of Himalayas, for the rains retreat (3-4 months). The trees were occupied by tree deities. Initially, the deities tolerated the monks being there, but when they realized that the monks weren’t leaving, they weren’t so happy.

Acharya Buddharakkhita writes:

These dispossessed deities discussed the situation among themselves and decided to frighten the monks away by showing them terrifying objects, by making dreadful noises and by creating a sickening stench. Accordingly, they materialized all these terrifying conditions and afflicted the monks. The monks soon grew pale and could no longer concentrate on their subjects of meditation. As the deities continued to harass them, they lost even their basic mindfulness, and their brains seemed to become smothered by the oppressing visions, noise and stench.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/buddharakkhita/wheel365.html#ch2

The monks went back to the Buddha to say they needed a better spot. The Buddha knew they would have troubles wherever they went, so he sent them back to the forest, but he taught them the Mettā Sutta to do as their practice. They returned, chanting the Mettā Sutta, to send love in all directions. The forest deities heard this, and their hearts were touched by the goodwill being offered, and the monks were allowed to stay.

There are many translations available of this sutta. One that’s commonly recited is from the Amaravati chanting book, a version of which you can access here:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.amar.html
or listen to here:
https://www.amaravati.org/audio/reflections-the-buddhas-words-on-loving-kindness-english-page-35-37/

How wonderful to think that this is being chanted somewhere, possibly in this very moment, for me, for you, for all beings everywhere.

I find it inspiring, for those days when the tree deities… or maybe computer deities, traffic deities, weather deities, and so on, … make it hard for me to concentrate, such that I lose even my basic mindfulness, that someone is chanting this for me.

We’re going to spend a few days investigating this quality of mettā. For today, I invite you to read (or listen to) the Mettā Sutta. And feel the protection and support that is available in this moment.

With warm wishes,
Andrea