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CHAPTER IX
THE DIVINE ABIDINGS
(Brahmavihāra-niddesa)
[(1) LOVING-KINDNESS]
1. [295] The four divine abidings were mentioned next to the recollections as
meditation subjects (III.105). They are loving-kindness, compassion, gladness
and equanimity. A meditator, who wants to develop firstly loving-kindness
among these, if he is a beginner, should sever the impediments and learn the
meditation subject. Then, when he has done the work connected with the meal
and got rid of any dizziness due to it, he should seat himself comfortably on a
well-prepared seat in a secluded place. To start with, he should review the
danger in hate and the advantage in patience.
2.
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.
Now, the danger in hate should be seen in accordance with such suttas as
this: “Friends, when a man hates, is a prey to hate and his mind is obsessed by
hate, he kills living things, and …” (A I 216). And the advantage in patience
should be understood according to such suttas as these:
“No higher rule, the Buddhas say, than patience,
And no Nibbāna higher than forbearance” (D II 49; Dhp 184);
“Patience in force, in strong array:
’Tis him I call a brahman” (Dhp 399);
“No greater thing exists than patience” (S I 222).
3. 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. [296]
4. For loving-kindness should not be developed at first towards the following
four kinds of persons: an antipathetic person, a very dearly loved friend, a neutral
person, and a hostile person. Also it should not be developed specifically (see
§49) towards the opposite sex, or towards a dead person.
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5.
What is the reason why it should not be developed at first towards an
antipathetic person and the others? To put an antipathetic person in a dear
one’s place is fatiguing. To put a very dearly loved friend in a neutral person’s
place is fatiguing; and if the slightest mischance befalls the friend, he feels like
weeping. To put a neutral person in a respected one’s or a dear one’s place is
fatiguing. Anger springs up in him if he recollects a hostile person. That is why
it should not be developed at first towards an antipathetic person and the rest.
6. Then, if he develops it specifically towards the opposite sex, lust inspired by
that person springs up in him. An elder supported by a family was asked, it
seems, by a friend’s son, “Venerable sir, towards whom should loving-kindness
be developed?” The elder told him, “Towards a person one loves.” He loved his
own wife. Through developing loving-kindness towards her he was fighting
against the wall all the night.1 That is why it should not be developed specifically
towards the opposite sex.
7. But if he develops it towards a dead person, he reaches neither absorption
nor access. A young bhikkhu, it seems, had started developing loving-kindness
inspired by his teacher. His loving-kindness made no headway at all. He went to
a senior elder and told him, “Venerable sir, I am quite familiar with attaining
jhāna through loving-kindness, and yet I cannot attain it. What is the matter?”
The elder said, “Seek the sign, friend, [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. That is why it should not be
developed towards one who is dead.
8. First of all it should be developed only towards oneself, doing it repeatedly
thus: “May I be happy and free from suffering” or “May I keep myself free from
enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily.”
9. If that is so, does it not conflict with what is said in the texts? For there is no
mention of any development of it towards oneself in what is said in the Vibhaṅga:
“And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervading one direction with his heart filled
with loving-kindness? Just as he would feel loving-kindness on seeing a dearly
loved person, so he pervades all beings with loving-kindness” (Vibh 272); and
in what is said in the Paṭisambhidā: “In what five ways is the mind-deliverance
of loving-kindness [practiced] with unspecified pervasion? May all beings be
free from enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily. May all breathing things
[297] … all who are born … all persons … all those who have a personality be
free from enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily” (Paṭis II 130); and in
what is said in the Mettā Sutta: “In joy and safety may all beings be joyful at
heart” (Sn 145). [Does it not conflict with those texts?]
1.
“‘Fighting against the wall’: having undertaken the precepts of virtue and sat
down on a seat in his room with the door locked, he was developing loving-kindness.
Blinded by lust arisen under cover of the loving-kindness, he wanted to go to his wife,
and without noticing the door he beat on the wall in his desire to get out even by
breaking the wall down” (Vism-mhṭ 286).
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10.
It does not conflict. Why not? Because that refers to absorption. But this
[initial development towards oneself] refers to [making oneself] an example. For
even if he developed loving-kindness for a hundred or a thousand years in this
way, “I am happy” and so on, absorption would never arise. But if he develops it
in this way: “I am happy. Just as I want to be happy and dread pain, as I want to
live and not to die, so do other beings, too,” making himself the example, then
desire for other beings’ welfare and happiness arises in him. And this method is
indicated by the Blessed One’s saying:
I visited all quarters with my mind
Nor found I any dearer than myself;
Self is likewise to every other dear;
Who loves himself will never harm another (S I 75; Ud 47).
11. So he should first, as example, pervade himself with loving-kindness. Next
after that, in order to proceed easily, he can recollect such gifts,2 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.” With such a person, of course,
he attains absorption.
12. 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, then towards a neutral person as a very
dearly loved friend, then towards a hostile person as neutral. And while he does
so, he should make his mind malleable and wieldy in each instance before
passing on to the next.
13. 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.”
[298] Rather it was about one who actually has an enemy that it was said above
that he should develop loving-kindness towards a hostile person as neutral.
[Getting Rid of Resentment]
14. 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 [jhāna] towards any of
the first-mentioned persons and then, after he has emerged each time, directing
loving-kindness towards that person.
15. 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,
2.
Reading dāna-piyavacanādīni with Ce (see four saṅgahavatthūni—A II 32).
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And strive, and strive repeatedly,
To leave resentment far behind.
He should admonish himself in 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?’” (M I 129). And this:
”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.
The weal of both he does promote,
His own and then the other’s too,
Who shall another’s anger know
And mindfully maintain his peace” (S I 162).
And this: “Bhikkhus, there are seven things gratifying and helpful to an
enemy that happen to one who is angry, whether woman or man. What seven?
Here, bhikkhus, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy, ‘Let him be ugly!’ Why is
that? An enemy does not delight in an enemy’s beauty. Now, this angry person
is a prey to anger, ruled by anger; though well bathed, well anointed, with hair
and beard trimmed and clothed in white, yet he is ugly, being a prey to anger.
This is the first thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is
angry, whether woman or man. Furthermore, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy,
‘Let him lie in pain!’ … ‘Let him have no fortune!’ … ‘Let him not be wealthy!’ …
‘Let him not be famous!’ … ’Let him have no friends!’ [299] … ’Let him not on the
breakup of the body, after death, reappear in a happy destiny in the heavenly
world!’3 Why is that? An enemy does not delight in an enemy’s going to a
happy destiny. Now, this angry person is a prey to anger, ruled by anger; he
misconducts himself in body, speech and mind. Misconducting himself thus in
body, speech and mind, on the breakup of the body, after death, he reappears in
a state of loss, in an unhappy destiny, in perdition, in hell, being a prey to anger”
(A IV 94).? And this: “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 II 95, It 90)?. “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
like a pyre log.” (Source untraced)
16. 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.
17. For one person may be controlled in his bodily behaviour with his control
in doing an extensive course of duty known to all, though his verbal and mental
3.
The Aṅguttara text has “Let him … reappear in a state of loss” and so on.
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behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter should be ignored and the control
in his bodily behaviour remembered.
18. Another may be controlled in his verbal behaviour, and his control known
to all—he may naturally be clever at welcoming kindly, easy to talk with,
congenial, open-countenanced, deferential in speech, and he may expound the
Dhamma with a sweet voice and give explanations of Dhamma with well-
rounded phrases and details—though his bodily and mental behaviour are not
controlled. Then the latter should be ignored and the control in his verbal
behaviour remembered.
19.
Another may be controlled in his mental behaviour, and his control in
worshiping at shrines, etc., evident to all. For when one who is uncontrolled in
mind pays homage at a shrine or at an Enlightenment Tree or to elders, he does
not do it carefully, [300] and he sits in the Dhamma-preaching pavilion with
mind astray or nodding, while one whose mind is controlled pays homage
carefully and deliberately, listens to the Dhamma attentively, remembering it,
and evincing the confidence in his mind through his body or his speech. So
another may be only controlled in his mental behaviour, though his bodily and
verbal behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter should be ignored and the
control in his mental behaviour remembered.
20. But there may be another in whom not even one of these three things is
controlled. Then compassion for that person should be aroused thus: “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 eight great hells or the sixteen
prominent hells.4” For irritation subsides too through compassion. In yet another
all three may be controlled. Then he can remember any of the three in that
person, whichever he likes; for the development of loving-kindness towards
such a person is easy.
21. And in order to make the meaning of this clear the following sutta from the
Book of Fives should be cited in full: “Bhikkhus, there are five ways of dispelling
annoyance whereby annoyance arisen in a bhikkhu can be entirely dispelled”
(A III 186–90).
22.
But if irritation still arises in him in spite of his efforts, then he should
admonish himself 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.
In tears you left your family.
They had been kind and helpful too.
4.
“The eight great hells beginning with that of Sañjīva (see J-a V 266, 270). At each of
the four doors of the Great Unmitigated (Avīci) Hell there are the four beginning with
the Ember (Kukuḷa) Hell (M III 185), which make up the sixteen prominent hells”
(Vism-mhṭ 291).
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So why not 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 such 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.
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? [301]
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?
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?
23. But if resentment does not subside when he admonishes himself thus, then
he should review the fact that he himself and the other are owners of their deeds
(kamma).
Herein, he should first review this in himself thus: “Now, what is the point of
your getting angry with him? 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, having deeds as your parent, deeds as your kin, deeds as your refuge; you
will become the heir of whatever deeds you do (see A III 186). And this is not the
kind of deed to bring you to full enlightenment, to undeclared enlightenment or
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to the disciple’s grade, or to any such position as the status of Brahmā or Sakka,
or the throne of a Wheel-turning Monarch or a regional king, etc.; but rather this
is the kind of deed to lead to your fall from the Dispensation, even to the status of
the eaters of scraps, etc., and to the manifold suffering in the hells, and so on. By
doing this you are like a man who wants to hit another and picks up a burning
ember or excrement in his hand and so first burns himself or makes himself
stink.”
24.
Having reviewed ownership of deeds in himself in this way, he should
review it in the other also: “And what is the point of his getting angry with you?
Will it not lead to his own harm? For that venerable one is owner of his deeds,
heir of his deeds … he will become the heir of whatever deeds he does. And this
is not the kind of deed to bring him to full enlightenment, to undeclared
enlightenment or to the disciple’s grade, or to any such position as the status of
Brahmā or Sakka, or to the throne of a Wheel-turning Monarch or a regional
king, etc.; but rather this is the kind of deed to lead to his fall from the Dispensation,
even to the status of the eaters of scraps, etc., and to the manifold suffering in the
hells, and so on. By doing this he is like a man who wants to throw dust at
another against the wind and only covers himself with it.” For this is said by the
Blessed One:
“When a fool hates a man that has no hate,
Is purified and free from every blemish, [302]
Such evil he will find comes back on him,
As does fine dust thrown up against the wind” (Dhp 125).
25. But if it still does not subside in him when he reviews ownership of deeds
in this way, then he should review the special qualities of the Master’s former
conduct.
26. Here is the way of reviewing it: “Now you who have gone forth, is it not a
fact that when your Master was a Bodhisatta before discovering full
enlightenment, while he was still engaged in fulfilling the perfections during
the four incalculable ages and a hundred thousand aeons, he did not allow hate
to corrupt his mind even when his enemies tried to murder him on various
occasions?
27. “For example, in the Sīlavant Birth Story (J-a I 261) when his friends rose to
prevent his kingdom of three hundred 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. Again when he was
buried, along with a thousand companions, up to the neck in a hole dug in the
earth in a charnel ground, he had no thought of hate. And when, after saving
his life by a heroic effort helped by jackals scraping away soil when they had
come to devour the corpses, he went with the aid of a spirit to his own bedroom
and saw his enemy lying on his own bed, he was not angry but treated him as a
friend, undertaking a mutual pledge, and he then exclaimed:
“The brave aspire, the wise will not lose heart;
I see myself as I had wished to be” (J-a I 267).
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28.
“And in the Khantivādin Birth Story he was asked by the stupid king of
Kāsi (Benares), ‘What do you preach, monk?’ and he replied, ‘I am a preacher of
patience’; and when the king had him flogged with scourges of thorns and had
his hands and feet cut off, he felt not the slightest anger (see J-a III 39).
29. “It is perhaps not so wonderful that an adult who had actually gone forth
into homelessness should have acted in that way; but also as an infant he did so.
For in the Cūḷa-Dhammapāla Birth Story his hands and feet were ordered to be
lopped off like four bamboo shoots by his father, King Mahāpatāpa, and his
mother lamented over him thus:
“Oh, Dhammapāla’s arms are severed
That had been bathed in sandalwood;
He was the heir to all the earth:
O king, my breath is choking me!” (J-a III 181). [303]
“Then his father, still not satisfied, commanded that his head be cut off as
well. But even then he had not the least trace of hate, since he had firmly resolved
thus: ‘Now is the time to restrain your mind; now, good Dhammapāla, be impartial
towards these four persons, that is to say, towards your father who is having your
head cut off, the man who is beheading you, your lamenting mother, and yourself.’
30. “And it is perhaps not so wonderful that one who had become a human
being should have acted in that way; but also as an animal he did so. For while
the Bodhisatta was the elephant called Chaddanta he was pierced in the navel
by a poisoned shaft. But even then he allowed no hate towards the hunter who
had wounded him to corrupt his mind, according as it is said:
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? (J-a V 51).
“And when the elephant had spoken thus and was told, ‘Sir, I have been sent
by the king of Kāsi’s queen to get your tusks,’ in order to fulfil her wish he cut off
his own tusks whose gorgeous radiance glittered with the flashes of the six-
coloured rays and gave them to him.
31. “And when he was the Great Monkey, the man whom he had pulled out of
a rocky chasm 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 ask.]
I’ll travel independently
Taking his meat as a provision;
Thus I shall cross the waste, and that
Will furnish my viaticum’ (J-a V 71).
Then he took up a stone and dashed it on his head. But the monkey looked at
him with eyes full of tears and said:
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‘Oh, act not so, good sir, or else
The fate you reap will long deter
All others from such deeds as this
That you would do to me today’ (J-a V 71).
And with no hate in his mind and regardless of his own pain he saw to it that
the man reached his journey’s end in safety.
32. “And while he was the royal nāga (serpent) Bhūridatta, [304] when he had
undertaken the Uposatha precepts and was lying on the top of a termite-mound,
though he was [caught and] sprinkled with medicinal charms resembling the
fire that ushers in the end of an aeon, and was put into a box and treated as a
plaything throughout the whole of Jambudīpa, yet he had no trace of hate for
that brahman, according as it is said:
‘While being put into the coffer
And being crushed down with his hand,
I had no hate for Álambāna
Lest I should break my precept vow’ (Cp 85).
33. “And when he was the royal nāga Campeyya he let no hate spring up in
his mind while he was being cruelly treated by a snake charmer, according as it
is said:
“While I was living in the Law
Observing the Uposatha
A snake charmer took me away
To play with at the royal gate.
Whatever hue he might conceive,
Blue and yellow, and red as well,
So in accordance with his thought
I would become what he had wished;
I would turn dry land into water,
And water into land likewise.
Now, had I given way to wrath
I could have seared him into ash,
Had I relaxed mind-mastery
I should have let my virtue lapse;
And one who lets his virtue lapse
Cannot attain the highest goal” (Cp 85).
34. “And when he was the royal nāga Saṅkhapāla, while he was being carried
along on a carrying pole by the sixteen village boys after they had wounded
him in eight places with sharp spears and inserted thorn creepers into the
wounds’ orifices, and while, after threading a strong rope through his nose,
they were causing him great agony by dragging him along bumping his body
on the surface of the ground, though he was capable of turning those village
boys to cinders with a mere glance, yet he did not even show the least trace of
hate on opening his eyes, according as it is said:
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‘On the fourteenth and the fifteenth too, Áḷāra,
I regularly kept the Holy Day,
Until there came those sixteen village boys
Bearing a rope and a stout spear as well.
The hunters cleft my nose, and through the slit
They passed a rope and dragged me off like that.
But though I felt such poignant agony,
I let no hate disturb my Holy Day” (J-a V 172). [305]
35. “And he performed not only these wonders but also many others too such
as those told in the Mātuposaka Birth Story (J-a IV 90). 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 who reached
omniscience and who has in the special quality of patience no equal in the
world with its deities.”
36. But if, as he reviews the special qualities of the Master’s former conduct,
the resentment still does not subside in him, since he has long been used to the
slavery of defilement, then he should review the suttas that deal with the
beginninglessness [of the round of rebirths]. Here is what is said: “Bhikkhus, it
is not easy to find a being who has not formerly been your mother … your father
… your brother … your sister … your son … your daughter” (S II 189–90).
Consequently he should think about that person thus: “This person, it seems, as
my mother in the past carried me in her womb for ten months and removed from
me without disgust, as if it were yellow sandalwood, my urine, excrement, spittle,
snot, etc., and played with me in her lap, and nourished me, carrying me about
on her hip. And this person as my father went by goat paths and paths set on
piles,5 etc., to pursue the trade of merchant, and he risked his life for me by going
into battle in double array, by sailing on the great ocean in ships and doing other
difficult things, and he nourished me by bringing back wealth by one means or
another thinking to feed his children. And as my brother, sister, son, daughter,
this person gave me such and such help. So it is unbecoming for me to harbour
hate for him in my mind.”
37. But if he is still unable to quench that thought in this way, then he should
review the advantages of loving-kindness thus: “Now, you who have gone forth
into homelessness, has it not been said by the Blessed One as follows: ‘Bhikkhus,
when the mind-deliverance of loving-kindness is cultivated, developed, much
practiced, made the vehicle, made the foundation, established, consolidated,
and properly undertaken, eleven blessings can be expected. What are the eleven?
A man sleeps in comfort, wakes in comfort, and dreams no evil dreams, he is
dear to human beings, he is dear to non-human beings, deities guard him, fire
and poison and weapons do not affect him, his mind is easily concentrated, the
expression of his face is serene, he dies unconfused, if he penetrates no higher
5.
Saṅku-patha—“set on piles”: Vism-mhṭ (p. 294) says: “Saṅku laggāpetvā te ālambhitvā
gamanamaggo saṅkupatho.” This disagrees with PED for this ref.
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he will be reborn in the Brahmā-world’ (A V 342). [306] If you do not stop this
thought, you will be denied these advantages.”
38. But if he is still unable to stop it in this way, he should try resolution into
elements. How? “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 is it urine you are angry with? Or
alternatively, is it the earth element in the head hairs, etc., you are angry with? Or
the water element? Or the fire element? Or is it the air element you are angry
with? Or among the five aggregates or the twelve bases or the eighteen elements
with respect to which this venerable one is called by such and such a name,
which then, is it the materiality aggregate you are angry with? Or the feeling
aggregate, the perception aggregate, the formations aggregate, the consciousness
aggregate you are angry with? Or is it the eye base you are angry with? Or the
visible-object base you are angry with? … Or the mind base you are angry with?
Or the mental-object base you are angry with? Or is it the eye element you are
angry with? Or the visible-object element? Or the eye-consciousness element? …
Or the mind element? Or the mental-object element? Or the mind-consciousness
element you are angry with?” For when he tries the resolution into elements, his
anger finds no foothold, like a mustard seed on the point of an awl or a painting
on the air.
39. But if he cannot effect the resolution into elements, he should try the giving
of a gift. It can either be given by himself to the other or accepted by himself from
the other. But if the other’s livelihood is not purified and his requisites are not
proper to be used, it should be given by oneself. And in the one who does this the
annoyance with that person entirely subsides. And in the other even anger that
has been dogging him from a past birth subsides at the moment, as happened to
the senior elder who received a bowl given to him at the Cittalapabbata
Monastery by an almsfood-eater elder who had been three times made to move
from his lodging by him, and who presented it with these words: “Venerable sir,
this bowl worth eight ducats was given me by my mother who is a lay devotee,
and it is rightly obtained; let the good lay devotee acquire merit.” So efficacious
is this act of giving. And this is said:
A gift for taming the untamed,
A gift for every kind of good;
Through giving gifts they do unbend
And condescend to kindly speech. [307]
[The Breaking Down of the Barriers—The Sign]
40.
When his resentment towards that hostile person has been thus allayed,
then he can turn his mind with loving-kindness towards that person too, just as
towards the one who is dear, the very dear friend, and the neutral person. Then
he should break down the barriers by practicing loving-kindness over and over
again, accomplishing mental impartiality towards the four persons, that is to
say, himself, the dear person, the neutral person and the hostile person.
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41. The characteristic of it is this. Suppose this person is sitting in a place with
a dear, a neutral, and a hostile person, himself being the fourth; then bandits
come to him and say, “Venerable sir, give us a bhikkhu,” and on being asked
why, they answer, “So that we may kill him and use the blood of his throat as an
offering;” then if that bhikkhu thinks, “Let them take this one, or this one,” he
has not broken down the barriers. And also if he thinks, “Let them take me but
not these three,” he has not broken down the barriers either. Why? Because he
seeks the harm of him whom he wishes to be taken and seeks the welfare of the
other only. But it is when he does not see a single one among the four people to
be given to the bandits and he directs his mind impartially towards himself and
towards those three people that he has broken down the barriers. Hence the
Ancients said:
42.
When he discriminates between
The four, that is himself, the dear,
The neutral, and the hostile one,
Then “skilled” is not the name he gets,
Nor “having amity at will,”
But only “kindly towards beings.”
Now, when a bhikkhu’s barriers
Have all the four been broken down,
He treats with equal amity
The whole world with its deities;
Far more distinguished than the first
Is he who knows no barriers.
43.
Thus the sign and access are obtained by this bhikkhu simultaneously
with the breaking down of the barriers. But when breaking down of the barriers
has been effected, he reaches absorption in the way described under the earth
kasiṇa without trouble by cultivating, developing, and repeatedly practicing
that same sign.
At this point he has attained the first jhāna, which abandons five factors,
possesses five factors, is good in three ways, is endowed with ten characteristics,
and is accompanied by loving-kindness. And when that has been obtained,
then by cultivating, developing, and repeatedly practicing that same sign, he
successively reaches the second and third jhānas in the fourfold system, and the
second, third and fourth in the fivefold system. [308]
[Texts and Commentary]
44. Now, it is by means of one of these jhānas beginning with the first that he
“Dwells pervading (intent upon) one direction with his heart endued with loving-
kindness, likewise the second direction, likewise the third direction, likewise
the fourth direction, and so above, below, and around; everywhere and equally
he dwells pervading the entire world with his heart endued with loving-
kindness, abundant, exalted, measureless, free from enmity, and free from
affliction” (Vibh 272; D I 250). For this versatility comes about only in one whose
consciousness has reached absorption in the first jhāna and the rest.
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45.
And here endued with loving-kindness means possessing loving-kindness.
With his heart (cetasā): with his mind (cittena). One direction: this refers to anyone
direction in which a being is first discerned and means pervasion of the beings
included in that one direction. Pervading: touching, making his object. He dwells
(viharati): he causes the occurrence of an abiding (vihāra—dwelling or
continuation) in postures that is devoted to the divine abidings (see IV.103).
Likewise the second: just as he dwells pervading anyone direction among those
beginning with the eastern one, so he does with the next one, and the third and
the fourth, is the meaning.
46.
So above: in that same way in the upper direction is what is meant. Below,
around: so too the lower direction and the direction all round. Herein, below  is
underneath, and around  is in the intermediate directions. So he sends his heart
full of loving-kindness back and forth in all directions like a horse in a circus
ground. Up to this point specified pervasion with loving-kindness is shown in
the discernment of each direction separately.
47. Everywhere, etc., is said for the purpose of showing unspecified pervasion.
Herein,  everywhere  means in all places. Equally  (sabbattatāya): to all classed as
inferior, medium, superior, friendly, hostile, neutral, etc., just as to oneself (attatā);
equality with oneself (atta-samatā) without making the distinction, “This is
another being,” is what is meant. Or alternatively, equally  (sabbattatāya) is with
the whole state of the mind; not reserving even a little, is what is meant. [309]
Entire  (sabbāvant): possessing all beings (sabbasattavant); associated with all
beings, is the meaning. World is the world of beings.
48.
Endued with loving-kindness is said again here in order to introduce the
synonyms beginning with abundant. Or alternatively, endued with loving-kindness
is repeated because the word likewise or the word so is not repeated here as it was
in the case of the [preceding] specified pervasion. Or alternatively, it is said as a
way of concluding. And abundant  should be regarded here as abundance in
pervading. But it is exalted  in plane [from the sensual-sphere plane to the fine-
material-sphere plane], measureless  through familiarity and through having
measureless beings as its object, free from enmity through abandonment of ill
will and hostility, and free from affliction through abandonment of grief; without
suffering, is what is meant. This is the meaning of the versatility described in the
way beginning, “With his heart endued with loving-kindness.”
49. And just as this versatility is successful only in one whose mind has reached
absorption, so too that described in the Paṭisambhidā should be understood to
be successful only in one whose mind has reached absorption, that is to say:
“The mind-deliverance of loving-kindness is [practiced] with unspecified
pervasion in five ways. The mind-deliverance of loving-kindness is [practiced]
with specified pervasion in seven ways. The mind-deliverance of loving-kindness
is [practiced] with directional pervasion in ten ways” (Paṭis II 130).
50.
And herein, the mind-deliverance of loving-kindness is [practiced] with
unspecified pervasion in these five ways: “May all beings be free from enmity,
affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all breathing things … all creatures
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… all persons … all those who have a personality be free from enmity, affliction
and anxiety, and live happily” (Paṭis II 130).
51.
The mind-deliverance of loving-kindness is [practiced] with specified
pervasion in these seven ways: “May all women be free from enmity, affliction
and anxiety and live happily. May all men … all Noble Ones … all not Noble
Ones … all deities … all human beings … all in states of loss be free from enmity,
affliction and anxiety, and live happily” (Paṭis II 131).
52.
The mind-deliverance of loving-kindness is [practiced] with directional
pervasion in these ten ways: “May all beings in the eastern direction be free
from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all beings in the western
direction … northern direction … southern direction [310] … eastern intermediate
direction … western intermediate direction … northern intermediate direction
… southern intermediate direction … downward direction … upward direction
be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all breathing
things in the eastern direction … May all creatures in the eastern direction …
May all persons in the eastern direction … May all who have a personality in
the eastern direction … [etc.] … in the upward direction be free from enmity,
affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all women in the eastern direction
… May all men in the eastern direction … May all Noble Ones in the eastern
direction … May all not Noble Ones in the eastern direction … May all deities in
the eastern direction … May all human beings in the eastern direction … May
all those in states of loss in the eastern direction … [etc.] … be free from enmity,
affliction and anxiety, and live happily” (Paṭis II 131).
53.
Herein,  all  signifies inclusion without exception. Beings  (satta): they are
held (satta), gripped (visatta) by desire and greed for the aggregates beginning
with materiality, thus they are beings (satta). For this is said by the Blessed One:
“Any desire for matter, Rādha, any greed for it, any delight in it, any craving for
it, has held (satta) it, has gripped (visatta) it, that is why ‘a being’ (satta) is said”
(S III 190). 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”
(tālavaṇṭa) is used for different sorts of fans [in general] even if made of split
bamboo. However, [in the world] etymologists (akkhara-cintaka) who do not
consider meaning have it that it is a mere name, while those who do consider
meaning have it that a “being” (satta) is so called with reference to the “bright
principle” (satta).6
54. Breathing things (pāṇa): so called because of their state of breathing (pāṇanatā);
the meaning is, because their existence depends on in-breaths and out-breaths.
Creatures (bhūta): so called because of being (bhūtatta = becomeness); the meaning
is, because of their being fully become (sambhūtatta), because of their being
generated (abhinibbattatta).  Persons  (puggala): “puṃ” is what hell is called; they
fall (galanti) into that, is the meaning. Personality (attabhāva) is what the physical
6.
Satta—“the bright principle”: Skr. sattva; one of the three principles in the Sāṅkhya
system, the other two being rajas (Pali: rajo) or turbulence and tamas (Pali: tamo) or
darkness. Not in PED.
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body is called; or it is just the pentad of aggregates, since it is actually only a
concept derived from that pentad of aggregates7 [What is referred to is] included
(pariyāpanna) in that personality, thus it “has a personality” (attabhāva-
pariyāpanna). “Included in” is delimited by; “gone into” is the meaning.
55. And all the remaining [terms] should be understood as synonyms for “all
beings” used in accordance with ordinary speech as in the case of the term
“beings.” Of course, [311] there are other synonyms too for all “beings,” such as
all “folks,” all “souls,” etc.; still it is for clarity’s sake that “The mind-deliverance
of loving-kindness is [practiced] with unspecified pervasion in five ways” is
said and that only these five are mentioned.
56.
Those who would have it that there is not only a mere verbal difference
between “beings,” “breathing things,” etc., but also an actual difference in
meaning, are contradicted by the mention of unspecified pervasion. So instead
of taking the meaning in that way, the unspecified pervasion with loving-
kindness is done in any one of these five ways.
And here, may all beings be free from enmity is one absorption; free from affliction
is one absorption—free from affliction (abyābajjha) is free from afflictedness
(byābādha-rahita);8  free from anxiety is one absorption—free from anxiety is free
from suffering; may they live happily is one absorption. Consequently he should
do his pervading with loving-kindness according to whichever of these phrases
is clear to him. So with the four kinds of absorption in each of the five ways, there
are twenty kinds of absorption in unspecified pervasion.
57.
In specified pervasion, with the four kinds of absorption in each of the
seven ways, there are twenty-eight kinds of absorption. And here “woman” and
“man” are stated according to sex; “Noble Ones” and “not Noble Ones”
according to Noble Ones and ordinary people; “deities” and “human beings”
and “those in states of loss” according to the kind of rebirth.
58.
In directional pervasion, with twenty kinds of absorption in each of the
directions beginning with “all beings in the eastern direction,” there are two
hundred kinds of absorption; and with twenty-eight kinds in each of the
directions beginning with “all women in the eastern direction” there are two
hundred and eighty kinds; so these make four hundred and eighty kinds of
absorption. Consequently all the kinds of absorption mentioned in the
Paṭisambhidā amount to five hundred and twenty-eight.
7.
“Here when the aggregates are not fully understood, there is naming (abhidhāna)
of them and of the consciousness of them as self (attā), that is to say, the physical body
or alternatively the five aggregates. ‘Derived from’: apprehending, gripping, making a
support. ‘Since it is actually a mere concept’: because of presence (sabbhāvato) as a
mere concept in what is called a being, though in the highest sense the ‘being’ is non-
existent” (Vism-mhṭ 298). See also Ch. VIII, note 11.
8.
Harvard text reads byāpādarahita, which would be renderable as “free from ill
will.” Vism-mhṭ (p. 299) supports a reading byābādha, which seems better.
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59. So when this meditator develops the mind-deliverance of loving-kindness
through any one of these kinds of absorption, he obtains the eleven advantages
described in the way beginning, “A man sleeps in comfort” (§37).
60.
Herein,  sleeps in comfort means that instead of sleeping uncomfortably,
turning over and snoring as other people do, he sleeps comfortably, he falls
asleep as though entering upon an attainment.
61.
He  wakes in comfort: instead of waking uncomfortably, groaning and
yawning and turning over as others do, he wakes comfortably without contortions,
like a lotus opening. [312]
62.
He  dreams no evil dreams: when he sees dreams, he sees only auspicious
ones, as though he were worshipping a shrine, as though he were making an
offering, as though he were hearing the Dhamma. But he does not see evil
dreams as others do, as though being surrounded by bandits, as though being
threatened by wild beasts, as though falling into chasms (see XIV, n. 45).
63. He is dear to human beings: he is as dear to and beloved by human beings as
a necklace worn to hang on the chest, as a wreath adorning the head.
64. He is dear to non-human beings: he is just as dear to non-human beings as he
is to human beings, as in the Elder Visākha’s case. He was a landowner, it
seems, at Pāṭaliputta (Patna). While he was living there he heard this: “The
Island of Tambapaṇṇi (Sri Lanka), apparently, is adorned with a diadem of
shrines and gleams with the yellow cloth, and there a man can sit or lie wherever
he likes; there the climate is favourable, the abodes are favourable, the people are
favourable, the Dhamma to be heard is favourable, and all these favourable things
are easily obtained there.”
65. He made over his fortune to his wife and children and left his home with
only a single ducat (kahāpaṇa) sewn into the hem of his garment. He stopped for
one month on the sea coast in expectation of a ship, and meanwhile by his skill
in trading he made a thousand during the month by buying goods here and
selling them there in lawful enterprise.
66.
Eventually he came to the Great Monastery [(Mahāvihāra) at Anurādha-
pura], and there he asked for the going forth into homelessness. When he was
being conducted to the chapter house (sīmā) for the going-forth ceremony, the
purse containing the thousand pieces dropped out from under his belt. When
asked “What is that?” he replied, “It is a thousand ducats, venerable sirs.” They
told him, “Lay follower, it is not possible to distribute them after the going forth.
Distribute them now.” Then he said, “Let none who have come to the scene of
Visākha’s going forth depart empty-handed,” and opening [the purse] he
strewed them over the chapter house yard, after which he received the going
forth and the full admission.
67. When he had acquired five years’ seniority and had become familiar with
the two Codes (Pātimokkha; see III.31) he celebrated the Pavāraṇā at the end of
the Rains, took a meditation subject that suited him, and set out to wander, living
for four months in each monastery and doing the duties on a basis of equality
with the residents. While he was wandering in this way:
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The elder halted in a wood
To scan the tenor of his way;
He thundered forth this roundelay
Proclaiming that he found it good:
So from your full-admission day
Till in this place you paused and stood
No stumbling mars your bhikkhuhood;
Be thankful for such grace, I say. [313]
68. On his way to Cittalapabbata he came to a road fork and stood wondering
which turn to take. Then a deity living in a rock held out a hand pointing out the
road to him.
69.
He came to the Cittalapabbata Monastery. After he had stayed there for
four months he lay down thinking, “In the morning I depart.” Then a deity
living in a maṇila tree at the end of the walk sat down on a step of the stair and
burst into tears. The elder asked, “Who is that?”—“It is I, Maṇiliyā, venerable
sir.”—“What are you weeping for?”—“Because you are going away.”—“What
good does my living here to you?”—“Venerable sir, as long as you live here non-
human beings treat each other kindly. Now, when you are gone, they will start
quarrels and loose talk.”9 The elder said, “If my living here makes you live at
peace, that is good,” and so he stayed there another four months. Then he again
thought of leaving, but the deity wept as before. And so the elder lived on there,
and it was there that he attained Nibbāna.
This is how a bhikkhu who abides in loving-kindness is dear to non-human
beings.
70.
Deities guard him: deities guard him as a mother and father guard their
child.
71. Fire, poison and weapons do not affect him: they do not affect, do not enter into,
the body of one who abides in loving-kindness, like the fire in the case of the lay
woman devotee Uttarā (see XII.34 and Dhp-a III 310), like the poison in the case
of the Saṃyutta reciter the Elder Cūḷa-Siva, like the knife in the case of the novice
Saṅkicca (see Dhp-a II 249); they do not disturb the body, is what is meant.
72. And they tell the story of the cow here too. A cow was giving milk to her
calf, it seems. A hunter, thinking “I shall shoot her,” flourished a long-handled
spear in his hand and flung it. It struck her body and bounced off like a palm
leaf—and that was owing neither to access nor to absorption, but simply to the
strength of her consciousness of love for her calf. So mightily powerful is loving-
kindness.
73. His mind is easily concentrated: the mind of one who abides in loving-kindness
is quickly concentrated, there is no sluggishness about it. [314]
74.
The expression of his face is serene: his face has a serene expression, like a
palmyra fruit loosed from its stem.
9.
For duṭṭhulla see Ch. IV, note 36. Here the meaning is more likely to be “bad” or
“lewd” than “inert.”
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75. He dies unconfused: there is no dying deluded for one who abides in loving-
kindness. He passes away undeluded as if falling asleep.
76. If he penetrates no higher: if he is unable to reach higher than the attainment
of loving-kindness and attain Arahantship, then when he falls from this life, he
reappears in the Brahmā-world as one who wakes up from sleep.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of loving-kindness.
[(2) COMPASSION]
77. One who wants to develop compassion should begin his task by reviewing
the danger in lack of compassion and the advantage in compassion.
And when he begins it, he should not direct it at first towards the dear, etc.,
persons; for one who is dear simply retains the position of one who is dear, a
very dear companion retains the position of a very dear companion, one who is
neutral retains the position of one who is neutral, one who is antipathetic retains
the position of one who is antipathetic, and one who is hostile retains the position
of one who is hostile. One of the opposite sex and one who is dead are also not
the field for it.
78. In the Vibhaṅga it is said: “And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervading one
direction with his heart endued with compassion? Just as he would feel
compassion on seeing an unlucky, unfortunate person, so he pervades all beings
with compassion” (Vibh 273). Therefore first of all, on seeing a wretched man,
unlucky, unfortunate, in every way a fit object for compassion, unsightly, reduced
to utter misery, with hands and feet cut off, sitting in the shelter for the helpless
with a pot placed before him, with a mass of maggots oozing from his arms and
legs, and moaning, compassion should be felt for him in this way: “This being
has indeed been reduced to misery; if only he could be freed from this suffering!”
But if he does not encounter such a person, then he can arouse compassion
for an evil-doing person, even though he is happy, by comparing him to one
about to be executed. How?
79.
Suppose a robber has been caught with stolen goods, and in accordance
with the king’s command to execute him, the king’s men bind him and lead him
off to the place of execution, giving him a hundred blows in sets of four. Then
people give him things to chew and eat and also garlands and perfumes,
unguents and betel leaves. Although [315] he goes along eating and enjoying
these things as though he were happy and well off, still no one fancies that he is
really happy and well off. On the contrary people feel compassion for him,
thinking, “This poor wretch is now about to die; every step he takes brings him
nearer to the presence of death.” So too a bhikkhu whose meditation subject is
compassion should arouse compassion for an [evil-doing] person even if he is
happy: “Though this poor wretch is now happy, cheerful, enjoying his wealth,
still for want of even one good deed done now in any one of the three doors [of
body, speech and mind] he can come to experience untold suffering in the states
of loss.”
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80.
Having aroused compassion for that person in that way, he should next
arouse compassion for a dear person, next for a neutral person, and next for a
hostile person, successively in the same way.
81.
But if resentment towards the hostile person arises in the way already
described, he should make it subside in the way described under loving-kindness
(§§14–39).
And here too when someone has done profitable deeds and the meditator
sees or hears that he has been overtaken by one of the kinds of ruin beginning
with ruin of health, relatives, property, etc., he deserves the meditator’s
compassion; and so he does too in any case, even with no such ruin, thus “In
reality he is unhappy,” because he is not exempt from the suffering of the round
[of becoming]. And in the way already described the meditator should break
down the barriers between the four kinds of people, that is to say, himself, the
dear person, the neutral person and the hostile person. Then cultivating that
sign, developing it and repeatedly practicing it, he should increase the
absorption by the triple and quadruple jhāna in the way already stated under
loving-kindness.
82. But the order given in the Aṅguttara Commentary is that a hostile person
should first be made the object of compassion, and when the mind has been
made malleable with respect to him, next the unlucky person, next the dear
person, and next oneself. That does not agree with the text, “an unlucky,
unfortunate person” (§78).Therefore he should begin the development, break
down the barriers, and increase absorption only in the way stated here.
83.
After that, the versatility consisting in the unspecified pervasion in five
ways, the specified pervasion in seven ways, and the directional pervasion in ten
ways, and the advantages described as “He sleeps in comfort,” etc., should be
understood in the same way as given under loving-kindness.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of compassion. [316]
[(3) GLADNESS]
84. One who begins the development of gladness10 should not start with the
dear person and the rest; for a dear person is not the proximate cause of gladness
merely in virtue of dearness, how much less the neutral and the hostile person.
One of the opposite sex and one who is dead are also not the field for it.
85. However, the very dear companion can be the proximate cause for it—one
who in the commentaries is called a “boon companion,” for he is constantly
glad: he laughs first and speaks afterwards. So he should be the first to be
pervaded with gladness. Or on seeing or hearing about a dear person being
happy, cheerful and glad, gladness can be aroused thus: “This being is indeed
glad. How good, how excellent!” For this is what is referred to in the Vibhaṅga:
“And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervading one direction with his heart endued
10.
Muditā—“gladness” as one of the divine abidings is always in the sense of
gladness at others’ success. Sometimes rendered as “altruistic joy” and “sympathetic
gladness.”
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with gladness? Just as he would be glad on seeing a dear and beloved person, so
he pervades all beings with gladness” (Vibh 274).
86. 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 and apprehending the glad aspect in this
way: “In the past he had great wealth, a great following and he was always
glad.” Or gladness can be aroused by apprehending the future glad aspect in
him in this way: “In the future he will again enjoy similar success and will go
about in gold palanquins, on the backs of elephants or on horseback, and so
on.”
Having thus aroused gladness with respect to a dear person, he can then
direct it successively towards a neutral one, and after that towards a hostile one.
87. But if resentment towards the hostile one arises in him in the way already
described, he should make it subside in the same way as described under loving-
kindness (§§14–39).
He should break down the barriers by means of mental impartiality towards
the four, that is, towards these three and himself. And by cultivating that sign,
developing and repeatedly practicing it, he should increase the absorption to
triple and quadruple jhāna in the way already stated under loving-kindness.
Next, the versatility consisting in unspecified pervasion in five ways, specified
pervasion in seven ways, and directional pervasion in ten ways, and also the
advantages described as “He sleeps in comfort,” etc., should be understood in
the same way as stated under loving-kindness.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of gladness.
[317]
[(4) EQUANIMITY]
88.
One who wants to develop equanimity must have already obtained the
triple or quadruple jhāna in loving-kindness, and so on. He should emerge from
the third jhāna [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 beings’ enjoyment in the way beginning “May they be
happy,” because resentment and approval are near, and because their association
with joy is gross. And he should also see the advantage in equanimity because
it is peaceful. Then he should arouse equanimity (upekkhā) by looking on with
equanimity (ajjhupekkhitvā) at a person who is normally neutral; after that at a
dear person, and the rest. For this is said: “And how does a bhikkhu dwell
pervading one direction with his heart endued with equanimity? Just as he
would feel equanimity on seeing a person who was neither beloved nor unloved,
so he pervades all beings with equanimity” (Vibh 275).
89. Therefore he should arouse equanimity towards the neutral person in the
way already stated. Then, through the neutral one, he should break down the
barriers in each case between the three people, that is, the dear person, then the
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boon companion, and then the hostile one, and lastly himself. And he should
cultivate that sign, develop and repeatedly practice it.
90. As he does so the fourth jhāna arises in him in the way described under the
earth kasiṇa.
But how then? Does this arise in one in whom the third jhāna has already
arisen on the basis of the earth kasiṇa, etc.? It does not. Why not? Because of the
dissimilarity of the object. It arises only in one in whom the third jhāna has
arisen on the basis of loving-kindness, etc., because the object is similar.
But after that the versatility and the obtaining of advantages should be
understood in the same way as described under loving-kindness.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of equanimity.
[General]
91.
Now, having thus known these divine abidings
Told by the Divine One (brahmā) supremely [wise],
There is this general explanation too
Concerning them that he should recognize.
[Meanings]
92.
Now, as to the meaning firstly of loving-kindness, compassion, gladness
and equanimity: it fattens (mejjati), thus it is loving-kindness (mettā); it is solvent
(siniyhati) is the meaning. Also: it comes about with respect to a friend (mitta),
[318] or it is behaviour towards a friend, thus it is loving-kindness (mettā).
When there is suffering in others it causes (karoti) good people’s hearts to be
moved (kampana), thus it is compassion (karuṇā). Or alternatively, it combats
(kiṇāti)11 others’ suffering, attacks and demolishes it, thus it is compassion. Or
alternatively, it is scattered (kiriyati) upon those who suffer, it is extended to them
by pervasion, thus it is compassion (karuṇā).
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 (muditā).
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
(upekkhā).
[Characteristic, Etc.]
93.
As to the characteristic, etc., loving-kindness  is characterized here as
promoting the aspect of welfare. Its function is to prefer welfare. It is manifested
as the removal of annoyance. Its proximate cause is seeing loveableness in beings.
It succeeds when it makes ill will subside, and it fails when it produces (selfish)
affection.
11.
Kiṇāti—“it combats”: Skr. kºnāti—to injure or kill. PED gives this ref. under
ordinary meaning “to buy,” which is wrong.
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94. Compassion  is characterized as promoting the aspect of allaying suffering.
Its function resides in not bearing others’ 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.
95.
Gladness  is characterized as gladdening (produced by others’ success).12
Its function resides in being unenvious. It is manifested as the elimination of
aversion (boredom). Its proximate cause is seeing beings, success. It succeeds
when it makes aversion (boredom) subside, and it fails when it produces
merriment.
96. Equanimity  is characterized as promoting the aspect of neutrality towards
beings. Its function is to see equality in beings. It is manifested as the quieting of
resentment and approval. Its proximate cause is seeing ownership of deeds
(kamma) thus: “Beings are owners of their deeds. Whose13 [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?” It succeeds when it makes
resentment and approval subside, and it fails when it produces the equanimity
of unknowing, which is that [worldly-minded indifference of ignorance] based
on the house life.
[Purpose]
97.
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. For here loving-kindness has the purpose
of warding off ill will, while the others have the respective purposes of warding
off cruelty, aversion (boredom), and greed or resentment. And this is said too:
“For this is the escape from ill will, friends, that is to say, the mind-deliverance of
loving-kindness … For this is the escape from cruelty, friends, that is to say, the
mind-deliverance of compassion … For this is the escape from boredom, friends,
that is to say, the mind-deliverance of gladness … For this is the escape from
greed, friends, that is to say, the mind-deliverance of equanimity” (D III 248).
[The Near and Far Enemies]
98. And here each one has two enemies, one near and one far.
The divine abiding of loving-kindness  [319] has greed as its near enemy,14
since both share in 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
12.
So Vism-mhṭ 309.
13. All texts read kassa (whose), which is confirmed in the quotation translated in
note 20. It is tempting, in view of the context, to read kammassa (kamma’s), but there
is no authority for it. The statement would then be an assertion instead of a question.
14. “Greed is the near enemy of loving-kindness since it is able to corrupt owing to
its similarity, like an enemy masquerading as a friend” (Vism-mhṭ 309).
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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 of that; for it is not possible to practice loving-kindness
and feel anger simultaneously (see D III 247–48).
99. Compassion  has grief based on the home life as its near enemy, since both
share in seeing failure. Such grief has been described in the way beginning,
“When a man either regards as a privation failure to obtain visible objects
cognizable by the eye that are sought after, desired, agreeable, gratifying and
associated with worldliness, or when he recalls those formerly obtained that are
past, ceased and changed, then grief arises in him. Such grief as this is called
grief based on the home life” (M III 218). And cruelty, which is dissimilar to the
similar grief, is its far enemy. So compassion must be practiced free from fear of
that; for it is not possible to practice compassion and be cruel to breathing things
simultaneously.
100.
Gladness has joy based on the home life as its near enemy, since both share
in seeing success. Such joy has been described in the way beginning, “When a
man either regards as gain the obtaining of visible objects cognizable by the eye
that are sought … and associated with worldliness, or recalls those formerly
obtained that are past, ceased, and changed, then joy arises in him. Such joy as
this is called joy based on the home life” (M III 217). And aversion (boredom),
which is dissimilar to the similar joy, is its far enemy. So gladness should be
practiced free from fear of that; for it is not possible to practice gladness and be
discontented with remote abodes and things connected with the higher
profitableness simultaneously.
101.
Equanimity  has the equanimity of unknowing based on the home life as
its near enemy, since both share in ignoring faults and virtues. Such unknowing
has been described in the way beginning, “On seeing a visible object with the
eye equanimity arises in the foolish infatuated ordinary man, in the untaught
ordinary man who has not conquered his limitations, who has not conquered
future [kamma] result, who is unperceiving of danger. Such equanimity as this
does not surmount the visible object. Such equanimity as this is called equanimity
based on the home life” (M III 219). And greed and resentment, which are
dissimilar to the similar unknowing, are its far enemies. Therefore equanimity
must be practiced free from fear of that; [320] for it is not possible to look on with
equanimity and be inflamed with greed or be resentful15 simultaneously.
[The Beginning, Middle and End, Etc.]
102.
Now, zeal consisting in desire to act is the beginning of all these things.
Suppression of the hindrances, etc., is the middle. Absorption is the end. Their
15. Paṭihaññati—“to be resentful”: not in PED; the verb has been needed to correspond
to “resentment” (paṭigha), as the verb, “to be inflamed with greed” (rajjati) corresponds
with “greed” (rāga).
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object is a single living being or many living beings, as a mental object consisting
in a concept.
[The Order in Extension]
103.
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.” When his mind has become
malleable and wieldy with respect to that, he can then delimit two dwellings.
Next he can successively delimit three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one
street, half the village, the whole village, the district, the kingdom, one direction,
and so on up to one world-sphere, or even beyond that, and develop loving-
kindness towards the beings in such areas. Likewise with compassion and so
on. This is the order in extending here.
[The Outcome]
104.
Just as the immaterial states are the outcome of the kasiṇas, 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.
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 (jhāna in the fourth divine abiding) without having already
developed the third jhāna in the earlier (three divine abidings).
[Four Questions]
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?
106. It may be replied: The divineness of the abiding (brahmavihāratā) should be
understood here in the sense of best and in the sense of immaculate. For these
abidings are the best in being the right attitude towards beings. And just as Brahmā
gods abide with immaculate minds, so the meditators who associate themselves
with these abidings abide on an equal footing with Brahmā gods. So they are called
divine abidings in the sense of best and in the sense of immaculate. [321]
107.
Here are the answers to the questions beginning with “Why are they only
four?”:
Their number four is due to paths to purity
And other sets of four; their order to their aim
As welfare and the rest. Their scope is found to be
Immeasurable, so “measureless states” their name.
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108.
For among these, 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
for one who has much aversion (boredom), 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]. 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.”
109.
One who wants to develop these four should practice them towards beings
first as the promotion of the aspect of welfare—and loving-kindness has the
promotion of the aspect of welfare as its characteristic; and next, on seeing or
hearing or judging16 that beings whose welfare has been thus wished for are at
the mercy of suffering, they should be practiced as the promotion of the aspect of
the removal of suffering—and compassion has the promotion of the aspect of
the removal of suffering as its characteristic; and then, on seeing the success of
those whose welfare has been wished for and the removal of whose suffering
has been wished for, they should be practiced as being glad—and gladness has
the act of gladdening as its characteristic; but after that there is nothing to be
done and so they should be practiced as the neutral aspect, in other words, the
state of an onlooker—and equanimity has the promotion of the aspect of
neutrality as its characteristic; therefore, since their respective aims are the aspect
of welfare, etc., their order should be understood to correspond, with loving-
kindness stated first, then compassion, gladness and equanimity.
110. All of them, however, occur with a measureless scope, for their scope is
measureless beings; and 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.
That is why it was said: [322]
Their number four is due to paths to purity
And other sets of four; their order to their aim
As welfare and the rest. Their scope is found to be
Immeasurable, so “measureless states” their name.
[As Producing Three Jhānas and Four Jhānas]
111. Though they have a single characteristic in having a measureless scope,
yet the first three are only of triple and quadruple jhāna [respectively in the
fourfold and fivefold reckonings]. Why? Because they are not dissociated from
16. Sambhāvetvā—“judging”: not in this sense in PED. Vism-mhṭ (p. 313) explains by
parikappetvā (conjecturing).
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joy. But why are their aims not dissociated from joy? Because they are the escape
from ill will, etc., which are originated by grief. But the last one belongs only to
the remaining single jhāna. Why? Because it is associated with equanimous
feeling. For the divine abiding of equanimity that occurs in the aspect of neutrality
towards beings does not exist apart from equanimous [that is to say, neither-
painful-nor-pleasant] feeling.
112.
However, someone might say this: “It has been said by the Blessed One in
the Book of Eights, speaking of the measureless states in general: ‘Next, bhikkhu,
you should develop the concentration with applied thought and sustained
thought, and you should develop it without applied thought and with sustained
thought only, and you should develop it without applied thought and without
sustained thought, and you should develop it with happiness, and you should
develop it without happiness, and you should develop it accompanied by
gratification, and you should develop it accompanied by equanimity’ (A IV 300).
Consequently all four measureless states have quadruple and quintuple jhāna.”
113.
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 jhāna.
But there is not even the first jhāna in the contemplation of feeling or in the other
two.17 So do not misrepresent the Blessed One by adherence to the letter. The
Enlightened One’s word is profound and should be taken as it is intended,
giving due weight to the teachers.”
114.
And the intention here is this: The Blessed One, it seems, was asked to
teach the Dhamma thus: “Venerable sir, it would be good if the Blessed One
would teach me the Dhamma in brief, so that, having heard the Blessed One’s
Dhamma, I may dwell alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent and self-exerted” (A
IV 299). But the Blessed One had no confidence yet in that bhikkhu, since although
he had already heard the Dhamma he had nevertheless gone on living there
instead of going to do the ascetic’s duties, [and the Blessed One expressed his
lack of confidence] thus: “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” (A IV 299). However, the bhikkhu had the potentiality for the
attainment of Arahantship, and so he advised him again, [323] saying: “Therefore,
bhikkhu, you should train thus: ‘My mind shall be steadied, quite steadied
internally, and arisen evil unprofitable things shall not obsess my mind and
17. For which kinds of body contemplation give which kinds of concentration see
8.43 and M-a I 247.
18. “‘Mere unification of the mind’: the kind of concentrating (samādhāna) that is undeveloped
and just obtained by one in pursuit of development. That is called ‘basic concentration,’
however, since it is the basic reason for the kinds of more distinguished concentration to
be mentioned later in this connection. This ‘mere unification of the mind’ is intended as
momentary concentration as in the passage beginning, ‘I internally settled, steadied,
unified and concentrated my mind’ (M I 116). For the first unification of the mind is
recognized as momentary concentration here as it is in the first of the two successive
descriptions: ‘Tireless energy was aroused in me … my mind was concentrated and
unified’ followed by ‘Quite secluded from sense desires …’” (M I 21) (Vism-mhṭ 314).
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remain.’ You should train thus” (A IV 299). But what is stated in that advice is
basic concentration consisting in mere unification of mind18  internally in the
sense of in oneself (see Ch. XIV, n. 75).
115.
After that he told him about its development by means of loving-kindness
in order to show that he should not rest content with just that much but should
intensify his basic concentration in this way: “As soon as your mind has become
steadied, quite steadied internally, bhikkhu, and arisen evil unprofitable things
do not obsess your mind and remain, then you should train thus: ‘The mind-
deliverance of loving-kindness will be developed by me, frequently practiced,
made the vehicle, made the foundation, established, consolidated, and properly
undertaken.’ You should train thus, bhikkhu” (A IV 299–300), after which he
said further: “As soon as this concentration has been thus developed by you,
bhikkhu,19 and frequently practiced, then you should develop this concentration
with applied thought and sustained thought … and you should develop it
accompanied by equanimity” (A IV 300).
116.
The meaning is this: “Bhikkhu, when this basic concentration has been
developed by you by means of loving-kindness, then, instead of resting content
with just that much, you should make this basic concentration reach quadruple
and quintuple jhāna in other objects by [further] developing it in the way
beginning ‘With applied thought.’”
117.
And having spoken thus, he further said: “As soon as this concentration
has been thus developed by you, bhikkhu, and frequently practiced, then you
should train thus: ‘The mind-deliverance of compassion will be developed by
me …’ (A IV 300), etc., pointing out that “you should effect its [further]
development by means of quadruple and quintuple jhāna in other objects, this
[further] development being preceded by the remaining divine abidings of
compassion and the rest.”
118.
Having thus shown how its [further] development by means of quadruple
and quintuple jhāna is preceded by loving-kindness, etc., and having told him,
“As soon as this concentration has been developed by you, bhikkhu, and
frequently practiced, then you should train thus: ‘I shall dwell contemplating
the body as a body,’” etc., he concluded the discourse with Arahantship as its
culmination thus: “As soon as this concentration has been developed by you,
bhikkhu, completely developed, then wherever you go you will go in comfort,
wherever you stand you will stand in comfort, wherever [324] you sit you will sit
in comfort, wherever you make your couch you will do so in comfort” (A IV 301).
From that it must be understood that the [three] beginning with loving-kindness
have only triple-quadruple jhāna, and that equanimity has only the single
19. “‘Thus developed’: just as a fire started with wood and banked up with cowdung,
dust, etc., although it arrives at the state of a ‘cowdung fire,’ etc., (cf. M I 259) is
nevertheless called after the original fire that was started with the wood, so too it is
the basic concentration that is spoken of here, taking it as banked up with loving-
kindness, and so on. ‘In other objects’ means in such objects as the earth kasiṇa”
(Vism-mhṭ 315).
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remaining jhāna. And they are expounded in the same way in the Abhidhamma
as well.
[The Highest Limit of Each]
119.
And while they are twofold by way of the triple-quadruple jhāna and the
single remaining jhāna, 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, according as it is said:
“Bhikkhus, the mind-deliverance of loving-kindness has beauty as the highest,
I say … The mind-deliverance of compassion has the base consisting of boundless
space as the highest, I say … The mind-deliverance of gladness has the base
consisting of boundless consciousness as the highest I say … The mind-
deliverance of equanimity has the base consisting of nothingness as the highest,
I say” (S V 119–21).20
120.
But why are they described in this way? Because each is the respective
basic support for each. For beings are unrepulsive to one who abides in loving-
kindness. Being familiar with the unrepulsive aspect, when he applies his mind
to unrepulsive pure colours such as blue-black, his mind enters into them without
difficulty. So loving-kindness is the basic support for the liberation by the beautiful
(see M II 12; M-a III 256), but not for what is beyond that. That is why it is called
“having beauty as the highest.”
121.
One who abides in compassion has come to know thoroughly the danger
in materiality, since compassion is aroused in him when he sees the suffering of
beings that has as its material sign (cause) beating with sticks, and so on. So,
well knowing the danger in materiality, when he removes whichever kasiṇa
[concept he was contemplating], whether that of the earth kasiṇa or another, and
applies his mind to the space [that remains (see X.6)], which is the escape from
materiality, then his mind enters into that [space] without difficulty. So
compassion is the basic support for the sphere of boundless space, but not for
what is beyond that. That is why it is called “having the base consisting of
boundless space as the highest.”
122.
When he abides in gladness, his mind becomes familiar with
apprehending consciousness, since gladness is aroused in him when he sees
beings’ consciousness arisen in the form of rejoicing over some reason for joy.
Then when he surmounts the sphere of boundless space that he had already
attained in due course and applies his mind to the consciousness that had as its
object the sign of space, [325] his mind enters into it without difficulty. So gladness
is the basic support for the base consisting of boundless consciousness, but not
for what is beyond that. That is why it is called “having the sphere of boundless
consciousness as the highest.”
20. “The beautiful” (subha) is the third of the eight liberations (vimokkha—see M II 12;
M-a III 255).
21. Reading in both cases “avijjamāna-gahaṇa-dakkhaṃ cittaṃ,” not “-dukkhaṃ.” “‘Because
it has no more concern  (ābhoga)’: because it has no further act of being concerned
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123.
When he abides in equanimity, his mind becomes skilled21 in appre-
hending what is (in the ultimate sense) non-existent, because his mind has been
diverted from apprehension of (what is existent in) the ultimate sense, namely,
pleasure, (release from) pain, etc., owing to having no further concern such as
“May beings be happy” or “May they be released from pain” or “May they not
lose the success they have obtained.” Now his mind has become used to being
diverted from apprehension of [what is existent in] the ultimate sense, and his
mind has become skilled in apprehending what is non-existent in the ultimate
sense, (that is to say, living beings, which are a concept), and so when he
surmounts the base consisting of boundless consciousness attained in due
course and applies his mind to the absence, which is non-existent as to individual
essence, of consciousness, which is a reality (is become—see M I 260) in the
ultimate sense, then his mind enters into that (nothingness, that non-existence)
without difficulty (see X.32). So equanimity is the basic support for the base
consisting of nothingness, but not for what is beyond that. That is why it is
called “having the base consisting of nothingness as the highest.”
124.
When he has understood thus that the special efficacy of each resides
respectively in “having beauty as the highest,” etc., he should besides
understand how they bring to perfection all the good states beginning with
giving. For the Great Beings’ minds retain their balance by giving preference to
beings’ welfare, by dislike of beings’ suffering, by desire for the various successes
achieved by beings to last, and by impartiality towards all beings. And to all
beings they give gifts, which are a source a pleasure, without discriminating
thus: “It must be given to this one; it must not be given to this one.” And in order
to avoid doing harm to beings they undertake the precepts of virtue. They practice
renunciation  for the purpose of perfecting their virtue. They cleanse their
understanding for the purpose of non-confusion about what is good and bad for
beings. They constantly arouse energy, having beings’ welfare and happiness at
heart. When they have acquired heroic fortitude through supreme energy, they
become  patient  with beings’ many kinds of faults. They do not deceive when
(ābhujana) by hoping (āsiṃsanā) for their pleasure, etc., thus ‘May they be happy.’ The
development of loving-kindness, etc., occurring as it does in the form of hope for
beings’ pleasure, etc., makes them its object by directing [the mind] to apprehension
of [what is existent in] the ultimate sense [i.e. pleasure, etc.]. But development of
equanimity, instead of occurring like that, makes beings its object by simply looking
on. But does not the divine abiding of equanimity itself too make beings its object by
directing the mind to apprehension of [what is existent in] the ultimate sense, because
of the words, ‘Beings are owners of their deeds. Whose [if not theirs] is the choice by
which they will become happy …?’ (§96)—Certainly that is so. But that is in the prior
stage of development of equanimity. When it has reached its culmination, it makes
beings its object by simply looking on. So its occurrence is specially occupied with
what is non-existent in the ultimate sense [i.e. beings, which are a concept]. And so
skill in apprehending the non-existent should be understood as avoidance of
bewilderment due to misrepresentation in apprehension of beings, which avoidance
of bewilderment has reached absorption” (Vism-mhṭ).
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promising “We shall give you this; we shall do this for you.” They are unshakably
resolute upon beings’ welfare and happiness. Through unshakable loving-kindness
they place them first [before themselves]. Through equanimity  they expect no
reward. Having thus 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.22 This is how they bring to perfection all the good states
beginning with giving.
The ninth chapter called “The Description of the Divine
Abidings” in the Treatise on the Development of
Concentration in the Path of Purification composed for the
purpose of gladdening good people.
22. For the “ten powers” and “four kinds of fearlessness” see MN 12. For the “six
kinds of knowledge not shared by disciples” see Paṭis I 121f. For the “eighteen states
of the Enlightened One” see Cp-a.