<story><title>Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha&apos;s Words on Loving-Kindness</title><url>https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.amar.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>korginator</author><text>As with many Pāli words (e.g., dhamma, samkhāra, etc.), it&amp;#x27;s hard to provide a simplistic one-dimensional translation of the phrase &amp;quot;mettā&amp;quot;, often crudely translated as loving-kindness. When you read through the Sutta Nipata and the early texts, it comes across more as unconditional or unconstrained friendliness which is far easier to practice in real life, even when you can&amp;#x27;t make yourself feel loving-kindness.&lt;p&gt;There are several other passages from the oldest strata of Pāli texts, e.g., the SNP (Sutta Nipata) and some of the connected discourses (Samyutta Nikāya) that talk more about metta, a rich and complex tapestry that paints a picture of the actual and original intent behind the word or phrase.&lt;p&gt;This talk by Prof. John Peacock has some good insights into the phrase mettā, and provides a good overall context.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.audiodharma.org&amp;#x2F;talks&amp;#x2F;2600&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.audiodharma.org&amp;#x2F;talks&amp;#x2F;2600&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mettā is part of the four brahmavihārās or practises to cultivate wholesome states of mind, the others being karuṇā (compassion &amp;amp; kindness for oneself and for others), muditā (simplistically translated as &amp;quot;empathetic joy&amp;quot;) and upekkhā (equanimity).</text></comment>
<story><title>Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha&apos;s Words on Loving-Kindness</title><url>https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.amar.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>krzat</author><text>Interesting to see this here, without any context attached. I&amp;#x27;ve been practicing loving kindness meditation for a few months now and the results have been incredible.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m atheist, pretty sure reincarnation is bullshit, but the method described in this sutta works. In mundane terms, you can train your brain to be happier and more joyful by those simple visualizations.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not quite sure what is the role of spreading kindness in all directions, perhaps it somehow ties our perception of space and time, which is always present, with good feelings - what fires together, wires together - making them more likely to appear in future.</text></comment>