Going Metta

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

No, smarty pants, it’s not a typo.

I’m not talking about meta as it’s used around here to denote blog talk about blog.



I’m talking about mettā–the Buhddist understanding of unconditioned loving-kindness, compassion for all sentient beings. Before you non-DFHs (are there any of you here?!) click the hell out of here, here’s a lotus blossom, offered in the spirit of mettā. Please stay.

As progressives, Democrats, leftists of all stripes, what really brings us together more than the idea that peace, justice, and equality are the only worthy goals? We may have various conceptions of these grand words and ideas and how to achieve them, but ultimately we all believe in the possibility of a just and peaceful world.

It’s discouraging to live in a world that daily witnesses the proliferation of violence. The wasteland grows. At the same time, world daily astonishes us with advancements in science and technology, explosions of creativity and innovation of every sort and on every register of being. Why should peace and justice be out of reach? Our greatest challenges for all these years that humans have inhabited Earth.

It’s particularly discouraging when we witness all kinds of infighting on the left, here, there, everywhere. Yes, I agree whole-heartedly that spirited discussion is good for discernment and hashing out ideas. But does it have to be accompanied by personal vitriol?

What would it be like to argue with someone against a mettā backdrop, a stage of unconditioned loving-kindness and compassion, as the foundation and support even for those in heated argument. Can we engage in conflict in the cradle of compassion? What would that be like?

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking about lately. One teacher suggests to start the circle of mettā close to home, where it may come more naturally, gradually extending the circle of loving-kindness moving outward to what and who resists most the soft touch of your compassion. This is the work of a lifetime. The perfect elegance of simplicity and challenge combined.

Maybe going mettā is a good way of going meta.

For the Buhddist monks of Burma, part of their political protest was to gather together and chant the mettā Sutta (You can listen here–just scroll down to mettā chant). Its power is not just personal but political. It’s not just for harmony between two, but the basis for peace itself. Loving-kindness meditation doesn’t just heal the meditator but the world. This is not a metaphor.


As a mother would risk her life

to protect her child, her only child,

even so should one cultivate a limitless heart

with regard to all beings.

With good will for the entire cosmos,

cultivate a limitless heart:

Above, below, & all around,

unobstructed, without enmity or hate.

Whether standing, walking,

sitting, or lying down,

as long as one is alert,

one should be resolved on this mindfulness.

This is called a sublime abiding

here & now.

And maybe this practice doesn’t even require a formal practice, but just a stance that is enlivened by compassion first.

Living as if peace were possible, as if it is already here–that is ultimately the challenge of practicing loving-kindness in this accelerated, competitive, ruthless, often cruel world.

But what else should we do? What other choice do we really have?

27 comments

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    • srkp23 on January 26, 2008 at 22:33
      Author

    Also posted at the orange nut house.

    • pfiore8 on January 26, 2008 at 23:21

    and it takes away angst because you are right: we’ve made our choice. there is no other for us.

    • Edger on January 26, 2008 at 23:50

    “Be the change that you want to see in the world”, if not the same thing?

    • Viet71 on January 27, 2008 at 00:42

    Don’t know but I suspect so.

    Love trumps hate.

    But hate is so much easier.  

  1. and metta is realizable now matter where you are….

    because that is where you begin….

    where you are……

  2. find myself spending too much time and energy hating the evildoers who have their hands on the levers of government these days, I try to remember to ask WWTDLD? What would the Dalai Lama do?

    He’s someone who knows about losing to the bad guys, and he’d likely say Never Give Up:

    No matter what is going on

    Never give up

    Develop the heart

    Too much energy in your country

    Is spent developing the mind

    Instead of the heart

    Be compassionate

    Not just to your friends

    But to everyone

    Be compassionate

    Work for peace

    In your heart and in the world

    Work for peace

    And I say again

    Never give up

    No matter what is going on around you

    Never give up

  3. That’s the Docudharmasvara mantra.  

    Hey srkp23 – good to see you around these parts.    Excellent essay!  I rec’d you on DKos too.  

  4. my first comment here… seemed like a good place to start!!

    Hi skrp23! Love the diary. What an appropriate topic considering the condition of the world, the mood of the orange nut house (what a great nickname), the philosophical boost we all need from time to time, etc.!

    Hope all’s well for you. Metta – awesome!

    • KrisC on January 27, 2008 at 04:34

    and you seem to capture some of the same ideas/issues I’ve been experiencing recently in my own life, however, you’ve articulated all of it much better than could I.

    Living as if peace were possible, as if it is already here

    How many nights have I lost sleep (as many of us have) since the election of 2000?  Many….

    Most of those nights were spent tossing and turning, my mind fragmented and disorderly.  One night I remembered who I was.  It occurred to me that I had forgotten to meditate for more than 5 years…..5 years!!!!

    I learned transcendental meditation when I was twelve.  All through my teens I went to weekend retreats with my mother to learn how to calm and empty the mind, to learn to focus on ‘being’, to learn to breathe in life.

    And one night, out of nowhere, I spoke my mantra and kept repeating it, breathing….I had the most peaceful night of sleep (which is rare when you have two babies in the house).  So the next night, I repeated the process.  It’s been a sign for me, and I recognize it.  To live peace, to be peace, to teach peace to my children-because that’s where it matters.

    Where the outside world is chaotic and ‘swirly’, it sometimes can be difficult to retain peace of mind, that’s where a trained mind can focus and remain peaceful-that is a challenge.  It is ever evolving.  

  5. This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness, and the one who knows the paths of peace:

    Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech.

    Humble and not conceited.

    May they be content and easily satisfied, unburdened with frugal and duties on their ways.

    Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful.

    Not proud and demanding in nature.

    May they be wise, with their senses calmed, not arrogant and without desire.

    May they do nothing that the wise would later reprove.

    May all beings be happy.

    May they live in safety and joy.

    All living beings, whether weak or strong, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small, seen or unseen, near or distant, born or to he born, may they all be happy.

    Let no one deceive another or despise any being in any state, let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.

    As a mother watches over her child, willing to risk her own life to protect her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world.

    Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all one’s waking hours, may one remain mindful of this heart and this way of living that is said to be the sublime abiding.

    Unattached to speculations, views and sense desires, the purehearted one, with clear vision, being freed from all sense desires, will never be reborn in the cycles of suffering.

    Om Mani Padme Hung

    OM

    source of this translation.

  6. Just go about it in your usually zen way, my cowboying cost me my mike there.

    Welcome back to NYC!

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