The book, the Path to Peace, Ayya Khema explained the fifteen conditions on the Metta (loving-kindness) Sutta, which was taught by the Buddha, that will help us to lead to the path of peace. Below is The Metta Sutta.
The Metta Sutta
The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness (Sutta Nipata 1.8)
Translated by Ven. Khantipalo
What should be done by one who is skilled in wholesomeness. To gain the state of peacefulness is this :
One must be able, upright, straight and not proud. Easy to speak to, mild and well content. Easily satisfied and not caught up in too much bustle. And frugal in one’s way, With senses calm, intelligent, not bold. Not being covetous when with other folk. Abstaining from the way that wise ones blame.
And this the thought that one should always hold: “May beings all live happily and safe and may their hearts rejoice within themselves. Whatever there may be with breath of life. Whether they be frail or very strong, without exception. Be they long or short or middle-size. Or be they big or small, or thick, or visible, or invisible. Or whether they dwell far or they dwell near, Those that are here, those seeking to exist, may beings all rejoice within themselves.”
Let no one bring about another’s ruin And not despise in any way of place. Let them not wish each other any ill. From provocation or from enmity. Just as a mother at the rise of life loves and protects her child, her only child.
So one should cultivate this boundless love to all that live in the world universe, extending from a consciousness sublime, upwards and downwards and across the world. Untroubled, free from hate and enmity. And while one stands, and while one walks and sits. Or one lies down still free from drowsiness. One should be intent on this mindfulness.
This is divine abiding here they say. But when one lives quite free from any view, is virtuous, with perfect inside won and greed for sensual desires expelled, one sure comes no more to any womb.
Below are the quotes from “The Path to Peace”:
1. One Should Be Able
“The first condition is that one should be able. This means something quite ordinary. One should have ability. One should have learnt something. Learning and studying was greatly prized by the Buddha and also by his disciples. And it is as well in our time.”
2. Upright
“The next condition is to be upright. “Upright” is a word that we might not use very much. To be upright means to be truthful, to be reliable and responsible. To be truthful to others as a matter of course. But to be truthful to oneself of oneself – and that is much more difficult.”
3. Straight
“The next quality the Buddha mentions is to be straight. Now straight of course is similar to being upright, but it also means to be straightforward. The Buddha was very straightforward. When he thought it was stupid, he said it was stupid. He didn’t go around trying to hurt anyone, but he also didn’t try to hide behind nice words. He said flattery is also lying. It’s got to be straightforward truth.”
“To be straightforward necessitates knowing oneself. If one doesn’t know, oneself, the straightforwardness can easily become an insult. That’s not what is meant. If one knows oneself, then one is able to speak straightforward from one’s own experience. Then it’s not insulting but it can be illuminating.”
4. Not Proud
“Pride shows itself when we have a notion that we are something special, different, or something that we can put our finger on. We are in total flux, so that’s ill placed. But pride is something that people have as an underlying support system. And if we become aware of that, we can, of course, let go. But it is difficult to be aware of it.”
5. Easy to speak to
“Being easy to speak to is gaining that skill where we can let the ego subside long enough and be humble enough so that it will not create a disturbances. All disturbances that exist are created by the ego; there’s no other disturbance possible.”
6. Mild
“Mildness comes out first of all in one’s thoughts, and if one can have a grasp of the fact that there’s far more in the universe that meets the eye, literally speaking, one should start to be a little more humble about it. And aggressiveness will go.”
“We could say that being mild is equivalent to harmlessness, which is another way of saying that we don’t want to do anything to any creature that we wouldn’t like to have done to ourselves.”
“The more we assert ourselves, the less we’ll have peacefulness.”
“And if you don’t look after our self and aren’t mild towards ourselves, then it will be difficult to do this with others.”
“We maybe can do it intellectually, and the more our intellect is roaming around in our head. The better we think we can do it. Unfortunately that doesn’t work. It’s extremely unpleasant, because again and again we get a reaction from outside of us which shows us quite clearly that we didn’t do what we thought we were doing. It’s only when the heart speaks that we get the response that the heart of others can give.”
“Sensitivity means being more strongly aware. Being more strongly aware of one’s feelings and feelings around one. So for meditators it’s easier to become more sensitive.”
7. Well Content
“Contentment is one of the aspects which the Buddha mentions as needing to come before meditation.”
“So we need to be contented with everything that is ours – for example, our body, even if it’s sick. It’s alright, it doesn’t matter; all bodies get sick at one time or another; it’s only a matter of time. Sometimes they get well again, and sometimes they don’t. So we need to be contented with our surroundings, with the people that we are with, with our own abilities, with our whole way of having a place in this creation.”
“Sometimes having more brings with it wanting even more. And sometimes it brings utter discontent because of the fact that one can see that despite all the things that one has amass, none of them have kept their promise.”
“We are limiting ourselves, our potential is infinite – namely, to experience infinity and then knowing that within that infinity nothing and nobody is there.”
“So to be well content has to be now, and not after we have finished the next step on our proposed journey in this lifetime. Now. This moment has to be well content, because then we can go on to the next moment, and recognise that each moment is actually infinity, eternity, as long as we stay with the moment. When we have that as an understanding, some of our craving will reduce itself. It won’t disappear, but it will reduce itself.”
“But if we want to meditate, if we want to have peacefulness within in order to meditate and have loving kindness, to be contented is one of the necessary requirements with which to sit down. It means that there is a humble recognition that the whole of creation is exactly that in which we can find our footing. That we can connect to all of it and we need not be anything special.”
8. Easily Satisfied
“Contentment means to be right there, at this time, so we have to be easily satisfied.”
“It’s an absurdity, because the sense contact is momentary, and it has to be renewed constantly in order to bring any satisfaction. And if it’s renewed too often it doesn’t bring any satisfaction anymore.”
“So, the senses will never satisfied the mind.”
“If we can see that contentment depends entirely upon being easily satisfied with what is now, and not think of what we have to do tomorrow, next week, next year, 10 years from now…”
“The body can be painful, but the mind can still be peaceful. The sense contact may be totally neutral, no particular pleasure, but the mine can remain peaceful. It doesn’t have to be constantly alert itself to the sense contact.”
9. Not Caught Up in Too Much Bustle
“The more we try to prove that we are somebody, the less we have a chance to become nobody. And that’s what Nirvana is all about.”
“If our activities take us anywhere, we want them to take us out of dukkha.”
10. Frugal in One’s Way
“Frugality is considered to be a great virtue. No frugality is not synonymous with penny-pinching. Frugality means that one is respectful, respectful of the things that others have made or manufactured. It also means that we don’t fall into the error that our society has fallen into, a throwaway society.”
“Being careful with the things that have been made, watching over them, and repairing them, and using them to the last possible moment.”
11. With Senses Calmed
The mind which has a lot of sensual desire is an agitated mind.
To be contented, to be easily satisfied, to be frugal, these all go in the same direction- towards letting go.
“With senses calmed” is such an important point that the Buddha has it in innumerable suttas.
12. Intelligent
Intelligent is a mind that can make connections, they can connect one thing to another and thereby see the significance. If one can connect one’s own behaviour to the underlying tendencies of hate and greed, one knows what goes on. That’s intelligence.
13. Not Bold
And that is the equivalent to being mild.
The dependency on others, whomever that might be, is a complete bondage, which prevents growth on the spiritual path.
14. Not Being Covetous When with Other Folk
The next condition is not being covetous when with other folk. That’s one way of translation. Another way of translation that is “not being swayed by emotions of the crowd”.
Joy with others is the third one of the four brahma-vihāras, the divine abidings, the paradise within, the highest emotions. It is a skill that needs to be practised. It needs intelligence. Practically all of this needs intelligence because it needs the insight to recognise how damaging envy is to oneself.
When one understands that everything good that happens in the world is also part of oneself, then it’s much easier. But when one is still completely self-centred and self cherishing, and only concerned with one’s own well-being, then one can’t see that. But when we see that the world is togetherness of many different phenomena, then is easy to have joy with others.
15. And Abstain from the ways That Wise One’s Blame
To abstain from the way that the wise ones blame means that one does one’s best to actually follow the five precepts.
Conclusion: Ayya Khema used our galaxy as a comparison to our problems. When we compare our problems to the scale of the universe, they seem so minute. She also quoted “The Buddha said that one can’t stand still; it’s impossible”, and further explained that there’s nothing that stands still in a person; one either grows or retards. We either grow in our understanding and purity, or we’re going backwards. So, maybe in the context of the size of this universe, we might see this as a personal goal.
*Ayya Khema’s ‘The Path to Peace’ can be purchased from Amazon and both ebook and hardcopy is available at the Singapore National Library.
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