Love is also defined in the Oxford Dictionary. According to it, love means warm affection, attachment, affectionate devotion, etc. These are synonymous terms for love and they all refer to sentimental worldly love. So, Metta has no full English equivalent. For this Metta is much more than ordinary affection or warm feelings. The Pali word Metta literally means “friendliness”, but also means love without a desire to possess but with desire to help, to sacrifice self-interest for the welfare and well being of humanity. Metta is with out any selection or exclusion. If you select a few good friends and exclude a bad person, then you have not got a perfect grasp of Metta. Indeed Metta is not only benevolent thought, but also performing charitable deeds, an active ministry for the good of one and all.

In the “Metta Sutta” the Buddha has chosen the love of a mother for her child as an example. Imagine a mother’s love when her child is hungry; she watches carefully to feed her child even be fore it asks her for food. When the child is in danger, she will risk her own life. So the Buddha taught us to love all beings as a mother loves her only child. If we can do this even to a small extent, the world will become happier and more peaceful place. In the Dighanikaya, it is said by the Buddha that almost every virtue such as unselfishness, loving sympathy and loving kindness is included in this “Metta”.

(Discourse on Loving-kindness)
Written by U Nandiya

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