This week we’ll continue ourinvestigation of metta or loving kindness - the first and the foundation of the sublime abidings, or states of minds. The other three are compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity and grow out of different conditions encountered by loving kindness.
Each of these states can be confused with a mind state that has a great similarity to it but is not pure, that can distract from the development of the sublime abiding. These similar states are called the “near enemy” and often take the form of the hindrances. The near enemy of loving kindness is the love that tends toward attachment as in attachment to pleasurable sights and sounds. Sometimes loving kindness and its near enemy can arise at the same time as in spousal or familial love which has the sincere wish for the well-being of the other but also the grasping for connection and attachment that can cause suffering.
Metta or loving kindness is important to all aspects of the path to awakening. Sean Oaks writes this about metta in the Spirit Rock Practice Guide*:
"As a fundamentally wholesome quality, mettā is woven throughout the path, expressed as sīla (ethics), samādhi (meditation), and pañña (wisdom). Because it is impartial and supports non-grasping, mettā has a strong wisdom aspect to it. Tending our relationships and communities through taking care with our actions is love as an expression of ethics. And mindfulness, which deepens our intimacy with ongoing experience, brings the quality of loving awareness to meditation and daily life.”
And metta or loving kindness brings wonderful benefits which are enumerated in the Buddha’s teaching called Metta (Mettanisamsa) Sutta (AN 11.16) as follows:
"One sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no evil dreams. One is dear to human beings, dear to non-human beings. The devas protect one. Neither fire, poison, nor weapons can touch one. One's mind gains concentration quickly. One's complexion is bright. One dies unconfused and — if penetrating no higher — is headed for the Brahma worlds.”
Whether or not we are swayed by protection by devas or heading toward the Brahma worlds, we can see that loving kindness can suffuse our lives and bring us many daily blessings.
This week especially may have been a time when we were increasingly anxious and disturbed by the suffering of our neighbors far and wide. Food insecurity is more pervasive in this country that is right and just considering how wealthy a nation we are. And yet millions of people we learned this week depend upon federal assistance to buy enough food for themselves and their families.
So we might reflect that this week our open-hearted well-wishing for others may have encountered suffering and turned to compassion. When our hearts encounter suffering, the natural arising is compassion - the second sublime abiding. But sometimes the suffering of others overwhelms us and we may feel pain and suffering ourselves. When this occurs, it is wisdom and a part of the practice to offer loving kindness and compassion to ourselves. This turning towards ourselves is a necessary and wholesome first step toward lessening suffering in the world. We are able first to sooth and mend our own hearts and then with our wholeness, we can reach out to help others with hearts filled with compassion.