Metta Sutta

Verses 1–2 — What Should Be Done

This is what should be done by one skilled in what is good, who has glimpsed that state of peace: let them be capable and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, unassuming and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied, unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways, with senses calmed, prudent, not brazen, and not greedily attached to households.

Verse 3 — The Standard It Sets

Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would afterwards reprove. And this is the thought they should hold: may all beings be at ease, may they be joyful and safe.

Verses 4–5 — The Taxonomy of Beings

Whatever living beings there are — feeble or strong, omitting none; long, large, middling, short, subtle or gross; seen or unseen; dwelling near or far away; already born or seeking birth — may all beings be at ease.

Verse 6 — The Negative Instruction

Let no one deceive another, nor despise anyone anywhere. Let no one wish harm upon another out of anger or resentment.

Verse 7 — The Mother

Even as a mother would guard her only child with her own life, so should one cultivate a boundless heart toward every living being.

Verse 8 — Radiating

Let thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world — above, below and across — unobstructed, without hatred, without enmity.

Verse 9 — The Divine Abiding

Standing, walking, seated or lying down, so long as one is free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection. This, they say, is the divine abiding here and now.

Verse 10 — The Closing Turn

Not falling into views, virtuous and endowed with vision, having removed greed for sensual pleasures, such a one comes no more to be born in a womb.

What is the Metta Sutta?

The Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta is a short Pali discourse of ten verses on cultivating loving-kindness toward all beings. It appears in the Pali canon twice — as the eighth text of the Sutta Nipāta (Sn 1.8) and as the ninth section of the Khuddakapāṭha (Khp 9). It is both a meditation instruction and one of the most widely chanted protective texts in Theravāda Buddhism.

What is the story behind the Metta Sutta?

According to the commentary, a group of monks went to a forest for the three-month rains retreat. The tree deities living there were disturbed by their presence and frightened them with terrifying sights and smells until the monks abandoned the site and returned to the Buddha, asking to be sent elsewhere. He sent them back to the same forest with this discourse — as a protection and as their meditation subject. They practised it, the deities became well-disposed, and the retreat was completed.

What does 'metta' actually mean?

Mettā derives from the Pali mitta, meaning friend, and is best rendered as friendliness, benevolence or goodwill. English translations use 'loving-kindness', which is serviceable but imports warmth the Pali does not require. Mettā is the wish that a being be well — it does not depend on liking them, on their deserving it, or on anything being returned.

Why does the sutta list so many kinds of beings?

Because the list is designed to be exhaustive. Weak or strong, long or short or middling, subtle or gross, seen or unseen, near or far, already born or seeking birth — the categories are chosen so that no being falls outside them. The structure closes the loophole through which a practitioner might extend goodwill broadly while quietly excluding one person.

What is the 'mother and only child' verse?

The seventh verse: as a mother would guard her only child with her own life, so should one cultivate a boundless heart toward all beings. It is the most quoted line in the text and the most misread — the simile is not about maternal affection but about the willingness to spend oneself. Note also that it describes an intensity to be extended universally, which is precisely what makes it difficult.

Is the Metta Sutta a protective chant or a meditation?

Both, and the tradition does not separate them. It is one of the three principal paritta texts — with the Maṅgala Sutta and the Ratana Sutta — recited at house blessings, illnesses, funerals and ordinations across Theravāda Asia. The origin story makes the point directly: the same practice that made the monks' minds workable is what made the forest habitable.

What are the four brahmaviharas?

Mettā (loving-kindness), karuṇā (compassion, the response to suffering), muditā (sympathetic joy, the response to another's good fortune) and upekkhā (equanimity). They are called the four divine abidings — brahmavihāra — because the tradition treats them as places to dwell rather than exercises to complete. Mettā is the first and the foundation of the other three.

What are the near and far enemies of metta?

The far enemy is the obvious opposite: ill-will. The near enemy — the state that impersonates it and is far more dangerous because it feels correct — is affection rooted in attachment. Attachment is selective, expects something back, and turns to resentment when disappointed. The commentarial tradition names the near enemies for each brahmavihāra precisely because they are hard to detect from inside.

How many verses does the Metta Sutta have?

Ten in the standard Pali counting, though English editions sometimes split them differently and print eleven or twelve. It takes roughly ninety seconds to recite. Its brevity is functional: it was intended to be memorised in full by monastics and laypeople alike, and it is.

Where does the Metta Sutta appear in the Pali canon?

In two places, both in the Khuddaka Nikāya. As Sn 1.8, the eighth discourse of the Uraga Vagga in the Sutta Nipāta — one of the oldest strata of the canon. And as Khp 9, in the Khuddakapāṭha, a short collection used for teaching novices. The duplication reflects its double role as a canonical discourse and a text of daily practice.

What does the last verse mean?

It shifts abruptly from cultivation to liberation: not falling into views, virtuous and endowed with vision, having removed greed for sensual pleasure, one is not born again in a womb. The verse locates mettā within the wider path — the divine abiding is not the goal but the condition of mind in which insight becomes possible. Read without it, the sutta looks like a text about being nice.

Do I need to chant it in Pali?

No. Chanting in Pali is traditional and has its own value — the metre carries the memory, and the sound is shared across every Theravāda country — but the discourse works read, recited in English, or used as a contemplation one verse at a time. Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation in The Suttanipāta is the scholarly standard; SuttaCentral offers several free renderings side by side.