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The Spellbook · Blessings

The Spellbook · Buddhism

Mettā: The Buddhist Loving-Kindness Blessing for All Beings

How to practise mettā, the Buddhist loving-kindness meditation, as a blessing for oneself and all beings, with its Pāli sources and use as a protective chant.

  • TraditionTheravāda Buddhism; Pāli Canon (c. 1st century BCE in writing) and Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga (5th century CE)
  • ForBlessings, Peace, Love
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time15–30 minutes
  • WhenAny time; traditionally before sleep, at the start of the day, on Uposatha (full and new moon) days, or when facing fear or conflict
Exhibit in the Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden. This artwork is old enough so that it is in the public domain. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.
Exhibit in the Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden. This artwork is old enough so that it is in the public domain. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.Daderot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mettā (Sanskrit maitrī) is the Buddhist practice of loving-kindness: the deliberate wishing of happiness and safety to oneself and then, step by step, to all living beings. It is the first of the four "divine abidings" (brahmavihāra), with compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. In Theravāda countries the Mettā Sutta is chanted as a paritta, a protective blessing for homes, journeys and ceremonies. Meditators use the same practice to soften fear and anger. Anyone may practise it.

How to do it§

This follows the sequence taught in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, the classic Theravāda meditation manual. The phrases below are common modern wordings, not quotations from the Pāli.

  1. Sit and settle. Sit comfortably with an upright back. Close your eyes or lower your gaze. Take a few slow breaths and let the body relax.
  2. Begin with yourself. Buddhaghosa begins with oneself, because a person who wishes himself well can understand that others wish the same. Silently repeat phrases such as: May I be safe. May I be well. May I be peaceful. May I live with ease. Let the words carry a real wish, not a forced feeling.
  3. Extend to a benefactor. Bring to mind someone who has been kind to you, a teacher or mentor, and offer them the same phrases: May you be safe. May you be well...
  4. Extend to a dear friend. Then a close friend. Buddhaghosa warns that at the start the feeling for someone who stirs desire easily turns into attachment rather than kindness, so choose a friend for whom your affection is simple.
  5. Extend to a neutral person. Choose someone you barely know, such as a shopkeeper or neighbour, and wish them well in the same way.
  6. Extend to a difficult person. Only when the feeling is steady, turn to someone with whom you have conflict. If resentment arises, return to an easier person for a while. The aim is your own freedom from ill will, not to excuse harm or to influence the other person.
  7. Break down the barriers. Hold all of these together, yourself, the dear, the neutral and the difficult, until the wish is equal for all. Then let it spread in every direction: to all beings in this house, this street, this land, and throughout the world.
  8. Rest and dedicate. Sit quietly for a minute. Many Buddhists close by dedicating the merit: May the good of this practice be shared by all beings.

To use mettā as a household blessing, you may recite the Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta (available in many translations) aloud in each room, or simply direct the phrases to everyone who lives in and visits the home.

Origins and history§

The Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta (Sutta Nipāta 1.8) is among the best-known Buddhist texts. Its verses describe the qualities of a person skilled in goodness and then wish that all beings, seen and unseen, near and far, born and yet to be born, may be happy. It compares the right attitude to a mother protecting her only child with her life, and asks the practitioner to cultivate such a boundless heart towards every being. The commentarial tradition tells that the Buddha taught it to monks who had been frightened by tree spirits in a forest. When they recited it, the spirits became friendly. That story explains its long use as a protective chant.

The oldest surviving Pali manuscript in Nepal dating to the 9th Century, in the form of four palm-leaf folios. The scribe used a transitional script (somewhat like Siddhāṃ) deriving from the Gupta script to…
The oldest surviving Pali manuscript in Nepal dating to the 9th Century, in the form of four palm-leaf folios. The scribe used a transitional script (somewhat like Siddhāṃ) deriving from the Gupta script to…Unknown (a Nepalese scribe ) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Another discourse in the Aṅguttara Nikāya lists eleven benefits of mettā, among them sleeping and waking peacefully, having no bad dreams, being dear to humans and non-humans, and being protected by the devas. The Pāli Canon was transmitted orally and written down in Sri Lanka around the first century BCE. Some time in the fifth century CE Buddhaghosa systematised the practice in chapter IX of the Visuddhimagga, including the graded order of persons and remedies for anger.

In Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka the sutta is part of the paritta collections, chanted by monks at house blessings, funerals and illnesses, often with a thread held by those present that is later tied around the wrist. Anthropologists such as Melford Spiro and Stanley Tambiah document how this protective use sits alongside meditative practice. In the twentieth century, teachers in the Insight Meditation movement made mettā widely known in the West.

Variations§

Mahāyāna and Tibetan schools practise loving-kindness within the training of bodhicitta, the wish to awaken for the sake of others, and pair it with tonglen, "giving and taking". Some practitioners extend mettā by direction (north, south, east, west, above, below) rather than by person.

Safety and good sense§

For people who have suffered trauma, beginning with oneself or with a difficult person can bring up strong feelings. It is fine to start with a benefactor or even a pet, keep sessions short, and seek support from an experienced teacher or therapist. Wishing someone well never obliges you to remain in a harmful situation. Mettā can support mental wellbeing but is no substitute for professional help.

Sources and further reading§