May Metta: Loving-kindness Week 1

"Love and compassion have always changed the world, not hate and judgement."

-Jay Shetty

The month of May is Metta, Loving Kindness, and I will focus on it again for the third year in a row and for all months of May in the future. Metta is central to life, so each week I'll share a perspective from spiritual leaders on its meaning rather than my own interpretation.

“Metta is called loving-kindness because it is loving (mejjati). It refers to tender or lubricating love. It is also known as metta because it arises in one’s relationship to a friend (mitta).

The characteristic of loving-kindness is to promote well-being. Its function is to prefer well-being. Its manifestation is the removal of annoyance. Its proximate cause is seeing the loveliness of beings. It succeeds when it makes ill will subside, and it fails when it produces selfish affection.

Visuddhimagga IX, Buddhaghosa

 And how does one abide with one’s hearts imbued with loving-kindness extending outward in one direction? Just as one would feel friendliness on seeing a dearly beloved friend, so does one extend loving-kindness to all creatures.”

Appamannavibhanga of The Abhidharma Pitaka, The Buddha

https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/

 Start offering this invocation daily this month.

May all beings find peace

May all beings find relief

May all beings be at ease