Saturday Shinzo Talks by Will Holcomb, St. Louis, MO February 12, 2017
THE METTA SUTTA, PART 2
Good morning. The last time we met, we introduced the Metta Sutta. Metta – loving kindness,
goodwill, universal love. In the meantime, Carol and I saw a movie about James Baldwin. If you
haven’t seen it, I would recommend it. It’s called I Am Not Your Negro. It’s a documentary, very
creatively done. James Baldwin was in the process of working on a book about three figures,
Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X, when he died of cancer. The person who
produced this documentary followed that theme of those three lives through the words of James
Baldwin. And it got me thinking again about Martin Luther King. We were talking about metta, this
loving kindness, and one of the quotes from the Buddha that I read last time is very similar to a
quote from Martin Luther King. I’ll read two of them together.
First, this is from the Dhammapada, which is one of the earliest recorded words or sayings from
the Buddha. He said, “Hate never dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law,
ancient and inexhaustible.” This quote from Martin Luther King: “Darkness cannot drive out
darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” I
thought it was interesting, too, that looking at the translation of the Buddha’s words from the Pali
text, (Pali is the language they were originally recorded in), hate is the translation for verena, which
is a word that means hate, wrath, anger.
I think that at times Metta practice can come across as kind of a wistful yearning - a weak position
like, oh I really hope things turn out well. I wish things could be nice for everyone. I wish this could
be a happy planet. I don’t think that’s at all what the Buddha was intending.
Before we get into the Metta Sutta, there’s another sutta that I think is a useful prerequisite.. It’s
called the Simile for the Saw, the Kakacupama Sutta. It’s kind of long, so I’m going to abbreviate it.
It’s divided into three parts, which are each divided into multiple parts. The first of the three parts
has to do with an interaction between a wealthy woman in a village and her slave. They had slaves
at the time of Buddha, as they do now in various parts of the world. This wealthy woman in the
village was known as being an extremely kind person. Her slave thought she was kind, as well. But
the idea came to this slave girl that, well maybe she’s kind because I’m such a good slave. I’m
always there for her. I’m punctual. I do what I’m told to do. I think I’m going to test this and see.
So instead of getting up before dawn like she always did to be about, and she decided she’d sleep
in. She slept in until a little after dawn. The woman was upset and said, “Why did you sleep in so
late? Why weren’t you up on time?” The slave said, “I don’t know, I just slept in.” That passed, and
they went on with their lives together. The slave thought, maybe I’ll test this again. So she slept in
until about the middle of the morning. The woman was really upset. She said, “Wait a minute, why
did you sleep in until the middle of the morning? Why weren’t you up before dawn like usual, like
you’re supposed to be?” The slave said, “I don’t know, I just felt like sleeping in until the middle of
the morning.” That passed. And then the slave thought well, I think this next time I’ll just sleep until
noon. So she did. She slept until noon. When this happened, the woman went into a rage. They
were in the kitchen and she grabbed a rolling pin and hit the slave over the head. She was
bleeding, went running into the street, telling everyone what happened, and how unkind the
woman had been. The woman from that point on no longer had the reputation of being a kind
person in the village. That was the first part of this sutta.
The second part goes through several repetitions of this kind of theme. I’ll just read it. The Buddha
says, “Suppose that a man were to come along carrying a hoe and a basket saying, ‘I will make
this great earth be without earth.’ He would dig here and there, scattering soil here and there, spit
here and there, urinate here or there, saying be without earth be without earth! Now what do you
think he would make this great earth without earth”? The monk listening to the Buddha says, “Oh
no, why is that? Because this great earth is deep and enormous it can’t easily be made to be
without earth. The man would reap only a share of weariness and disappointment.” The Buddha
says, “In the same way, monks, there are five aspects of speech by which others may address
you: timely or untimely, true or false, affectionate or harsh, beneficial or unbeneficial, with a mind of
goodwill or with inner hate. Others may address in a timely way or an untimely way. They may
address you with what is true or with what is false. They may address you in an affectionate way or
a harsh way. They may address you in a beneficial way or an unbeneficial way. They may address
you with a mind of goodwill or with inner hate. In any event, you should train yourself. Our minds
will be unaffected, and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic to this person’s
welfare with a mind of goodwill and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading him with an
awareness and viewed with goodwill and, beginning with him, we will keep pervading him the all
encompassing world with an awareness imbued with goodwill equal to the great earth – abundant,
expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will. That’s how you should train
yourself.” That theme was repeated with various scenarios.
The third and last part of the sutta is where you get to the Simile of the Saw. The Buddha
concludes all of this by saying, “Monks, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb
with a two handed saw, he among you who would let his heart get angered, even at that time
would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourself. Our mind will be unaffected
and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic with a mind of goodwill and with no inner
hate. We will keep pervading these people with an awareness imbued with goodwill and beginning
with them, we will keep pervading the all encompassing world with an awareness imbued with
goodwill – abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will. That’s how you
should train yourselves. Monks, if you attend constantly to this admonition on the simile of the saw,
do you see any aspects of speech, slight or gross, that you would not endure?” They answer no.
That’s the Sutta called the Simile of the Saw.
I see a close relationship between what the Buddha was talking about in terms of metta practice,
wishing goodwill for all beings and what Martin Luther King was talking about with non-violence.
They’re both certainly not just wistful yearning, but really a way of life. A full-time commitment.
They both require training and practice; it doesn’t come easily on its own. Our default
settings are toward reactivity, anger, revenge. You can see this all around the world. And
finally, you may get hurt. Martin Luther King, during his entire life, despite a number of threats
against his life, and despite being out in crowds, in the community on a daily basis, never
consented to having an armed bodyguard. As we all know, he did not live beyond his 40 th birthday.
It is a commitment, a way of life. He said in one of his later writings, “Occasionally in life one
develops a conviction so precious and meaningful that he will stand on it to the end. This is
what I have found in nonviolence.” It’s a commitment that requires practice, training, and
you may get hurt. But you needn’t be a victim, because there is no enemy with this practice.
I was inspired by these words. It’s a challenge, I think, to us. It’s clearly a way of life, a mode of
being that not everyone buys into. If everyone bought into it, the practice would be a lot easier and
our world would be more peaceful. But that’s not the case. On some level, I’m not even sure it’s
right. But I feel moved by these words and can’t avoid feeling their truth.