Brahmavihara Dhamma
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Contents A Brahmavihāra Dhamma by The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw of Burma Translated by U Min Swe (Min Kyaw Thu) Buddha Sāsanānuggaha Organization Mahāsi Translation Committee, Rangoon Brahmavihāra Dhamma by The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw of Burma Translated by U Min Swe (Min Kyaw Thu) First printed and published in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma July 1985 New Edition Edited by Bhikkhu Pesala September 2018 All rights reserved Contents Editor’s Foreword.................................................................................vii Translator’s Preface.............................................................................viii Part One The Meaning of Brahmavihāra..............................................................1 Analysis of the Meaning....................................................................1 Making Preparations for Meditation.................................................2 Crossed-legged Sitting Posture.........................................................3 Meditate in All Four Postures............................................................3 Reflect on the Faults of Anger............................................................4 Benefits of Patience.............................................................................6 How to Develop Loving-kindness..........................................................8 Radiation of Loving-kindness............................................................9 Loving-kindness Practised by the Elder Subhūti........................15 Loving-kindness Practised by Dhanañjāni Brahmin.................16 Eleven Advantages of Loving-kindness...............................................19 The Story of Visākha....................................................................20 The Story of Uttarā.......................................................................23 Developing Loving-kindness With Insight.....................................27 Part Two Way of Sitting Comfortably..................................................................29 Unsuitable Persons...........................................................................30 Suitable Persons................................................................................31 How Absorption Is Achieved...............................................................33 Method of Reflection to Subdue Anger...............................................35 Reflection According to the Ten Verses...........................................37 Reflecting on Ownership of Kamma...............................................38 Reflecting on the Bodhisatta’s Virtues............................................39 The Story of Khantivādī...............................................................39 The Story of Dhammapāla............................................................42 The Patience of an Elephant, a Monkey and a Dragon................44 The Patience of Venerable Puṇṇa.................................................44 By Reflecting on the Elements.........................................................46 By Giving a Gift................................................................................47 Breaking down the Barriers.............................................................48 How Absorption on Loving-kindness Is Achieved.........................49 iii iv Brahmavihāra Dhamma Part Three Introductory Verses..............................................................................50 Tree Deities Terrify Five Hundred Monks.......................................51 Metta Sutta Delivered to Pacify the Deities.................................52 Not Only Recitation but Also Practice.........................................53 The Metta Sutta............................................................................54 Must Be Capable of Practising.....................................................54 Must Be Upright and Honest.......................................................56 Should Be Meek and Compliant..................................................58 Must Be Gentle..............................................................................59 Should Not Be Haughty...............................................................59 Should Be Easily Contented.........................................................60 Should Be Frugal..........................................................................62 Should Be Carefree.......................................................................63 Of Light Livelihood......................................................................64 I Did Not Find It Burdensome......................................................65 With the Sense-faculties Restrained............................................66 Protective Understanding Must Be Mature................................66 Seven Kinds of Suitability............................................................67 Should Be Free From Rudeness....................................................68 Free of Attachment to Benefactors...............................................69 The Last Fundamental Rule of Conduct......................................71 Ordinary Way of Developing Loving-kindness..............................72 Developing Specified Loving-kindness......................................73 Developing Loving-kindness for the Seen and Unseen.............76 Developing Loving-kindness to Be Free from Misery................78 How Genuine Loving-kindness Should Be Developed...............82 How to Develop Loving-kindness Without Limit.......................83 Time and Posture for Developing Loving-kindness...................85 The Four Sublime Abidings.............................................................85 Illimitable States and Sublime Abidings....................................86 Escaping Rebirth by Rejecting Wrong-view................................86 How to Reject Self-view................................................................89 How to Be Liberated from Entering a Womb..............................91 Contents v Part Four The Second Mettā Sutta....................................................................94 The Story of Roja the Malla..........................................................96 U Ba Htu’s Loving-kindness........................................................98 The Story of Sāmāvatī...................................................................99 The Story of Sīhabāhu.................................................................107 The Story of Suvaṇṇasāma.........................................................108 How to Contemplate for Insight.....................................................110 Impermanence and Contemplation of Impermanence.............111 Suffering and Contemplation of Suffering................................113 Not-self and Contemplation of Not-self.....................................114 Continuation of the Second Metta Sutta........................................116 The First Mettā Sutta......................................................................117 Developing Insight While Practising Loving-kindness...........121 Part Five What is Compassion?..........................................................................122 The Compassion of the Bodhisatta................................................123 The Buddha’s Great Compassion....................................................125 Towards Whom Should Compassion First Be Developed?.......126 How to Develop Compassion..........................................................129 How the Attainment of Great Compassion Occurs...................131 Constant Anxiety is Pitiable.......................................................132 Being Swept Away by Aging, Disease, and Death is Pitiable....135 Compassion Arose When I Was a Novice..................................136 Having Nothing to Depend On is Pitiable................................138 The Buddhas Only Show the Way..............................................139 Abandoning Everything is Pitiable...........................................140 The Story of Emperor Asoka......................................................141 Being a Slave to Craving Is Pitiable............................................143 Part Six Beings Are Pierced by Arrows........................................................147 How to Remove the Arrow.............................................................150 Enmeshed and Swept Away by the Current of Craving............155 Enmeshed and Swept Away by the Current of Wrong Views...156 Consumed by Eleven Fires.........................................................159 How to Develop Sympathetic-joy....................................................164 vi Brahmavihāra Dhamma Part Seven What is Equanimity?..........................................................................172 Is It Not Bad to Be Indifferent to Others’ Welfare?....................172 Reflecting on the Pros and Cons................................................173 Proximity of Equanimity...........................................................174 The Exposition of Kamma..................................................................176 The Questions Raised by Subha.........................................................182 The Buddha’s Answer to Subha..........................................................183 The Cause of Short and Long Life.................................................186 The Cause of Sickness and Health.................................................189