A Buddhist lawyer is often constrained to bringing about
reconciliation between parties that cannot afford the
costs of litigation or for some other reason should
abstain from it. How to do it best in the true Buddhist
way we can learn from the following exposition based on
the Visuddhi Magga, the Path of Purification. The person
who tries to bring about peace and amity between enemies
must himself be acquainted with the meditation of
recollection of Loving-kindness, and this type of
recollection is one of the easiest to learn, for even
without any knowledge of Pali or the Buddhist Scripture,
any one may easily learn how to practise metta.
A person who wants to develop this meditation on
loving-kindness, should first of all find the most
convenient time and place for this practice. The best
time will be when there is no one near to disturb him,
and the best place will be an empty room or the home
shrine room at a time when no one is likely to enter it.
One must be free from fatigue at the time of meditation;
and all disturbing thoughts about work and study must be
banished, hence the evening, after a walk and some
outdoor exercise, and not immediately after a heavy
meal, will be the most convenient time. The room or
place where the meditation is being developed should be
neat and quite free of noise or anything likely to
disturb or irritate, and one must have a feeling of
lightness and cleanness, and be free from all worries
and other impediments to meditation. Those who feel to
tired in the evening but fresh in the morning may try
the meditation then, at a time when their mind most
inclines towards such practice.
Being free from any dizziness and restlessness, one
should seat oneself comfortably on a well prepared seat
in a secluded place. A lay Buddhist will of course first
take the refuge, recite the five precepts, perhaps
recite the recollection of the Buddha-Dhamma-Sangha, and
only then start with the meditation proper, the
recollection of Metta. The meditator should first review
the danger in hate and the advantage in patience,
because hate has to be abandoned and patience attained
in the development of this meditation subject, and one
cannot abandon unseen dangers and attain unknown
advantages.
Obsessed by hate
The danger in hate should be seen in accordance with the
discourses of the Enlightened One as this: �When a man
hates, is a prey to hate and his mind is obsessed by
hate, he kills living beings and does many other
unbecoming things�. The advantage in patience should be
understood according to such passages as these:
�No higher rule, the Buddha say, than patience,
And no nibbana higher than forbearance,
Patience in force, in strong array;
�Tis then I call him brahman;
No greater thing exists than patience.�
Thereupon the meditator should embark upon the
development of loving-kindness for the purpose of
secluding the mind from hate seen as a danger and
introducing it to patience known as advantage. But first
of all the beginner must know that some persons are of
the wrong sort at the very beginning, and that
loving-kindness should be developed towards certain
kinds of person and not towards certain other kinds at
first. Loving-kindness should not be developed at first
towards an antipathetic person, a very dearly loved
friend, a neutral person and a hostile person. Also it
should not be developed specially towards the opposite
sex, or towards a dead person.
First of all metta should be developed only towards
oneself, doing it repeatedly thus: �May I be happy and
free from suffering� or �May I keep myself free from
enmity, affliction, and anxiety and live happily�. This
is only a preliminary exercise, not mettabhavana proper.
Developing loving-kindness to oneself makes one
conscious that all beings want happiness, and hence
should not be harmed, therefore one should first, as an
example pervade himself with loving-kindness.
Next after that, in order to proceed easily, the student
should develop metta towards a venerable person like his
parent, spiritual teacher or one�s instructor in the
Dhamma. He can now recollect such gifts, kind words and
other acts of kindness as inspire respect and reverence
met with in a teacher or instructor in the Dhamma
developing loving-kindness towards him in the way
beginning �May this good man be happy and free from
suffering�. With such a person taken for meditation one
attains quick progress. If one has not such a respected
Dhamma Teacher, one may choose any person from one�s
circle of acquaintances who inspires trust and
veneration.
Meditation
When one has become proficient in the practice of
loving-kindness towards a venerable and respected person
and does not rest content with just that much and wants
to breakdown the barriers, he should, next after the
meditation on one�s teacher, develop loving-kindness
towards a very dearly loved friend or perhaps one�s
child or pupil, using the same formula �May this dear
one be happy and free from suffering. If one has
advanced thus far and does not rest content with that
much, one should immediately after one�s meditation on
the beloved person take a neutral person treated now for
purposes of meditation as a very dearly loved friend.
After this one should develop metta towards a hostile
person considering him as if he were neutral. While
doing so,one should make one�s mind malleable and wieldy
in each instance before passing on to the next.
But if the meditator has no enemy, or he is of the type
of a great man who does not perceive another as an enemy
even when the other does him harm, he should not
interest himself as follows: �Now that my consciousness
of loving-kindness has become wieldy towards a neutral
person, I shall apply it to a hostile one�. Rather it
was about one who actually has an enemy that it was said
above that he should develop loving-kindness �towards a
hostile person as neutral�.
Getting rid of resentment
If resentment arises in him when he applies his mind to
a hostile person because he remembers wrongs done by
that person, he should get rid of the resentment by
entering repeatedly into loving-kindness practice
towards a venerable person, a dearly loved friend or a
neutral person to whom he had been practising metta in
the early stages of meditation and then, after one has
emerged each time from such meditation, one should
direct loving-kindness towards one�s enemy.
But if resentment does not die out in spite of his
efforts, then one should reflect upon the simile of the
Saw with other similes of the Saw with other similes of
that kind, and strive repeatedly to leave resentment far
behind. He should admonish himself in this way: Now, you
who get angry, has not the Blessed One said this,
Bhikkhus, even if bandits brutally severed limb from
limb with a two handled saw, he who entertained hate in
his heart on that account would not be one who carried
out my teaching.�
Further one may reflect upon the following discourse of
the Enlightened One: Monks, there are seven things
gratifying and helpful to an enemy that happen to one
who is angry, whether woman or man. What seven? An enemy
wishes thus for his enemy �Let him be ugly.� Why is
that? An enemy does not delight in an enemy�s beauty.
Now this angry person is a prey to anger, ruled by
anger; though well bathed, well anointed with hair and
beard trimmed and clothed in white, yet he is ugly,
being a prey to anger. This is the first thing
gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who
is angry, whether woman or man. Furthermore, an enemy
wishes thus for his enemy, �Let him lie in pain�....
�Let him have no good fortune��... �Let him not be
famous�... �Let him have no friends�...�Let him not be
wealthy�...�Let him after death be born in a state of
woe, in a hell, not in a heaven�. Why is that? An enemy
does not delight in an enemy�s going to a happy destiny.
Now this angry person is a prey to anger, ruled by
anger; he misconducts himself in body, speech and mind.
Misconducting himself thus in body, speech and mind, on
the break up of his body, speech and mind, on the break
up of his body, after death, he reappears in a state of
loss, in an unhappy destiny, in perdition, in hell being
prey to anger.
Resentment
If the meditator�s resentment subsides when he strives
and makes effort in this way, it is good. If not, he
should removed irritation by remembering some good side
his enemy�s character, some controlled and purified
state in that person which inspires confidence when
remembered. For one person may be controlled in his
bodily behaviour with his control in doing an extensive
course of duty known to all, though his verbal and
mental behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter
should be ignored and the control in his bodily
behaviour remembered.
Another may be controlled in his verbal behaviour and
his control known to all. He may naturally be clever at
welcoming kindly, easy to talk with, congenial,
open-countenanced, deferential. in speech and he may
expound the Dhamma with well-rounded phrases and
details, though his bodily and mental behaviour are not
controlled. Then the latter should be ignored and the
control in his verbal behaviour remembered.
Another may be controlled in his mental behaviour, and
his control in worshipping at shrines evident to all.
For when one who is uncontrolled in mind pays homage at
a shrine or at an Enlightenment Tree or to Elders, he
does not do so carefully, and he sits in the Dhamma
preaching hall with mind astray or nodding, while one
whose mind is controlled pays homage carefully and
deliberately, listens to the Dhamma attentively,
remembering it, and evincing the confidence in his mind
through his body or his speech. So another may be only
controlled in his mental behaviour, though his bodily
and verbal behaviour are not controlled.
Then the latter should be ignored and the control in his
mental behaviour remembered. But there may be another in
whom not one of these three things is controlled. Then
compassion for that person should be aroused thus:
Though he is going about in the human world now,
nevertheless after a certain number of days he will find
himself in one of the many hells. Thus resentment and
irritation subsides also through compassion. In yet
another all three, namely body, speech and mind may be
controlled. Then the meditator can remember any of the
three in that person, whichever he likes; for the
development of loving-kindness towards such a person is
easy.
But if resentments still does not subside when the
student admonishes himself thus, then he should review
the fact that he himself and the other are owners of
their deeds or karma. Herein he should first review this
in himself thus: Now what is the point of your getting
angry with him? Will not this karma of yours that has
anger as its source lead to your own harm? For you are
the owner of your deeds, heir of your deeds, having
deeds as your refuge; you will become the heir of
whatever deeds you do. And this is not the kind of deed
to bring you to enlightenment or rebirth as a great man
or god, but rather this is the kind of deed to lead you
to your downfall and to the manifold suffering in the
hell. By doing this you are like a man who wants to hit
another and picks up a burning ember or excrement in his
hand and so first burns himself or makes himself stink.
Having reviewed ownership of deeds in himself in this
way, he should review it in the other also; And what is
the point of his getting angry with you? Will it not
lead to his own harm? For he is the owner of his deeds,
heir of his deeds.... and he will become the heir of
whatever deeds he does. And this is not the kind of deed
to bring him to enlightenment or rebirth as a great man
or god, but rather this is the kind of deed to lead to
his downfall and to the manifold suffering in the hell.
By doing this he is like a man who wants to throw dust
at another against the wind and only covers himself with
it.
Resentment also subsides if one reviews the patience of
the Master when he was a Bodhisatta, an aspirant to
enlightenment: - he proved his patience and forgiveness
in the various lives depicted in the Birth Stories, as
for instance when as King Silvant, he rather allowed his
kingdom to be captured by an enemy than to fight him,
and when he was installed in his former palace, he
forgave the enemy and they became friends for the rest
of life. In the Khantivada Jataka he is shown patient
and forgiving to his torturers even when mutilated; and
in the Dhammapala Jataka, even as a child, he shows his
patience and forgiveness to his murderers. Even while
living in the animal kingdom, the Bodhisatta was a model
of patience and forgiveness; then why should not we, the
Buddha�s followers, learn this virtue of bearing and
forbearing by the practice of metta? The wars, murders
and homicides in the world are due to the lack of this
virtue among men, hence a start ought to be made by us
right now.
In order to be able to quench one�s thoughts of
resentment, the meditator should review the advantages
of loving-kindness thus: Now you who call yourself a
Buddhist, has it not been said by the Blessed One as
follows: �When the mind-deliverance of loving-kindness
is cultivated, developed, much practised, made the
vehicle, made the foundation, established, consolidated,
and properly undertaken, eleven blessings can be
expected. What eleven? A man sleeps in comfort, wakes in
comfort, and dreams no evil dreams, he is dear to human
beings, he is dear to non-human beings, deities guard
him, fire and poison and weapons do not affect him, his
mind is easily concentrated, the expression of his face
is serene, he dies unconfused, if he penetrates no
higher he will be born in the Brahma World�. If you do
not stop this thought of resentment, you will be denied
these advantages. If the meditator is still unable to
stop the thought of resentment in this way, he should
try to resolve the enemy into elements thus: When you
are angry with the man, what is it you are angry with?
Is it the head hairs you are angry with? or body hairs?
or nails? .... or is it the various impurities in the
body you are angry with? Or is it the earth element in
the hairs you are angry with? Or is it the earth element
in the other parts of the body you are angry with? Or
the water element? Or the fire element? Or is it the
wind element you are angry with? Or among the five
aggregates and other elements of being, is it the
materiality or the feeling or perception, mental
formations or consciousness you are angry with? Or are
you angry with his eyes or ears or any other sense organ
or his mind?
If one cannot resolve one�s enemy into elements one
should try the giving of a gift or accepting a gift from
one�s adversary, and then all resentment is sure to
subside. As soon as the meditator can develop a thought
of amity even towards his enemy, treating him as
friendly-neutral, he may break down all the barriers in
his discrimination between beings, and practise metta to
all in all directions, thinking that all beings living
in the eastern quarter should be happy and free from all
suffering. Then he thinks of the beings living in the
western quarter ... in the south..... north.... in the
intermediate points of the compass, above and below,
without discriminating between beings as friends or
neutral, he dwells intent upon one direction with his
heart endued with loving-kindness, everywhere and
equally he dwells pervading the entire world with his
heart endued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted,
measureless, free from enmity and free from affliction.
It is this meditator who develops the mind-deliverance
of loving kindness thus that obtain the eleven
advantages, that is to say he sleeps in comfort, wakes
in comfort, and dreams no evil dreams, he is dear to
human beings, he is dear to non-human beings, deities
guard him, fire and poison and weapons do not affect
him, his mind is easily concentrated, the expression of
his face is serene, he dies unconfused, and if he does
not attain nibbana in this very life he will be reborn
in the Brahma World. Nothing becomes in a lawyer and a
judge more than this quality of amity and impartiality
even among contending parties, hence, a Law Student is
in need of the practice of metta.
පුර
අටවක
පසෙලාස්වක
අව අටවක
අමාවක