What is the Mettā Sutta?
In the countries of Southern (Theravāda) Buddhism, this is among the most often chanted texts. The name Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta comes from the first word of the Pāli original, karaṇīya, «what should be done» — matching the second line of the translation, «Cần phải làm như sau» (this is what should be done). Mettā is loving-kindness: the wish that others be well, without any intent to harm.
The library titles the text «Kinh Từ Bi», while the translation is headed «Kinh Lòng Từ»; both names refer to the same text. The translation is in five-syllable verse, a little over seventy lines; the reading page counts about 380 words, some 2 minutes of reading. The same verses are also the ninth text of the Khuddakapāṭha, the first book of the Minor Collection, in the same translation.
What the verses ask, in order
The verses open with what one skilled in the goal, who has understood the path of peace, should do: be capable, upright, truly upright; easy to speak to, gentle, not proud; content, easy to support, with few duties, living frugally and simply; with calm faculties, wise and prudent; not intrusive among families, not greedy; and not doing even the slightest thing the wise could criticise. In this text, loving-kindness stands on an upright, humble life — it is more than a wish spoken aloud.
Then comes the wish: may all beings be happy, secure, at ease. The verses name every kind of being so that none is left out — weak or strong, long, large, middling, short, big or small, seen or unseen, living far or near, already born or yet to be born. Next comes the wish that no one deceive another, no one despise anyone anywhere, and no one, out of anger or hostility, wish suffering on another.
The central image is a mother who, all her life, protects the only child she has borne. Just so, toward all beings, one should cultivate a boundless mind, spreading loving-kindness through the whole world — above, below and across — unobstructed, without hatred, without enmity. The verses ask that this mindfulness be kept in every posture: standing, sitting or lying down, as long as one is awake; the translation calls this way of living «the highest way of living».
The closing lines speak of one who has given up wrong views, is virtuous, endowed with right view, and has mastered greed for sensual pleasures: such a person is not reborn, does not come back to a womb. So the verses move from everyday conduct, through boundless loving-kindness, to right view and the end of rebirth.
Not the Water Repentance or the Liang Repentance
Many people type «kinh từ bi» when they are looking for one of two repentance liturgies: the Compassion Water Repentance (Từ Bi Thủy Sám Pháp, 3 scrolls) and the Compassion Bodhimaṇḍa Repentance, commonly called the Liang Repentance (Lương Hoàng Sám, 10 scrolls). Both are repentance texts of Northern Buddhism, chanted for repentance and vows, and each has its own page on Inti Dharma with all its scrolls. The text on this page is a short Pāli verse sutta on loving-kindness, with no repentance and no bowing to the names of Buddhas.
This page is about the text itself. If you want to understand loving-kindness as a practice — starting with yourself and those close to you, then widening step by step to more beings — read «What is loving-kindness?»; the four minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity are explained in «The four immeasurables».
Reading and chanting it
The text is short enough to read in one sitting. Open the Snp 1.8 page and press «Chant»: the screen stays on, the text scrolls and a wooden fish keeps the beat; choose the slow speed the first time. The «English» tab gives an English translation, and «Cả 2» shows both languages side by side. You can read slowly, a few lines at a time, and stay longer with the image of the mother.
The library currently holds the Vietnamese translation and an English one. There is no Pāli original or transliteration for chanting in Pāli yet, and no recording or download.
