RIGHT INTENTION
Cultivating Lovingkindness
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Whatever you intend,
whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will
become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop
meditation on lovingkindness, for when you develop meditation on
lovingkindness, all ill will will be abandoned. (MN 62)
The near enemy of loving kindness is attachment. (Vm 9.98)
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Attachment is
called a near enemy of lovingkindness because it can seem like kindness
while actually being very distinct from it. Think of the person who
“loves” their partner so much that they must control their loved one and
prevent them from having other friends. In popular culture attachment
is often seen as a demonstration of lovingkindness, but in Buddhist
thought the two are very different: one is healthy and the other not.
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See if you can
practice lovingkindness without attachment. This involves caring deeply
for the well-being of another but on their own terms and not in ways
that are bound up with your own agenda or sense of self. Remember the
phrase found in the Metta Sutta: “May all beings be happy in
themselves!” Attachment always includes some measure of self-interest,
while true lovingkindness is entirely free of this.
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Tomorrow: Refraining from False Speech
One week from today: Cultivating Compassion
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