This is said to be the divine abiding.

By not holding to wrong views,

The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,

Being freed from all sense desires, Is not born again into this world.

This is said to be the divine abiding.

The first sentence above, should be read as a summary conclusion for all the previous posts. Divine abiding refers to cultivating Metta in our mind. The method of doing so had been discussed previously. For example, holding Metta or Loving Kindness in our mind constantly. Denouncing all thoughts of hatred and anger. Letting go of all negativities and ill-will. Be impartial and non discriminating about who we generate living kindness to. To achieve all that and more, we need mindfulness of what is going on in our mind.

When Metta is radiated outwards and not self-centered and we practice loving-kindness without boundaries, our mind is actually similar to heavenly beings (AKA divinity). That is why it is a state of divine abiding. In another word, although our physical body is on Earth, the state of our mind is already heavenly. This attracts the support of beings from the divine realms. It also attracts the admirations of lesser beings such as those from the ghost realms.

It is important to note that in Buddhism, the quality of divine is absent of malice, ill-will, anger and hatred. According to Buddhism, the Gods/goddesses are just another class of beings in the endless states of rebirth. Should the Gods/goddesses participate in anger and hatred, they suffer from bad karma too. That bad karma may very well shorten their lifespan as a divine being.

When we realize what Buddha taught; we understand that the correct way for spiritual practice starts with Loving Kindness. Unfortunately, many “religious” or ‘righteous’ people fail to understand Metta and its importance. Consequently evil deeds, words and thoughts were committed in the name of the “divine”. All such confusions are causes by ignorance. Therefore, any religious or authoritative people who incite violence is actually light years away from ‘divinity’.

This lead to the final verse of Metta Sutta. Yeah!

By not holding to wrong views, The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, Being freed from all sense desires, Is not born again into this world.

This verse is placed right at the bottom because it reminds us to have Wisdom. Without wisdom, our loving kindness may be clouded by ignorance. Without wisdom we cannot realize the Truth. One common mistake for beginners; is to believe that Metta should not be applied to everyone. That is a wrong conclusion. Metta should be impartial and all embracing. Remember, our Metta practice includes generating a mind of loving kindness towards our enemy.

To aim for Enlightenment, we need wisdom and to cultivate wisdom, we need to learn Dharma. Contemplate Dharma so that we have the correct understanding and views. After we adopt and hold the right understanding and views for a while, our mind will position itself in a manner that is conducive for it to realize the Truth. (Enlightenment)

For example right views and understanding of impermanence, non-self, unsatisfactory nature of Samsara, so on and so forth. All these views and understandings are knowledge that we can learn from reading and listening. This first stage is obtaining knowledge. We know about them but our mind have not yet realized them. As our spiritual experience deepens, our views or perception about this world becomes clearer.

The above explains clarity of vision. The correct perspective that we should maintain in our mind, so that we will ultimately attain enlightenment.

Last but not least, metta is not the mundane love that we are prone to. Unlike mundane love, metta is not based on sensual desire. It is important to note that sensual desire is not limited to sexual desires but includes all our other senses, such as sight or sound or smell. Loving someone because of how they look or sound or smell is not Metta. You know that right?

The final verse is very important because it reminds us that loving-kindness is insufficient for enlightenment, It only leads to a higher divine consciousness. Wisdom is required if we want to become enlightened.

At this moment, I think we need lots of metta in our world and I will like to suggest that we set a reminder on our phone? 3 times a day. Metta time. When the reminder goes off, just wish silently and sincerely ‘May all beings be free from sufferings, may all be well and happy.’ Radiate to our surroundings and expand it as far as possible. Remember we can do this anywhere. Don’t over think or over visualize it. Make it simple. Just a good natured good-will.

May all be well and happy.

Metta sutta

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