1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants: “Mendicants!”

“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

2“Mendicants, you can expect eight benefits when the heart’s release by love has been cultivated, developed, and practiced, made a vehicle and a basis, kept up, consolidated, and properly implemented. What eight? You sleep well. You wake happily. You don’t see bad dreams. Humans love you. Non-humans love you. Deities protect you. You can’t be harmed by fire, poison, or blade. If you don’t reach any higher, you’ll be reborn in a Brahmā realm. You can expect these eight benefits when the heart’s release by love has been cultivated, developed, and practiced, made a vehicle and a basis, kept up, consolidated, and properly implemented.

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3A mindful one who develops
limitless love
weakens the fetters,
seeing the ending of attachments.

4Loving just one creature with a hateless heart
makes you a good person.
Compassionate for all creatures,
a noble one creates abundant merit.

5The royal potentates conquered this land
and traveled around sponsoring sacrifices —
horse sacrifice, human sacrifice,
the sacrifices of the ‘stick-casting’, the ‘royal soma drinking’, and the ‘unbarred’.

6These are not worth a sixteenth part
of the mind developed with love,
as all the constellations of stars
aren’t worth a sixteenth part of the moon’s light.

7If you don’t kill or encourage others to kill,
don’t conquer or encourage others to conquer,
with love for all sentient beings,
you’ll have no enmity for anyone.”

1Evaṁ me sutaṁ — ​   ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:  "bhikkhavo"ti.

"Bhadante"ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. Bhagavā etadavoca: 

2"Mettāya, bhikkhave, cetovimuttiyā āsevitāya bhāvitāya bahulīkatāya yānīkatāya vatthukatāya anuṭṭhitāya paricitāya susamāraddhāya aṭṭhānisaṁsā pāṭikaṅkhā. Katame aṭṭha? Sukhaṁ supati, sukhaṁ paṭibujjhati, na pāpakaṁ supinaṁ passati, manussānaṁ piyo hoti, amanussānaṁ piyo hoti, devatā rakkhanti, nāssa aggi vā visaṁ vā satthaṁ vā kamati, uttariṁ appaṭivijjhanto brahmalokūpago hoti. Mettāya, bhikkhave, cetovimuttiyā āsevitāya bhāvitāya bahulīkatāya yānīkatāya vatthukatāya anuṭṭhitāya paricitāya susamāraddhāya ime aṭṭhānisaṁsā pāṭikaṅkhāti.

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3Yo ca mettaṁ bhāvayati,
appamāṇaṁ paṭissato;
Tanū saṁyojanā honti,
passato upadhikkhayaṁ.

4Ekampi ce pāṇamaduṭṭhacitto,
Mettāyati kusalī tena hoti;
Sabbe ca pāṇe manasānukampī,
Pahūtamariyo pakaroti puññaṁ.

5Ye sattasaṇḍaṁ pathaviṁ vijetvā,
Rājisayo yajamānā anupariyagā;
Assamedhaṁ purisamedhaṁ,
Sammāpāsaṁ vājapeyyaṁ niraggaḷaṁ.

6Mettassa cittassa subhāvitassa,
Kalampi te nānubhavanti soḷasiṁ;
Candappabhā tāragaṇāva sabbe,
Yathā na agghanti kalampi soḷasiṁ.

7Yo na hanti na ghāteti,
na jināti na jāpaye;
Mettaṁso sabbabhūtānaṁ,
veraṁ tassa na kenacī"ti.

Paṭhamaṁ.