Friends:
Friendliness means Goodwill
Friendliness means Kindness
Friendliness means Helpfulness
Friendliness means Assistance
Friendliness means Support
Friendliness means Benevolence
Friendliness means Concern
Friendliness means Care
Friendliness means Compassion
Friendliness means Cooperation
Friendliness means Mutual Aid
Friendliness means Mutual Advantage
Friendliness means Symbiosis
Friendliness means Sympathy
Friendliness means Basic Trust
---
A friend who always lends a hand,
a friend both in sorrow and joy,
a friend who offers good counsel,
a friend who sympathizes too.
These are the four kinds of true friends:
one who is wise, having understood,
will always cherish and serve such friends
just as a mother tends her only child.
D. III, 188
---
As a mother even with her life protects her only child, so let one
cultivate immeasurable loving-kindness towards all living beings.
---
Fuel on fire ?
Not by anger is Hate ever quenched.
Only by Kindness is Hate always quenched.
This Ancient Law is an Eternal ... Truth ... !
Dhammapada 5
---
Follow only the Good Ones,
Associate only with the Clever Ones,
To learn the Truth from these Nobles
gives an advantage like nothing else.
Samyutta Nikaya I, 17
---
To follow the fools & thereby
copy & choose the bad ways,
to know no Good Friends,
is causing only Misery.
Sutta Nipata 94
---
True friends are rare to come by these days;
a show of friendship very often hides some private ends.
Man's mind is defiled by self-interest. So, becoming realistic,
without illusions, one should wander alone like the rhinoceros.
Sutta Nipata: Khaggavisana Sutta
---
So too, bhikkhus, there are these five modes of speech that others may
use when they address you. Their speech may be timely or untimely,
true or untrue, gentle or harsh, beneficial or for harmful,
based & born from private thoughts of loving-kindness or by bitter hate.
Now this is how you should train yourselves here:
"Our minds will remain unaffected, we shall utter no bad words,
we shall abide friendly and understanding, with thoughts of kindness,
friendliness and no inner hate. We shall abide with friendliness in our
minds beaming towards that very person, and we shall dwell extending it
to the entire world as our endless object, with our minds overflowing,
exalted, measureless & infinite in friendliness, without hostility or
ill-will." That is how you should train yourselves.
Even if bandits were savagely to cut you up limb by limb with a
two-handled saw, he who harbored hate on that account in his mind
would not be one who carried out my teaching.
Bhikkhus, you should keep this instruction on the
Simile of the Saw constantly in mind.
Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 21
---
As if one strings rotten fish
on a straw of grass,
this grass will soon smell putrid too.
Exactly so with one who follows fools.
As if one wraps up perfume
in a common leaf this leaf
will soon smell sweet too.
Exactly so with one who follows the Wise.
Itivuttaka. 68
---
The 4 infinite & divine states: The BrahmaViharas
'There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of friendly
loving-kindness pervading first one direction, then a second one,
then a third one then the fourth one, as below so above,
across & all around, everywhere identifying himself with all sentient
beings, he is encompassing the whole world with a mind full of friendly
loving-kindness, with a mind wide, developed, unbounded, cleared, exalted,
pure & bright, free from hate and ill will ...
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of understanding
compassion pervading first the front, then the right side, then the back,
then the left side, as below so above, across & all around, all over,
far & wide; identifying himself with all sentient beings, he is perfusing
the whole universe with a mind imbued with emphatic compassion,
with a spacious mind, a refined mind, infinite, cleared, pure & brilliant,
free from anger and enmity ...
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of altruistic &
sympathetic joy pervading the North, then the East, then the South,
then the West, as below so above, across & all around, universally,
infinitely; identifying himself with all sentient beings, he is suffusing
all galaxies with a mind full of genuine mutual & altruistic sympathetic
joy, with an open mind, vast, limitless, purified, cleared, pure &
shining, free from aversion and bitterness ...
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of balanced equanimity
pervading first the frontal quadrant, then the right, then the rear & then
the left quadrant, as below so above, across & all around; and everywhere
identifying himself with all sentient beings, he is permeating the whole
world with a mind satiated of balanced equanimity, calmed,
with a mountain-like mind, cultivated, endless, cleared,
pure & dazzling, free from any irritation & resentment ...'
Comments: IMPORTANT !!!
That one makes this infinite, boundless, unbounded, limitless,
is actually what makes it a divine state: A true BrahmaVihara!
One can make these aspects infinite in:
Numbers of beings, kinds of beings, future time, space, degree etc.
---
Bhikkhus, whatever kinds of worldly merit there are, all are not worth
one sixteenth part of the release of mind by universal friendliness;
in shining, glowing and beaming radiance the release of mind by
universal friendliness far excels & surpasses them all.
Itivuttaka 27
---
The 11 Advantages of cultivating Universal Friendliness
The four Brahma Viharas; The four Divine States
The four Supreme States; The four Boundless States
Friends, eleven advantages are to be expected as effect from
the release of mind into friendliness by the practice of Goodwill,
by cultivating amity, by making much of it frequently,
by making friendliness the vehicle, the tool, the basis,
by persisting on it, by being well established in it as a
sublime habit.
What are the eleven advantages ?
One sleeps Happy ! One wakes Happy !
One dreams No Evil dreams !
One is Liked & Loved by all human beings!
One is Liked & Loved by all non-human beings too!
One is Guarded & Protected by the divine Devas !
One cannot be Harmed by Fire, Poison, or Weapons !
One swiftly Attains the Concentration of Absorption !
Ones appearance becomes Serene, Calm, & Composed !
One dies without Confusion, Bewilderment, or Panic !
One reappears after death on the Brahma level if one
has penetrated to no higher level in this life !
When the mind is released into friendliness by the practice of Goodwill,
by manifesting Friendliness, by cultivating Amity, by frequently making
much of it, by making Friendliness the vehicle, the tool, the basis,
the medium, the foundation, by persisting in it, by insisting on it,
by properly consolidating it, by thoroughly undertaking it,
by making it a familiar supreme habit, by so being well established in it,
these eleven blessings can be expected
Anguttara Nikaya, 11:16 [V 342]
---
He who does not strike nor makes
others strike, who robs not nor makes
others rob, sharing love with all that live,
finds enmity with none.
Itivuttaka 22
---
Thus he who both day and night
takes delight in harmlessness
sharing love with all that live,
finds enmity with none.
S. I, 208
---
When one with a mind of love
feels compassion for the entire world --
above, below and across,
unlimited everywhere.
J. 37
---
I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of the bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed.
May not the footless harm me,
may not the bipeds harm me,
may not those with four feet harm me,
and may not those with many feet harm me.
A. II, 72
---
I am a friend and helper to all,
I am sympathetic to all living beings.
I develop a mind full of love
and takes always delight in harmlessness.
I gladden my mind, fill it with joy,
and make it immovable and unshakable.
I develop the divine states of mind
not cultivated by simple men.
Theragatha. 648-9
---
And how does a bhikkhu abide with his mind imbued with friendliness
extending over one direction? Just as he would feel friendliness on
seeing a dearly favorite person, so he extends loving-kindness
to all beings.
Abhidhamma Pitaka,
Appamannavibhanga
---
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived on the wood.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in silent solitude.
Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
---
The Bodhisatta once was born as the righteous king Ekaraja.
His kingdom was taken by force and he & his son was buried
in a pit to the neck without king Ekaraja resisted nor bore even
slight ill will against the aggressors. Later he remembered this
as his ultimate perfection of friendliness.
Ekaraja Jataka 303
---
Friendliness (Metta) is the ninth perfection (parami)
Come On Now friends! This One is the ninth one to adopt,
practice, develop, refine & perfect resolutely:
As water cleans & cools both the evil & the good,
refresh both the friend & foe alike with Friendly Goodwill,
then a Buddha's wisdom shall be yours!
Jataka Nidana (introduction)
-oo0oo-
for free forward
Quite Cordially,
; - ]
Friendship is the GREATEST !!
& the whole Motivation behind
the entire Noble Life ...
Samanera Samahita
Cypress Hut, Gangamulla
Bambarella, Thawalantenna 20838.
Central Province. SRI LANKA.
Email:
monomuni@...
WWW:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buddha-Direct
--
A saying of the Buddha from
http://metta.lk/
One who has conquered all defilements, cannot be defeated. Such a one is The
Buddha, who has attained unlimited power.
Random Dhammapada Verse 179