Daniel,

I think the Pali word 'pema' best expresses the English word love or
affection intermixed with attachment. Whereas 'metta' is love without
any attachment at all.

Mike,

> It seems that the latter is the brand of love he taught, the type
>of love that a mother or father would have for her/his children; in
>the Metta Sutta the Buddha states, "Na paro para"m nikubbetha,
>naatima~n~netha katthaci na ka~nci, byaarosanaa pa.tighasa~n~na,
>naa~n~na-ma~n~nassa dukkha-miccheyya" ("Just as a mother would
>protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so let him
>cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings" (translation by Ven.
>Sayadaw U Siilaananda)).

The Pali in the metta sutta that is translated by "Just as a mother
would ..." is actually not what you quoted, but the following lines:
"Maataa yatthaa niya.m putta.m, aayusaa ekaputta.m anurakkhe, eva.m pi
sabbabhuutesu, maanasa.m bhaavaye aparimaa.na.m".

With metta,
John

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Michael Zoll <mikemasatozoll@...> wrote:
>
>
> To Daniel,
>
>
>
> "With regards to 'priest and dhutangas', perhaps anyone can explain the
> connotations of the word 'metta'? Are there some connotations missed
when
> translated into English as 'love'"?
>
>
>
> 1) According to the Paa.li-English Dictionary available online at
http://www.dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/index.html, "metta" has
numerous connotations. I would have pasted them here if my Unicode
font worked properly, so I'd suggest checking out what the PED has to say.
>
> As for "What we in the West call 'love,' Buddhists would call
'attachment,'" (I'm afraid I'll be departing from the focus/purpose of
the group, but here it goes:) I believe it's helpful to consider that
there seem to be generally two types of love: sensuous love (loving
desire rooted in the six sense bases) and maternal/paternal love
(loving-kindness, the wishing for non-harm and happiness for a being).
The former type seems to relate to the above statement (love
associated with attachment) and seems directed not as much for the
sake of the recipient(s) of one's metta (i.e. for the well-being of
the recipient(s), but toward the desire/craving for one's own
pleasurable feelings/sensations associated with that object of metta
(and thus is an unwholesome desire rooted in greed, sensuous desire,
delusion, etc.). This certainly is not the type of love that the
Buddha taught his disciples to cultivate. Also, both of these types
of love are clearly present in the West, so I would
> hesitate to stay that "what we in the West call 'love,' Buddhists
would call 'attachment'".
>
> It seems that the latter is the brand of love he taught, the type
of love that a mother or father would have for her/his children; in
the Metta Sutta the Buddha states, "Na paro para"m nikubbetha,
naatima~n~netha katthaci na ka~nci, byaarosanaa pa.tighasa~n~na,
naa~n~na-ma~n~nassa dukkha-miccheyya" ("Just as a mother would protect
her only child at the risk of her own life, even so let him cultivate
a boundless heart towards all beings" (translation by Ven. Sayadaw U
Siilaananda)). This type of love is boundless, free from enmity and
hate, and is born out of a desire not only for non-harm to come to
another, but for true (permanent, lasting) happiness (i.e. realization
of Truth) to be experienced by the recipient(s) of one's metta.
>
> 2) "Then, in Tibetan Buddhism 'love' is sometimes defined as "the
wish for someone to have happiness and the causes of happiness"".
>
> Not only is this the interpretation of "love" in Tibetan Buddhism;
this is the most common definition of metta in the Paa.li Canon (and
thus the Theravada tradition) in reference to the brahmavihaaras
(Divine Abidings/Abodes): Sabbasattaa bhavantu sukhitattaa ("May all
beings be happy" (Metta Sutta, translated by Ven. Sayadaw U Siilaananda)).
>
> 3) Relation to the Four Right Efforts (sammappadhaana):
>
> Also important to keep in mind is the four-fold purpose/function
of cultivating metta; not only is it simply wishing for non-harm and
happiness for all beings (i.e. giving rise to wholesome states and
causing them to persist), but it is also to prevent unwholesome states
(hate, ill will, resentment, etc.) from arising and persisting in
one's own mind. In the Visuddhimagga, (Ch. IX, Sec. 3), Buddhagosa
states, "He should embark upon the development of loving-kindness for
the purpose of secluding the mind from hate seen as a danger and
introducing it to patience known as an advantage" (translation by Ven.
~Na.namoli). Cultivation of metta can be seen as a weapon for
eliminating and preventing unwholesome states from arising and
persisting, while at the same time giving rise to and maintaining
wholesome states that have arisen. Therefore, metta is not limited to
the outward gaze (wishing for the welfare and happiness of other
beings as a means of cultivating whoesome states, as
> stated/suggested in the common definition of it), but is also
inwardly directed for one's own development (ridding oneself
of/preventing unwholesome states).
>
> Mike Zoll
>
>
> Daniel <daniell@...> wrote:
>
> With regards to "priest and dhutangas", perhaps anyone can explain the
> connotations of the word "metta"? Are there some connotations missed
when
> translated into English as "love"?
>
> Sometimes I heard people say "What we in the west call
> love, buddhists would call attachment". Then, in Tibetan Buddhism
"love" is
> sometimes defined as "the wish for someone to have hapiness and the
causes of
> hapiness". Do you agree with these?
>
> Yours
>
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