# Maitrī

Maitrī or mettā, variously translated as "benevolence", "lovingkindness", "friendliness", "amity", and "good will", is one of the four sublime brahmavihārā states in Buddhism. The cultivation of mettā is a popular form of meditation.

## Quotes
### Pali Canon

    See also: Metta Sutta (Wikipedia)
* As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate the heart limitlessly with regard to all beings. With goodwill for the entire cosmos, cultivate the heart limitlessly: above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without hostility or hate.
** Gautama Buddha, the Mettā Sutta (Sn 1:8, Khp. 9). As translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

### Commentary

* My favorite expression of metta is encompassed by the words "the door of my heart is fully open to you, forever, whoever you are and whatever you have done."
** Ajahn Brahm: Kindfulness, "Kindful Loving and Letting Be". Wisdom Publications (2016). ISBN 978-1-61429-199-2.
* Forget about deserving happiness, "deserving" is not ever part of mettā practice: not part of it when you are directing mettā to yourself and not part of it when you are directing it to anyone else. Although mettā is usually translated as "loving-kindness," it really is "unconditional love."
** Leigh Brasington: Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhānas, app. 3, "Access Concentration Methods". Shambhala Publications (2015). ISBN 1-61180-269-5.
* The Pali term, mettā, is derived from a word for friendship, and therefore can be understood as a deep friendship with life. This should not imply that mettā is necessarily easy. Deep friendship implies being present, connected, and caring even through difficult times.
** Shaila Catherine: Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana, ch. 8, "Boundless Heart: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy, and Equanimity". Wisdom Publications (2011). ISBN 978-0-86171-623-4.
* One who sincerely seeks inner peace and happiness sees the power of loving-friendliness.
** Bhante Henepola Gunaratana: Loving-Kindness in Plain English, ch. 12, "Communities of Metta". Wisdom Publications (2017). ISBN 978-1-61429-249-4.
* There are many benefits to practicing Lovingkindness meditation. In the suttas, it says that when you practice Mettā meditation, you go to sleep easily and sleep soundly. You have no nightmares. When you wake up, you awaken easily and quickly. People really like you! Animals like you. Your face becomes radiant and beautiful. You have good health. These are just a few of the benefits.
** David C. Johnson: The Path to Nibbāna, ch. 5, "Beginning Practice", p. 104. CreateSpace (2017). ISBN 1-5088-0891-0.
* Lovingkindness offers care and well-wishing to another without expectation or demand. There is no distance between their well-being and our own.
** Jack Kornfield: The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace, ch. 3, "Lovingkindness". Bantam Books (2002). ISBN 978-0-307-48161-0.
* The foundation of metta practice is to know how to be our own friend. According to the Buddha, "You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."
** Sharon Salzberg: Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, ch. 2, "Relearning Loveliness", p. 31. Shambhala Publications (1995). ISBN 978-1-59030-557-7.