Kindness is one of the most basic qualities we can possess, and one of the most powerful. In Buddhism it is called metta - an opening of the heart to all that we meet. Any friendly feeling contains the kernel of metta. It is a seed that is waiting to be developed, right here amidst the conditions of our daily life.
Living with Kindness is a pithy commentary on the Buddha's teaching of metta in the Karaniya Metta Sutta. In it, Sangharakshita shows us how to cultivate the many facets of kindness in ordinary, everyday life. Outlining the nurturing conditions for kindness to grow, he encourages us to follow the path that leads to a warm and expansive heart and beyond, towards being happier and more fulfilled in ourselves, and to empathise with the joys and sufferings of all living beings.
Introduction to the Classic Sangharakshita Series v
Sources and Publication History viii
The Karaniya Metta Sutta 1
Introduction: The Meaning of Metta 3
1 The Way of Metta 18
2 The Ethical Foundations of Metta 29
3 Cultivating Metta 70
4 The Culmination of Metta 103
Conclusion: The Realization of Metta 120
Notes and References 138
Index 141
Sangharakshita (1925-2018) was a Buddhist teacher who spent twenty years in India before returning to the United Kingdom and founding the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community (originally the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order). He was an important translator of Buddhism into western culture in the latter half of the 20th century.
Born in London as Dennis Lingwood, he became a Buddhist monk in India in 1949. He studied with Buddhist teachers from Theravada and Tibetan traditions, and spent several months each year teaching the dalit Buddhist followers of Dr B.R. Ambedkar. In 1964 he returned to the UK and established the FWBO (now Triratna) in 1967, drawing on the riches of the entire Buddhist universe, as well as helpful aspects of Western cultural traditions.
Sangharakshita was a prolific author, from his first major work A Survey of Buddhism (1957), to edited lectures and seminars, to a series of memoirs of his time in India and the West. His Complete Works have now been published in 27 volumes by Windhorse Publications. The Triratna Buddhist Order and Community is now a thriving worldwide movement, in which his teachings continue to inspire practitioners new and old.
