The Second Treatise on the Perfections – 2848
1. All females (
sabbā itthiyo
).
2. All males (
sabbe purisā
).
3
All noble persons (
sabbe ariya
).
4
All ignoble persons, those who have not attained the state of being
noble ones (
sabbe anariya
).
5. All Devas (
sabbe deva
).
6. All humans (
sabbe manussā
).
7. All Petas belonging to lower worlds (
sabbe vinipātikā
).
Each of these seven belongs to a separate category of beings, and accordingly,
they are called limited (
odhisa
) or the seven limited beings. In this way, there
are twelve kinds of beings, five unlimited (
anodhisa
) and seven limited (
odhisa
),
to whom loving-kindness (
mettā
) should be directed. How loving-kindness is
directed to these twelve categories of beings is taught as follows:
1. May they be free from enmity (
averā hontu
).
2. May they be free from ill-will (
abyāpajjā hontu
).
[1656]
3. May they be free from unhappiness (
anīghā hontu
).
4. May they be able to keep themselves happy (
sukhī attānaṁ pariharantu
).
When loving-kindness is suffused in these four ways on each of the above twelve
categories of persons, the modes of suffusing loving-kindness become 48 in
number. There is no mention of directions in these 48 modes.
When the four cardinal points, the four intermediate points and the upward and
downward directions are mentioned in each of these 48 modes, there will be 480
modes altogether: “May those beings in the east be free from enmity, from ill-
will, from suffering and may they be able to keep themselves happy.” In this
way, beings in other directions also should be suffused with loving-kindness thus
the number of modes of suffusing loving-kindness become 480.
If 48 modes of suffusing without mention of directions are added to those 480
modes, the total becomes 528. These 528 modes of suffusing loving-kindness are
named briefly as the “suffusion of loving-kindness” by teachers of old and
composed as a traditional chant. If one desires to suffuse loving-kindness in the
first way in Pāḷi, one should do so by reciting:
Sabbe sattā averā hontu
, “may all