THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1660
Niddesa of the Visuddhi-magga.
The Story of Venerable VisÈkhÈ
VisÈkhÈ, a householder of PÈtaliputta, having heard about Ceylon, was desirous of going
to that country to devote himself to practice of Dhamma. After leaving his wealth to his
family, he crossed over to Ceylon and became a monk at the MahÈvihÈra. For five months,
he studied Dve MÈtikÈ (the two books of concise Vinaya) and then left the MahÈvihÈra for
a group of monasteries which were suitable places for meditation. He spent four months at
each monastery.
On his way to the hill-monastery called Cittala, VisÈkhÈ came to a junction of two roads
and while he was thinking which road to follow, the deva of the hill guided him to the right
direction. Accordingly, he arrived at the monastery and stayed for four months there. After
planning to go to another monastery the following day, he went to sleep. While he was thus
sleeping, the spirit of an emerald green tree sat on a wooden plank at the edge of a
staircase and wept. ‚Who is weeping here?‛ asked the monk. ‚I am the spirit of the
emerald green tree, Sir,‛ was the reply. ‚Why are you weeping?‛ ‚Because you are about
to leave.‛ ‚What advantage is there to you of my stay here?‛ ‚Your stay here makes the
local devas, demons and others show loving-kindness to one another. (Love prevails among
them.) After your leaving, they will quarrel among themselves even using harsh words.‛
‚If my stay here really helps you live happily as you have told,‛ said the monk, ‚well, I
will stay on for another four months.‛ When the four months had lapsed, the monk was
about to leave and the spirit wept again. In this way, the monk could not leave the place at
all and passed into NibbÈna at the same monastery of Cittala.
The story shows that those who receive
mettÈ
not only love him who directs
mettÈ
to
them, but they show goodwill to one another under the influence of his
mettÈ
.
Loving-kindness of A Hunter
In the MahÈ Hamsa JÈtaka of the AsÊti NipÈta, when the Bodhisatta, King of Hamsas, was
caught in a snare, he suffered much from injury. At the instance of the Hamsa General, the
repentant hunter picked up the Hamsa King tenderly and nursed him with loving-kindness
to relieve his pain. Even the weals raised by the snare did not remain on his feet, which
became normal with the veins, flesh and skin undamaged because of the power of the
hunter's
mettÈ
.
This is but a pertinent extract from the MahÈ Hamsa JÈtaka. The story in full may be
learnt from the same JÈtaka. Similar stories are told in the Pathama C|la Hamsa JÈtaka of
the Asiti NipÈta, the Rohana Miga JÈtaka and the C|la HaÑsa JÈtaka of the VÊsati NipÈta.
The power of
mettÈ
may be well understood from these stories.
Passion in The Guise of Loving-kindness
He who wants to direct his
mettÈ
towards beings should be careful about one thing and
this is not to have developed passion (
rÈga
) in the guise of
mettÈ
as it is warned in the Netti
Commentary: ‚
RÈgo mettÈyanÈmukhena vaÒceti
. —— Passion in the guise of loving-kindness
is deceiving.‛ In the BrahmavihÈra Niddesa of the Visuddhi-magga, too, it is stated:
‚Extinction of anger means fulfilment of
mettÈ
, but arising of passion means destruction of
mettÈ
.‛
The meaning is: When a man directs his
mettÈ
towards another whom he has shown
anger, the anger disappears and there appears in him
mettÈ
which is goodwill. Therefore,
disappearance of anger leads to appearance of
mettÈ
. If passionate attachment appears in
him while he is thus developing genuine
mettÈ
, his genuine
mettÈ
fails. He has now been
deceived by passion which assumes the semblance of loving-kindness.
As
mettÈ
is one of the Ten Perfections, it should be directed towards other beings until
they return their good-will. Therefore, disappearance of anger leads to appearance of
mettÈ
.
If passionate attachment appears in him while he is thus developing genuine
mettÈ
, his
genuine
mettÈ
fails. He has now been deceived by passion which assumes the semblance of
loving-kindness.