Metta meditation as Buddha taught

shanyin

Hello all. I have been practicing meditation (not consistently or daily yet) as taught by Bhante Vimalaramsi and this meditation seems to be taught by many other Buddhist monks. I do enjoy it.

I practice this to get the benefit of the disapearence of ill-will and a good nights sleep which I've heard are the benefits.

However I've heard that this meditation was actually taught by someone called Buddho-Ghosa or a name similar. I am wondering if these benefits can still be 'attained' through this meditation tequnique, and my second question is can someone point me to the teaching of the Buddha Gotama as taught by him? Bhante Vimalaramsi said he taught this meditation more than he taught anapanasati.

Thanks in advance brothers and sisters.

Glow

Yes, the in-depth instructions most people know for metta meditation come from the Visuddhimagga ("The Purifying Way"), a commentary by Buddhaghosa. However, the Buddha did teach metta in the Karaniya Metta Sutta. Buddhaghosa's instructions are simply an elaboration on the Buddha's words in that sutta.

There are many other ways of doing the meditation. You can read about some of the different ones here.

shanyin

Is the Buddha teaching to sit and recite this? Or sort of ... wish it for oneself?
I was expecting to be guided to that suttra as a meditation but I'm not clear on what it means to use that suttra as a teaching on meditation.

shanyin

I actually memorized the first half a few years ago .

Glow

In that sutta, I think he's saying for the meditator to sit and wish for all beings to be at ease, safe and free from enmity. You don't necessarily need to recite it. You can just silently express lovingkindness to all beings by thinking of them ("great or small, mighty or weak, etc."), perhaps imagining different beings in different places and wishing them well.

You can also follow the instructions in the Vatthupama Sutta in which the Buddha recommends using the different directions to structure the meditation:

"He abides, having suffused with a mind of loving-kindness one direction of the world, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth, and so above, below, around and everywhere, and to all as to himself; he abides suffusing the entire universe with loving-kindness, with a mind grown great, lofty, boundless and free from enmity and ill will."

shanyin

During my session today I actually wished for myself the qualities described in the sutta... it was sort of wishing for myself to be safe and at ease.

I'm wondering what he meant by sustaining the recollection.

shanyin

In also curious as to why Bhante Vimalaramsi stated that the Buddha taught Metta meditation more than anapanasati as the metta sutta is all I've come across.