| Just as a mother would watch over her Son—her one and only son—with her life, In just the same way develop a mind Unbounded toward all living creatures. |
Mātā yathā niyaṃputta— āyusā ekaputtam anurakkhe, evam pi sabbabhūtesu mānasaṃ bhāvaye aparimāṇaṃ. |
Just as a mother would watch over her
Son—her one and only son—with her life,
Many modern relationships between mothers and sons, as between parents and children in general, can be quite difficult, which might diminish somewhat the force of this image to the modern reader. We live in an age that acknowledges the realities of post-partum depression, the profound loss of a new mother’s freedom, and a host of creative forms of surrogate motherhood, alternative care giving models, and greatly empowered fatherhood.
Putting all this in brackets, we can still appreciate that this text is attempting to conjure up an emotion its author considers so universal, so directly accessible to everyone’s experience, that it becomes a powerful metaphor of loving kindness (mettā). At least in theory, there is nothing so natural, so immediate, and so strong as the love a mother feels for her child when it is first born and during that period of infancy when it is utterly dependent upon her for protection, nourishment, and emotional security. It is an almost biological imperative, an instinct so deeply rooted in our mammalian heritage as to favor the survival of the next generation even over one’s own survival.
What would it take to conjure up this emotion in direct, present-moment experience? Mothers might be able to relate to it directly, as might fathers. Those without children might recall feeling similarly about a sibling, a lover or cherished friend, or even a pet. But anyone can attempt to access it through creative visualization, imagining what it might be like to feel so strongly about the well-being of another that you care for them even more, perhaps, than yourself. What is important here is the texture of the actual emotion—not what it is directed toward.
What does it feel like to love someone dearly, not in the model of romantic love, but in the broader context of a love that is entirely giving and in no need of immediate reciprocation? Unlike some of the more complex manifestations of love throughout our lives, I think the author here is pointing to a self-less love, and unconditional love, a boundless love that cares simply but very powerfully for the well-being of the other without thought of oneself. What might that actually feel like?
Once you access this feeling, this emotional quality of the heart, the next step in the practice is learning how to sustain the direct experience, not as a series of images or conceptual thoughts, but as a direct emotional manifestation that gets sustained and deepened over successive moments of experience. The practice continues as one feels again and again and again that profound loving kindness, rekindling it when it wanes, stabilizing it as it wavers, and developing it as it matures.
In just the same way develop a mind
Unbounded toward all living creatures.
The real insight of this text is to recognize that this very experience can now be transferred beyond the range of the one specific beloved and be extended to every creature in the cosmos. What if we treated everyone with this same quality of mind, this same munificence of heart? If our mind is capable of such a benevolent state, why do we limit it by species, race, tribe, clan, family or individual? As the text recognizes by its language, all such limitations are boundaries imposed upon the heart to keep its loving kindness compartmentalized into a local and restricted environment. What might it look and feel like if we were to remove such boundaries and cultivate a mind that is unbounded toward all?
This is precisely what the practice of loving kindness invites us to do: as the objects of contemplation change, maintain the quality of loving kindness with which they are regarded. As you feel toward the cherished only child, watching over him with heightened awareness, limitless interest, and infinite care, so also move on and see if you can feel similarly about others you can call to mind or about others you encounter as part of the natural day.
This core message of the Mettā Sutta is both beautiful and inspiring. It is beautiful because it is pointing directly to one of the most noble and sublime aspects of our human nature, and it is inspiring insofar as it encourages us to extend this quality of heart far beyond its ordinary range. There may be many moments when we are not able to rise to this challenge, and indeed there may be many instances in which we may not even think it appropriate. Yet as a call to action, a call, even, to adventure, it is compelling in its simplicity and profundity. Even if we are only able to practice removing the boundaries imposed upon our capacity to love a little bit here and there, from time to time, it will still contribute to our becoming better persons, and to the world we inhabit becoming a better place.
