18 Metta Sutta Translations

[Byokan]

Hi All,

I've been dancing with this all week, it's 18 different translations of the Metta Sutta, side by side for comparison and study. Take a look if you're interested:

http://www.leighb.com/mettasuttas.htm

I'm wondering if there is a certain translation that we use in Soto, or at Treeleaf? I feel like I've seen one here on the forum before, somewhere, but I can't find it...

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today

[Jakuden]

Nice!! Thank you!

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[Jundo]

Hi All,

I've been dancing with this all week, it's 18 different translations of the Metta Sutta, side by side for comparison and study. Take a look if you're interested:

http://www.leighb.com/mettasuttas.htm

I'm wondering if there is a certain translation that we use in Soto, or at Treeleaf? I feel like I've seen one here on the forum before, somewhere, but I can't find it...

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today

Hi Byokan,

Thank you for this. As a translator (of Japanese, not of Sanskrit and Pali however), it is fascinating to see all the variation.

We recite Metta, although not the full Metta Sutta ...

1. May we be free of suffering; may we feel safe and still.

2. May we be free of enmity; may we be loving, grateful and kind.

3. May we be healthy and at ease in all our ills.

4. May we be at peace, embracing all conditions of life

RECOMMENDED DAILY Metta PRACTICE

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?6020-RECOMMENDED-DAILY-Metta-PRACTICE

It is a South Asian Buddhist Practice, not typically found in Japanese Zen, although it has become rather popular among many Zen groups in the West as a way to emphasize the softer, Loving Kindness, side of Buddhism in our Zen Practice.

One point is that the translations you posted seem sometimes to emphasize wishing someone "happiness", while others phrase it as "contentment" or a similar phrase. I favor the latter for Zen Practice. This has to do with the emphasis in Soto Practice on becoming one with "things as they are". As I describe later in the above thread on our Recommended Daily Metta Practice ...

I actually adjusted the wording of our Chant here to emphasize acceptance and equanimity toward all conditions a bit more than "happiness". (In much of Buddhism, when folks like the Dalai Lama speak of "happiness", one actually finds that they mean more along the line of "contentment and equanimity" even amid the hard days in life such as times of illness).

I explained a little more about this in a completely unrelated thread on all those books the Dalai Lama seems to write on "Happiness" ...

The Tibetans tend to speak of "Happiness" quite a bit in their books and talks ... but when looked at closely, it is much the same as the subtle Joy and Peace that we speak of in the Zen corner of the woods ... a Joy that holds comfortably the happy times and sad times, a Peace that is wholly all life's many pieces.

Frankly, if somebody just wanted to be "happy happy happy", I think there are pharmaceuticals that will do the job faster and deeper than any meditation ... at least for a short time.

I sometimes think that the Tibetans writers chose the word "Happiness" in their literature to impress Westerners. The problem is that some folks may hear that and think that they are going to find the key to 24/7 "laughing gas" happiness ... and are a bit disappointed when in fact what is delivered is something much more subtle (though fathomlessly richer). I once wrote ...

Even in Tibetan Buddhism's emphasis on "happiness" ... such words might disguise the real teaching of the Dalai Lama and most Tibetan Teachers I know (same message as here at Treeleaf, in fact) that the point of this Practice is not the attaining of a happy happy ha ha happy happiness all the time (I have never met such a constantly giddy Tibetan teacher, and who would want such a state ... like only watching the comedy movies and never the drama!), but of a certain subtle Happiness (big "H") that transcends AND yet fully contains both the happy times and the sad, smiles and tears, the rainy days and sunny days, as judged by small human eyes in this life of Samsara. I do not think they are teaching people to feel happy that their mother died or tickled that there is a war somewhere in the world ... but a Boundless Joy and Buddha's Smile that shines through all that life can dish out.

A Buddha's Happiness transcends and holds small human "happy and sad".

Gassho, Jundo

SatToday, recited Metta today

[Eishuu]

Thank you Byokan, that looks really fascinating. Good to hear about the Zen attitude towards Metta too...that feels more compatible with zazen than the approach I have used in the past.

Gassho
Lucy
sat today

[Washin]

Thank you for sharing the link, Byokan.

Gassho
Washin
ST

[Mp]

Thank you Byokan. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Myosha]

Hello,

Thank you for the link.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Kokuu]

Thank you. That is such a beautiful sutta and it is lovely to see the variety of translations.

Gassho
Kokuu
#sattoday

[Onkai]

Thank you, Byokan, for the link. I hadn't read that sutta in its original form before, although I love the practice of meditating on metta.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Byokan]

Thanks all for your comments, glad you found it interesting.

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today