METTA EQUALS A-DOSA.
During my visit to Kyainge Tone, Myanmar, I happened to
go to a forest monastery to relax. During my visit, I came
across the head monk, the Sayadaw, of the monastery and from
our casual conversation, I found myself discussing about
the definition of metta.
Sayadaw:- You see, in our daily lives, we live in accordance
with the dhamma of Brahma Vihaya which consist of metta,
garuna, mudita and upekkha. It is because of metta that you
are here to stay with your daughter.
Answer:- It will be better to have my visit called as an
attachment, sanyozana.
Sayadaw:- The metta appears because of
the attachment, isn’t
it?
Answer:- When we say attachment, which
is desire, the tanha, isn’t it? There is a saying that the marital metta
consist of 1500 kilesa, whereas the parental metta consist
only 528 kilesa. Kilesa means defilement made up of loba,dosa
and moha. It goes on to show that the parental metta includes
desire, and need a better definition than the quotation made.
Some twenty years ago, I came across a famous monk in Mergui
and asked him to give me the meaning of metta. He said,” Metta
is a-dosa” I added with an example that if I had killed
someone in rage which is dosa, and after the assassination,
my next thought will be without anger, will it constitute
metta?”. He never replied to my presentation.
We did not conclude our discussion and
left. After I reached home and went to bed as usual. I
was awaken at about 3:00 a.m. by knocks on the door with
voices calling out for doctor. I heard the cry of a baby
in the midst of the calls. I got up, opened the door and
found a couple and their neighbors. The wife was carrying
the baby said, “My son is having
a bowel disorder and continuous watery loose motions throughout
the night.”
I woke my son-in-law, a doctor, and requested him to attend
to the baby. He obliged and examined the baby carefully,
asking a few questions and gave the baby an intravenous injection
and some oral medications. He explained to the mother and
carefully gave instructions regarding the prescription. As
he said she could go home, the mother of the baby requested
to allow her to stay in the clinic until daylight for fear
that something serious might happen again. My son-in-law
readily allowed her and went off to sleep without even mentioning
his fee.
In the course of the treatment, I was watching the mother
and the doctor. The mother wore a very worried and anxious
face and where else the doctor was going about the treatment
with a very calm and peaceful expression. They had a sick
baby in between them. The mother had the desire for the child
to get better and the doctor was doing his job without any
desire. Then I realized that the real metta is without any
tanha or desire or defilements. Simply doing things 'at the
moment' for the sake of doing without wanting anything from
anyone at the time of doing.
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