THE BUDDHA AND HIS DHAMMA

§ 3. Dhamma is Saddhamma only when it Teaches that More than Karuna what is Nece

SECTION THREE: DHAMMA TO BE SADDHAMMA MUST PROMOTE MAITRI

§ 3. Dhamma is Saddhamma only when it Teaches that More than Karuna what is Necessary is Maitri

    1. The Buddha did not stop with teaching Karuna.

    2. Karuna is only love for human beings. Buddha went beyond, and taught Maitri. Maitri is love for living beings.

    3. The Buddha wanted man not to stop with Karuna, but to go beyond mankind and cultivate the spirit of Maitri for all living beings.

    4. This he has well explained in a Sutta, when the Blessed One was staying in Shravasti.

    5. Speaking about Maitri, the Blessed Lord told the almsmen:

    6. "Suppose a man comes to dig the earth. Does the earth resent [it]?"

    7. "No, Lord," the almsmen replied.

    8. "Supposing a man comes with lac and colours to paint pictures in the air. Do you think he could do it?"

    9. "No, Lord."

    10. "Why?" "Because there are no dark patches in the air," said the Bhikkus.

    11. "In the same way you must not have any dark patches in your mind which are the reflections of your evil passions."

    12. "Suppose a man comes with a blazing wisp of bracken to set the River Ganges on fire. Could he do it?"

    13. "No, Lord."

    14. "Why?" "Because the Ganges has no combustibility in its water."

    15. Concluding his address, the Blessed Lord said, "Just as the earth does not feel hurt and does not resent, just as the air does not lend [itself] to any action against it, just as the Ganges water goes on flowing without being disturbed by the fire, so also you Bhikkus must bear all insults and injustices inflicted on you, and continue to bear Maitri towards your offenders.

    16. "So, almsmen, Maitri must flow and flow for ever. Let it be your sacred obligation to keep your mind as firm as the earth, as clean as the air, and as deep as the Ganges. If you do so, your Maitri will not be easily disturbed by an act however unpleasant. For all who do injury will soon be tired out.

    17. "Let the ambit of your Maitri be as boundless as the world, and let your thought be vast and beyond measure, in which no hatred is thought of.

    18. "According to my Dhamma, it is not enough to practise Karuna. It is necessary to practise Maitri."

    19. In the course of the sermon, the Blessed Lord told a story to the almsmen which is worth remembering.

    20. "Once upon a time there lived in Shravasti a lady named Videshika, who was reputed gentle and meek, and mild. She had a maid servant named Darkie, a bright girl, an early riser, and a good worker. 'I wonder,' thought Darkie, 'whether my mistress, who is so well spoken of, has really got a temper of her own which she does not show, or whether she has got no temper at all. Or do I do my work so well, that though she has got a temper, she does not show it? I will try her.'

    21. "So next morning she got up late. 'Darkie! Darkie!' cried the mistress. 'Yes, madam,' answered the girl. 'Why did you get up so late?' 'Oh, that's nothing, madam.' 'Nothing , indeed, you naughty girl!'  thought the mistress, frowning with anger and displeasure.

    22. "'So she has got a temper, though she does not show it," thought the maid. 'It is because I do my work so well that she does not show it; I will try her further.' So she got up later next morning. 'Darkie! Darkie!' cried the mistress. 'Yes, madam,' answered the girl. 'Why did you get up so late?' 'Oh that's nothing, madam.' 'Nothing, indeed, you naughty girl!' exclaimed the mistress, giving vent in words to her anger and displeasure.

    23. "'Yes,' thought the maid, 'she has got a temper, though she does not show it because I do my work so well; I will try her yet further.' So next morning she got up later still. 'Darkie! Darkie!' cried her mistress. 'Yes, madam,' answered the girl. 'Why did you get up so late?' 'Oh, that's nothing, madam.'

    24. "'Nothing indeed you naughty girl, to get up so late!' exclaimed the mistress, and in her anger and displeasure she picked up the lynch-pin and struck the girl on the head with it, drawing blood.

    25. "With her broken head streaming with blood, Darkie roused the neighbourhood with shrieks: 'See, lady, what the gentle one has done! See, lady, what the meek one has done! See, lady, what the mild one has done. What for? Just became her only maid got up late, she was so angry and displeased that she just jumped with the lynch-pin to strike her on the head and break it.'

    26. "In the result, the lady Videshika got the reputation of being violent, anything but meek and mild.

    27. "In like manner an almsman may be gentle and meek, and mild enough so long as nothing unpleasant is said against him. It is only when unpleasant things are said against him that you can test if he has Maitri, fellowship, in him."

    28. Then he added, "I do not call an almsman charged with the spirit of Maitri if he shows it only to get clothes and food. Him only do I recognise as a true almsman whose Maitri springs from the doctrine."

    29. "None of the means employed to acquire religious merit, O Monks, has a sixteenth part of the value of loving kindness. Loving kindness, which is freedom of heart, absorbs them all; it glows, it shines, it blazes forth.

    30. "And in the same way, O Monks, as the light of all the stars has not a sixteenth part of the value of the moonlight, but the moonlight absorbs it and glows and shines and blazes forth; in the same way, O Monks, none of the means employed to acquire religious merit has a sixteenth part of the value of loving kindness. Loving kindness, which is freedom of heart, absorbs them; it glows, it shines, it blazes forth.

    31. "And in the, same way, O Monks, as at the end of the rainy season, the sun, rising into the clear and cloudless sky, banishes all the dark spaces and glows and shines and blazes forth; and in the same way again, as at night's end the morning star glows and shines and blazes forth; so, O Monks, none of the means employed to acquire religious merit has a sixteenth part of the value of loving kindness. Loving kindness, which is freedom of heart, absorbs them; it glows, it shines, it blazes forth."