Is metta meditation necessary?

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Is metta meditation necessary?

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Digity
Posts: 801
Joined: Wed Mar 30,
2011 2:13 am

Is metta meditation necessary?

by Digity Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:53 am
P
Is ometta meditation necessary? I do sitting and
s
tot doing any metta meditation. I think part of

walking meditation daily, but still haven't gotten

me doesn't think it's worth it. I feel like you can
achieve metta through wisdom. For instance, if you have jealousy then you can use wisdom to
see through jealousy and eliminate it. In that sense, if you can eliminate negative states
through wisdom then why do the metta practice?

Having said all that, I do have times when my mind is just racing with negative thoughts and I
just can't stop them. They're like a run away train, but I just kind of watch them run around
like insane monsters. Eventually they lose steam and die down. However, it still doesn't feel
good being in this state of mind, but at least it's contained through mindfulness. I just wonder,
if I practice metta maybe these states of mind could be avoided.
o
p

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by Ben Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:58 am
P
o
I think
its a mistake to pick or choose that we find easy and avoid
s
ort later, practice will seem like the hardest thing in the world to

Ben
Site Admin
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2008 12:49 am
Location:
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C
o

that we find difficult. Sooner

do or continue with. What

will you do then? Abandon it?

Maybe you should commit yourself to a particular approach and maintain it for a year or two
before assessing whether it was worthwhile or not.
kind regards,
Ben
No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later.
All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance

http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16963&p=242199[24/8/2558 21:25:52]

Is metta meditation necessary? - Dhamma Wheel

in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) Buddhist Global Relief UNHCR
e: ben.dhammawheel@gmail.com..
o
p
fivebells
Posts: 305
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009
12:52 am

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by fivebells Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:29 am
P
o
Developing
the capacity to establish a positive frame of mind during unpleasant experiences
s
essential
to the practice. Metta practice is probably the easiest way to do that.
t

is

o
p
Digity
Posts: 801
Joined: Wed Mar 30,
2011 2:13 am

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by Digity Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:36 am
P
o everyone who does metta meditation feel like they've benefited from
Does
s
How long did it take before you experienced noticeable effects?
way?
t

it in a profound

o
p

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by BlackBird Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:52 am
P
o of the best effects I find in metta practice is it's ability to improve my anapanasati.
One
s
fact
of the matter is, until one achieves non-returnership, one will not have eliminated
t

The
hatred.
When anger takes over, it is often hard to apply our wisdom. I guess what I'm saying is you
shouldn't rely on widom to always be there for you. Practicing metta ensures anger will not
arise as often, or have such a controlling effect.

BlackBird
Posts: 1872
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009
12:07 pm
Location: New Zealand

I wholeheartedly think everyone should practice it. While it's not a necessity for achieving
liberation, it has so many benefits, and produces an astounding amount of good kamma. I'm
trying to find the sutta, but in essence the Buddha lists a long series of things you can do to
accrue merit, including giving tonnes of gold and silver away - I seem to recall the number 100
being thrown about... and anyway he says practicing metta for just a short time will yield
more merit than that. I believe the sutta was in the Samyutta Nikaya or perhaps the Anguttara.
I'd love to find it again if anyone knows the one I'm talking about.
Modern science is coming out in favour of metta practice, from wikipedia:

A few recent psychological studies suggest that loving-kindness meditation may impact health
and well-being. One study done at Stanford University suggests that a short 7 minute practice of
loving-kindness meditation can increase social connectedness.[25] Loving-kindness meditation
has also been shown to reduce pain and anger in people with chronic lower back pain.[26]
Researcher Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that
loving-kindness meditation can help boost positive emotions and well-being in life, fostering the

http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16963&p=242199[24/8/2558 21:25:52]

Is metta meditation necessary? - Dhamma Wheel

personal resources that come from experiencing positive emotion.[27] More research is needed
to see whether loving-kindness meditation is appropriate for all populations, whether it works
similarly for everyone, and to understand how much practice is needed for the benefits of the
practice to manifest.
An EEG study by Richard J. Davidson of people who meditate in metta, with a minimum of
10,000 hours practice, showed substantial differences in the magnitude of gamma waves as well
as gamma synchronization, particularly during meditative sessions, and directly afterwards.
During baseline states, where the subject was not engaged in the practice of metta, there was
a signature brain wave pattern that distinguishes the metta practitioners, lay people as well as
monks, from people, at baseline, who have not extensively practiced compassion meditation.
This study also showed, during meditation, an increase in the activity of brain areas such as the
temporoparietal junction, insula, and amygdala can increase the subject's ability to see things
from another's perspective, and actually change the area of the brain that is involved with the
autonomic system so that the meditator's heartbeat increases. These studies show that the
amygdala is modulated during compassion meditation.[22] Compassion meditation has been
shown to lower the participants reaction to inflammation and distress, both of which are
associated with, "major depression, heart disease and diabetes," in response to stressors, a
change that was dependent on the amount of time spent practicing, with practitioners who
spent more time meditating having corresponding more significant changes in their brains.[28]

The Vissudhimagga lists a series of types of personalities a yogi may have, and I am of the
variety where hatred is the dominant hinderance. So I find metta very beneficial. All the same,
even people who are not inclined towards anger and hatred will see manifold benefits.
You say that sometimes you have negative thoughts that you just can't stop, that are like a
runaway train. This is where I think a regular and established metta practice would help
It only took me a few days to notice the very welcome effects it had on my overall mood and
my relations with friends and family. It's all positive
Kind regards & metta
Jack
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords
with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70
Kitagiri Sutta
o
p

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by Ben Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:56 am
P
o
s
Digity wrote:
t

Does everyone who does metta meditation feel like they've benefited from it in a profound way?

Ben
Site Admin
Posts: 17165
Joined: Wed Dec 31,
2008 12:49 am
Location:
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I don't know about everyone, but I have.

How long until noticable results? That will depend on the individual.
Just do the practice and the results will accrue.
No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later.
All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance
in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16963&p=242199[24/8/2558 21:25:52]

Is metta meditation necessary? - Dhamma Wheel

Learn this from the waters:

in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) Buddhist Global Relief UNHCR
e: ben.dhammawheel@gmail.com..
o
p
Digity
Posts: 801
Joined: Wed Mar 30,
2011 2:13 am

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by Digity Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:38 am
P
o
Interesting.
I think part of the reason I've had trouble starting metta practice is that my mind
s
tends
to be very logically driven and I don't think I'm as in touch with my emotional side. I tend
t

to tackle everything from a logical perspective and seek the wisdom in it. So, if I'm feeling
angry or whatever I start to observe the anger and try to understand what are the causes and
conditions of its arising. I kind of feel comfortable doing things this way and therefore, don't
usually feel the need to develop the metta practice. However, maybe I should do it and just
see what it does for me.
o
p
Strive4Karuna
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Dec 30,
2012 9:38 am

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by Strive4Karuna Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:41 pm
P
Inomy opinion, meditation on metta, karuna, upekkha is the
s
do.
t There have been many arahants and buddhas that have

most beautiful meditation you can

past through our world, but all
with varying degrees of metta and karuna. The Buddha Shakyamuni has stated that there have
been countless Paechekka Buddhas who have come before him but left this world without
helping anybody. They only lived for themselves. To respect metta and karuna is to respect
those countless samasan buddhas such as Shaykamuni, such as Maitreya who will come in the
future who not only achieve enlightenment but have the compassion and love for others to
stay behind and help us through our suffering. Also, there are many ways to achieve
enlightenment. In the Majjhima Nikaya it has been stated that for one who develops loving
kindness, compassion, altruistic joy and equanimity to a very high degree, enlightenment will
be achieved.

Last edited by Strive4Karuna on Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
o
p
Strive4Karuna
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Dec 30,
2012 9:38 am

Re: Is metta meditation necessary?

by Strive4Karuna Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:50 pm
P
o
s
Digity wrote:
t

Does everyone who does metta meditation feel like they've benefited from it in a profound way?
?

The benefit is to be able to look at every human being and generate warmth, love and peace
from within and that is an amazing feeling.

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