เมตตาแผ่ได้กว้างไกลไพศาลตามใจของผู้แผ่ ยิ่งใจกว้างยิ่งเกิดคุณประโยชน์ไม่มีประมาณ การถูกส่วนเป็นระบบอัตโนมัติที่เกิดขึ้นเอง หน้าที่ของเราคือทำใจให้ผ่อนคลายเบาสบายด้วยความจริงใจ ไม่ใช่ไปพยายามบังคับให้ถูกส่วนLoving-kindness can radiate as far and wide as the heart allows — the wider the heart, the greater the immeasurable benefit it creates. Reaching the right measure happens automatically; our part is simply to keep the mind relaxed and light with genuine sincerity, not to force it into place.
Someone asked what our elder teacher meant by using "in the right measure."
Loving-kindness is a tool side uses to benefit all beings, unlike pity, which can only help in the moment directly in front of us. Loving-kindness can radiate far and wide — how far depends entirely on our own heart, since loving-kindness arises from the heart as its ground. Wherever the heart reaches, loving-kindness reaches too — no matter how deep underground a being may dwell, or how far beyond the horizon, loving-kindness can still reach it. The wider the heart, the more immeasurable the benefit it can create.
What does "right measure" mean?
When loving-kindness is radiated in the right measure, it feels light rather than heavy — easy, not difficult. Our elder teacher taught us to expand the heart gradually: beginning with ourselves, then our own home, then the village we live in. The scriptures record that the Bodhisatta radiated loving-kindness daily only within the forest where he dwelled, spreading it in front, behind, to the left and right, until it became so natural that the first and second arose. This loving-kindness calmed the resentment within the beings in that area, cleansed their stains, and let wholesome qualities take firm root in their minds. Once rooted, wholesomeness drew in pure energy to continuously cleanse further stains, raising them step by step from the human body toward the subtler celestial and brahma bodies.
Reaching the right measure is an automatic process — it settles into place on its own; we do not force it there. What we can do is simply relax, stay light, and rest still with ease. That is the entire human role in this. The actual raising and settling into right measure depends on the pure energy and on the layered background behind it, each layer in its turn.
Why sincerity matters in radiating loving-kindness
Cultivating loving-kindness must be done with genuine sincerity, a truly well-wishing heart — like a mother's love for the only child born of her own womb. Sometimes we radiate loving-kindness merely by rote, following a text; it takes real sincerity for the quality of that loving-kindness to become clear and pure. This very sincerity is what makes an aspiration succeed, because an aspiration requires truthfulness as its foundation, and the ultimate truth is nibbāna itself. When we abide in wholesomeness, we appear luminous within the Triple Gem, the Triple Gem appears luminous within us, and both of us appear luminous within nibbāna — so our aspirations can succeed easily. But an aspiration built on an unwholesome foundation becomes harmful instead — like someone who curses another out of malice: the curser always receives the result first, because it is powered by unwholesome energy. Whether the result comes quickly or slowly depends on whether that energy has reached its full measure; if not yet full, it must keep accumulating until it is, and only then does the result appear.