The Karaniya Metta Sutta — “the discourse on what should be done by one skilled in goodness” — is ten verses long and is probably the most widely recited Buddhist text in the Theravada world. It is chanted at the end of ceremonies, at the opening of meetings, as a protective text, and daily by a great many practitioners.

It is also, unusually for a canonical text, memorable as poetry.

The origin story #

The commentarial account is worth knowing because it shapes how the text is read.

A group of monks went to a forest for the rains retreat. The tree deities of the forest, disturbed by their presence, tried to drive them out with frightening sights, sounds, and smells. The monks fled back to the Buddha and asked for another place to practise.

He sent them back to the same forest, and gave them the Metta Sutta as their protection and their practice. They returned, radiated loving-kindness towards the deities, and the deities — won over — became their protectors instead.

The story explains the text’s dual function: it is simultaneously a meditation instruction and a paritta, a protective chant. In Theravada practice it is used as both, without any sense of contradiction.

The text #

The discourse falls into three parts, and they are frequently collapsed into one another.

Verses 1–3: the ethical foundation #

The opening does not mention metta at all. It lists the qualities of one who wishes to attain the state of peace:

Capable, upright, straightforward, easy to speak to, gentle, not proud; contented, easily supported, with few duties, living lightly; with senses calmed, prudent, modest, not greedily attached to families; and not doing the slightest thing that the wise would later censure.

This is the part most often skipped when the text is used as a meditation instruction, and its placement first is not accidental. Metta is presented as resting on ethical conduct and simplicity of life, not as a technique that can be applied independently of them.

Verses 4–8: the radiation #

Then the practice proper, and its scope is deliberately exhaustive:

May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be — whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short, or small, the seen and the unseen, those living near and far away, those born and to-be-born — may all beings be at ease.

The list is comprehensive by design. It runs through size, strength, visibility, distance, and birth status, and repeats omitting none. The enumeration exists to prevent the goodwill from settling comfortably on a preferred category.

Then the ethical negative:

Let none deceive another, or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will wish harm upon another.

And the simile that carries the text:

Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings.

This is the most quoted line in the discourse and is regularly misread. It is not saying that one should love all beings as a mother loves her child in the sense of attachment — that would be the near enemy of metta. The comparison is specifically to the protective intensity: as a mother would protect her only child with her life, so one should protect one’s goodwill.

Then the radiation outward:

Radiating kindness over the entire world, spreading upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths, outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill-will.

And the instruction that this is not confined to formal practice:

Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding.

Verses 9–10: the turn to insight #

The final verse is the one most often omitted in recitation and is doctrinally the most important:

By not holding to fixed views, the pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being freed from all sense-desires, is not born again into this world.

This matters. The brahmaviharas practised alone lead to rebirth in the Brahma realms — a fortunate destination within samsara, not the exit. The closing verse attaches the practice to right view, the abandonment of craving, and the end of rebirth.

The Metta Sutta is therefore not a standalone instruction in kindness. It is metta within a complete path.

Where it sits #

The discourse appears twice in the canon: in the Sutta Nipata (Sn 1.8) and in the Khuddakapatha (Khp 9), both in the Khuddaka Nikaya.

The Sutta Nipata is generally regarded as containing some of the oldest material in the canon on linguistic and metrical grounds, which is part of why this text has the compressed, unformulaic quality it does — it reads less like the standard discourse formulae and more like poetry.

How it is used #

As chant. In Pali, at the close of ceremonies, at funerals, at house blessings, and daily in monasteries. The Pali has a strong metre and is pleasant to recite even without understanding it.

As paritta. As a protective text, in the paritta collection used across Theravada Asia for blessing and protection — consistent with its origin story.

As meditation instruction. The basis of metta practice, usually with the phrases adapted. The now-standard modern form — may you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease — is a Western development inspired by the sutta rather than a translation of it; the canonical formula is closer to sukhino va khemino hontu, may all beings be happy and secure.

As reflection. Many practitioners read the first three verses as a description of the character to be developed rather than as a preface to be got through.

Common questions #

Is metta love? Not in the usual English sense. It is goodwill — the wish that beings be well — without attachment, without preference, and without requiring anything in return. English has no good word for it, which is part of why the Pali is usually retained.

Do I have to chant it in Pali? No. Chanting in Pali is traditional and has its own value, and reading in English is entirely adequate for practice.

Why does it start with ethics? Because the tradition treats metta as resting on conduct. Goodwill developed by someone who is deceptive, arrogant, or harmful is regarded as unstable, and the first verses specify the ground.

What about the mother simile and attachment? The comparison is to the protective intensity, not to the attachment. Maternal love in Buddhist analysis is a mixture of metta and attachment; what the text borrows is the strength, not the clinging.

Is this the only metta text? No. The Metta Sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya (AN 11:15) lists the eleven benefits of metta; the Karaniya Metta Sutta is the one usually meant by “the Metta Sutta.”

Sources & further reading #

Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), The Suttanipāta: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha’s Discourses (Wisdom, 2017) — the authoritative translation with commentary. Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness (Shambhala, 1995) — the modern practice tradition built on it. Bhikkhu Analayo, Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation (Windhorse, 2015). Thanissaro Bhikkhu, translations and essays at dhammatalks.org — including on the distinction between metta and affection. Acharya Buddharakkhita, Metta: The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love (BPS, 1989).