Came across the discussion in Steve Collins's _Readings of the Vessantara_ on 'metta' (friendliness) as a crucially important Buddhist/non-Buddhist/pre-Buddhist virtue, and was reminded why it's perhaps my favorite virtue
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"justice," "humaneness," "compassion," "bravery," "wisdom" all would seem to a) presume speaker already knows what these qualities entail; b) divides persons along spectrum of more or less just, humane, compassionate, brave, wise
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"friendliness," to me, suggests a kind of openness to others' worldviews and practical experiences that serves as the precondition to discussion of how to collectively enact and balance other virtues
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Favorite readings on "friendliness"?
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Replying to @AOHSUsometimesY
"Transformed by metta, the mind is no longer haunted by greed, hatred, lust, jealousy and those other mind-polluting factors which are one's real enemy and source of misfortune." Ācariya Buddharakkhita
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Replying to @NoaidiX @AOHSUsometimesY
"According to the Visuddhimagga, metta is a 'solvent' that 'melts' not only one's own psychic pollutants of anger, resentment and offensiveness, but also those of others. Since it takes the approach of friendship, even the hostile one turns into a friend." Ācariya Buddharakkhita
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Replying to @NoaidiX @AOHSUsometimesY
"[A]s one visualizes the persons of the different circles, one 'breaks the barrier' caused by likes and dislikes, attachment and hatred. When one is able to regard an enemy without ill-will and with the same amount of goodwill that one has for a very dear friend..." 1/2
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Replying to @NoaidiX @AOHSUsometimesY
"...metta then acquires a sublime impartiality, elevating the mind upward and outward as if in a spiral movement of ever-widening circles until it becomes all-embracing." 2/2 Ācariya Buddharakkhita
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Replying to @NoaidiX @AOHSUsometimesY
"If man decides to substitute metta as a policy of action for aggression and ill-will, the world will turn into a veritable abode of peace." 1/2
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Replying to @NoaidiX @AOHSUsometimesY
"For it is only when man shall have peace within himself, and boundless goodwill for others, that peace in the world will become real and enduring." 2/2 Ācariya Buddharakkhita
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Citation: Ācariya Buddharakkhita. Mettā: The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1989.
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