Metta is "love", but it is the type of love that has the qualities of a loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness, non-violence, and a wish for a welfare and happiness of others. True metta is devoid of self-interest. True metta only gives and never wants anything in return.
These wholesome qualities of love, metta help liberate the mind from the bondage of hatred, anger, selfishness, greed, and delusion. Every time one practices metta, for however short a period, one enjoys a measure of freedom of mind. In Ukkhā Sutta the Buddha said that it would be better to cultivate metta at morning, noon and eventide than to give a gift of one hundred ukkhās (large pots with large mouths) in the morning, one hundred ukkhās at noon, and one hundred ukkhās in the evening.
The Buddha pointed out that when metta was ardently practiced, developed, made the foundation of one's life, fully established, well consolidated and perfected, then the eleven blessings can be expected: one sleeps happily; one wakes happily; one does not suffer bad dreams; one is dear to human beings; one is dear to non-human beings; the gods protect one; no fire or poison or weapon harms one; one's mind gets quickly concentrated; the expression of one's face is serene; one dies unperturbed; and even if one fails to attain higher states, one will at least reach the state of the Brahma world.
May we cultivate metta both in thoughts and in deeds towards all sentient beings!
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