Friendliness means Goodwill
Friendliness means Kindness
Friendliness means Helpfulness
Friendliness means Assistance
Friendliness means Support
Friendliness means Benevolence
Friendliness means Concern
Friendliness means Care
Friendliness means Compassion
Friendliness means Cooperation
Friendliness means Mutual Aid
Friendliness means Mutual Advantage
Friendliness means Sympathy
Friendliness means Symbiosis
Only friendliness can completely relinquish the poison of hate
and anger!
It's characteristic is promoting other being's welfare, it's
function is to
do only good, and it's manifestation is kindness, sympathy, &
gentleness...
The proximate cause of friendliness is seeing the good aspects of
things!
The proximate cause of understanding compassion is this very
friendliness!
The Blessed
Buddha said:
I am a friend and helper to all,
I am sympathetic to all living beings.
I develop a mind full of love & one
who always delight in harmlessness.
I gladden my mind, fill it with joy,
and make it immovable and unshakable.
I develop these divine states of mind
not cultivated by simple men.
Theragatha 648-9
I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of the bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed.
May not the footless harm me,
may not the bipeds harm me,
may not those with four feet harm me,
and may not those with many feet harm me.
AN II 72
A friend who always lends a hand,
a friend both in sorrow and joy,
a friend who offers good counsel,
a friend who sympathizes too.
These are the four kinds of true friends:
one who is wise, having understood,
will always cherish and serve such friends
just as a mother tends her only child.
DN III, 188
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived on the wood.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness, I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in such silent solitude.
Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
And how does a bhikkhu abide with his mind imbued with friendliness
extending over one direction? Just as he would feel friendliness on
seeing a dearly favourite person, so he extends loving-kindness
to all beings in all directions, as above so below.
Abhidhamma Pitaka: Appamañña-vibhanga
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of friendly
loving-kindness
pervading first one direction, then a second one, then a third one
then the fourth
one, as below so above, across & all around, everywhere identifying
himself with
all sentient beings, he is encompassing the whole world with a mind
full of friendly
loving-kindness, with a mind wide, developed, unbounded, cleared,
exalted, pure &
bright, free from hate and ill will ...
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of understanding
compassion
pervading first the front, then the right side, then the back, then
the left side, as
below so above, across & all around, all over, far & wide;
identifying himself with
all sentient beings, he is perfusing the whole universe with a mind
imbued with pity,
with a spacious mind, a refined mind, infinite, cleared, pure &
brilliant, freed from
all anger and any trace of enmity ...
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of altruistic &
sympathetic joy
pervading the North, then the East, then the South, then the West,
as below so
above, across & all around, universally, infinitely; identifying
himself with all
sentient beings, he is suffusing all galaxies with a mind full of
genuine mutual &
altruistic sympathetic joy, with an open mind, vast, limitless,
purified, cleared,
pure & shining, free from aversion and bitterness ...
There, Oohh friends, the Bhikkhu with a mind full of balanced
equanimity pervading
first the frontal quadrant, then the right, then the rear & then the
left quadrant, as
below so above, across & all around; and everywhere identifying
himself with all
sentient beings, he is permeating the whole world with a mind
satiated of balanced
equanimity, calmed, with a mountain-like mind, cultivated, endless,
cleared, pure &
dazzling, freed from any irritation & resentment ...'
Minor
Readings and the Illustrator
So too, bhikkhus, others may speak to you timely or untimely, true
or untrue,
gentle or harsh, beneficial or for harmful, based on kindness or on
bitter hate!
If they abuse you verbally, you should train yourselves in this way:
"Our minds will remain unaffected, we shall speak no angry words, we
will dwell
friendly and understanding, with thoughts of kindness and no inward
anger.
We shall remain friendly and beam goodwill towards that very person,
and we
shall dwell extending it to the entire universe, mentally
overflowing, exalted,
measureless & infinite in amiability, without any trace hostility
nor ill-will."
That is how you should train yourselves. Even if bandits were
savagely to cut
you up, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, one who harbours hate
from that
account, would not be one who carried out my teaching. Bhikkhus, you
should
keep this instruction on that Simile of the Saw constantly in mind.
Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 21
Friends, eleven advantages are to be expected as effect from the
release
of mind into friendliness by the practice of Goodwill, by
cultivating amity,
by making much of it frequently, by making friendliness the vehicle,
the tool,
the basis, by persisting on it, by being well established in it as a
sublime habit.
What are these eleven advantages ?
One sleeps Happy ! One wakes up Happy !
One dreams No Evil dreams !
One is Liked & Loved by all human beings!
One is Liked & Loved by all non-human beings too!
One is Guarded & Protected by the divine Devas !
One cannot be Harmed by Fire, Poison, nor Weapons !
One easily Attains the Concentration of Absorption !
Ones appearance becomes Serene, Calm, & Composed !
One dies without Confusion, Bewilderment, nor Panic !
One reappears after death on the Brahma level, if one
has penetrated to no higher level in this very life !
When the mind is released into friendliness by the practice of
Goodwill,
by manifesting Friendliness, by cultivating Amity, by frequently
making
much of it, by making Friendliness the vehicle, the tool, the basis,
the medium,
the foundation, by persisting in it, by insisting on it, by properly
consolidating it,
by thoroughly undertaking it, by making it a familiar supreme habit,
by so being
well established in it, these eleven blessings can be expected…’
Anguttara Nikaya V 342
Thus he who both day and night
takes delight in harmlessness
sharing love with all that live,
finds enmity with none.
Samyutta Nikaya. I 208
When one with a mind of love
feels compassion for the entire world --
above, below and across,
unlimited everywhere.
Jataka 37
Bhikkhus, whatever kinds of worldly merit there are, all are not
worth
one sixteenth part of the release of mind by universal friendliness;
in shining, glowing and beaming radiance, this release of mind by
universal friendliness far excels & surpasses them all...