I don’t have a bucket list… unless, maybe… to be kinder. Yes, that would be better than a trip to Kakadu, or Dharamsala. A kinder heart, of course, depends on seeing deeply into how things are, and understanding our common humanity. So, there’s a chance, even if I die tonight.
I’d like to share a passage, which I was reading today, from a collection of early Buddhist suttas called the Itivuttaka. The Itivullaka has an interesting story behind it. It is said to be a collection of teachings recorded by a woman, which is unusual in all of Buddhist history, let alone for that early period. Her name was Khujjuttara, and she was a servant of one of the queens of King Udena of Kosambi.
Since the queen couldn’t go to hear the Buddha teach, she sent Khujjuttara, who listened and understood so well that she was able to memorize the teachings, and subsequently shared them with the queen and her women attendants.
These verses are from a sutta called The Development of Loving-Kindness. The translation is John Ireland’s, from his book Itivuttaka: Buddha’s Sayings (1991).
For one who mindfully develops
Boundless loving-kindness
Seeing the destruction of clinging,
The fetters are worn away.
If with an uncorrupted mind
He pervades just one being
With loving kindly thoughts,
He makes some merit thereby.
But a noble one produces
An abundance of merit
By having a compassionate mind
Towards all living beings.
Those royal seers who conquered
The earth crowded with beings
Went about performing sacrifices:
The horse sacrifice, the man sacrifice,
The water rites, the soma sacrifice,
And that called “the Unobstructed.”
But these do not share even a sixteenth part
Of a well cultivated mind of love,
Just as the entire starry host
Is dimmed by the moon’s radiance.
One who does not kill
Nor cause others to kill,
Who does not conquer
Nor cause others to conquer,
Kindly towards all beings —
He has enmity for none.