Aṇguttara Nikāya
XI. Ekā-Dasaka Nipāta
II. Anussati Vagga

The Book of Elevens

Sutta 16

Mettā-Nisaṃsa Suttaṃ

The Advantages of Friendliness

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

 

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[1][pts][than][piya] Once Upon a Time, The Lucky Man,
revisiting the Sakyans,
Kapilavatthu,
Nigrodhā's Park.^[1]

There then The Lucky Man addressed the beggars, saying:

"Beggars!"

And the beggars responding "Bhante!"
The Lucky Man said this to them:

From the practice of
freedom of heart, beggars,
set up,
increased,
well set going,
made a big thing of,
made a vehicle of,
made a foundation,
eleven advantages are to be expected.

What eleven?

[1] Pleasant sleep,
[2] pleasant waking up,
[3] seeing no bad dreams,
[4] having the love of humans,
[5] having the love of non-humans,
[6] being guarded by divinities,
[7] no coming to ruin by fire, or
poison, or
weaponry,
[8] quickly reaching serenity of heart,
[9] a bright complexion,
[10] ending one's time without confusion,
[11] not reaching the ultimate, arising in the Brahma world.

From the practice of
freedom of heart, beggars,
set up,
increased,
well set going,
made a big thing of,
made a vehicle of,
made a foundation,
these eleven advantages are to be expected.

 

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^[1] There is no Nidana for this sutta, and also it does not begin with the "There then..." that would justify the use of the previous sutta that did have a Nidana. Nevertheless I am using that Nidana here as that makes the most sense to me. Thera Piyadassi places this sutta at Sāvatth, Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery, but I believe this is just following the recommended procedure (to use this as the Nidana) when the location of a sutta delivery was in doubt.