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SUTTA STUDIES - Mettā Sutta analysis

Verse 6 = Sn 148

Analysis - VERSE 6

na paro param nikubbetha

The verb in this first phrase (nikubbetha) is formed as an optative of the common verb “to do”, and with the negative particle na would be translated as “let one not do” or “one should not do” something or other. The prefix ni- that is added to the verb has a sense of “down,” yielding more literally a phrase something like “one should not put down” or “one should not make fail.” The word para means “other,” and when it is doubled like this (paro param), with one in the nominative and one in the accusative case, it refers to one person doing something to or for another. So: “One person should not put down or make another person fail,” which we see handled by various translators as “people should not deceive, humiliate or despise one another.”

nātimaññetha

This verb is also in optative, and consists of a negative particle (na), a prefix (ati) meaning “against,” and the verb “to think.” All together this adds up to something like “one should not think badly of” or “one should not think against” someone. The “one another” phrase (paro param) also extends to this verb, yielding “one should not think against another” or “people should not despise each other.” Most of the translators listed here do something different with this word.

katthacinam kañci

The shift in verb form from a positive imperative of the last two verses (“May they be…”) to a negative optative in this verse (“One should not be…”) is significant, and indicates that we have left the mode of direct speech and are now describing some of the guidelines of effective or wholesome action.  These two words “wherever” (katthaci) and “whatever” (kañci) are again expanding the scope of what has just been said to make it more comprehensive: “One should not do or even think anything anywhere that is against another.” The nam (“he” or “one”) is a pronoun providing the subject of the sentence.

vyārosanā patighasaññā

These two words (nouns in the instrumental case) act to embellish upon the phrase which follows. The first means “by means of anger” and the second “with a perception of harming.” The word harming is made up of striking (gha) against (pati), and covers all forms of aversion, resistance, and aggression. Anger and ill-will are attitudes of mind which do oneself and others a great deal of harm. 

nāññamaññassa dukkham iccheyya

Here the optative verb is a form of “to wish” (iccha), and is linked with the first na of the phrase to say “One should not wish suffering (dukkha) on another.” The term āññamañña (other, other) is another way of saying “one another” and is similar in meaning to paro param. Among the ways we tend to wish suffering upon one another is by means of anger or by means of perceptions of hatred or aversion.

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