the Khandha Sutta
Apadakehi me mettam.
Mettam dvipadakehi me.
Catuppadehi me mettam.
Mettam bahuppadehi me.
May there be love between me and creatures without feet.
May there be love between me and creatures with two feet.
May there be love between me and creatures with four feet.
May there be love between me and creatures with many feet.
The Khandha Paritta Sutta, belonging to a part of the Pali cannon that also includes the Metta Sutta, is a spell given by the Buddha for protection from snakes and other animals and is regularly chanted in Thailand and Burma. What strikes me most about the sutta though is this central verse which calls for love between the person reciting the sutta and all creatures.
The chant is in Pali of course, but various English versions are available; the one below, with just a few changes for ease of reading, comes from "Buddhist Chanting for Health, Peace and Happiness" compiled and edited by Chutatip Umavijani and Sarah Sutro. I was kindly given a copy of this book by Ajarn Chutatip last week and was instantly struck by the lovely translations.
I was also captivated by the centrality of metta in the Paritta texts. Although they are generally chanted for protection, their power is predicated on the practitioner's generation of unconditional loving-kindness. The message is that ultimately, if one lives radiating love, one can have nothing to fear. I also note, as a vegetarian, how that love is to include all creatures.
For much more on this Sutta, including a recitation in Burmese Pali, please follow the links below. For more ways of generating love for all creatures, if you eat animals, please consider eating fewer or none at all. And if you are a vegetarian, then I think you have every right to feel good about your choice, and congratulate yourself. You deserve it. May there be love between all creatures.
The Khandha Sutta
O, let us recite this protective Sutta
which, like a medicine or divine mantra,
destroys the terrible venom of all poisonous creatures,
and thoroughly destroys all other dangers to all beings,
in all places, at all times, within the sphere of the Paritta.
May there be love between me and the four tribes of snakes;
Viripakkhas, Erapathas, Chabyaputtas and Kanhagotamakas.
May there be love between me and creatures without feet.
May there be love between me and creatures with two feet.
May there be love between me and creatures with four feet.
May there be love between me and creatures with many feet.
May creatures without feet not harm me.
May creatures with two feet not harm me.
May creatures with four feet not harm me.
May creatures with many feet not harm me.
All creatures, all beings that breathe,
and all beings that have been born,
may they all, without exception,
understand what is good.
May no suffering come to any being.
To immeasurable Buddha,
the immeasurable Dhamma,
the immeasurable Sangha,
give sympathy to creeping and crawling things;
snakes, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, lizards, mice.
A protection has been made by me,
a safeguard has been made by me.
Let all creatures withdraw.
I pay homage to the Buddha.
I pay homage to the seven Fully Enlightened Ones.
Links:
Note: The text above is, to the very best of my knowledge, copyright free.
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