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# AN 4:126 · Goodwill (2) (Mettā Sutta)
- URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-4-126/
- Published: 2026-06-01T02:31:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-13T16:35:24.000Z
- Description: Aṅguttara Nikāya · AN 4:126. Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
- Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA)
- Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Buddha, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Discourse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library, #Import 2026-07-06 03:33

“Monks, there are these four types of individuals to be found existing in the world. Which four?

“There is the case where an individual keeps pervading the first direction \[the east\]—as well as the second direction, the third, & the fourth—with an awareness imbued with goodwill. Thus he keeps pervading above, below, & all around, everywhere & in every respect the all-encompassing cosmos with an awareness imbued with goodwill: abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will. He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an emptiness, not-self. At the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in conjunction with the Devas of the Pure Abodes. This rebirth is not in common with run-of-the-mill people.

“Again, there is the case where an individual keeps pervading the first direction \[the east\]—as well as the second direction, the third, & the fourth—with an awareness imbued with compassion… empathetic joy… equanimity. Thus he keeps pervading above, below, & all around, everywhere & in every respect the all-encompassing cosmos with an awareness imbued with equanimity: abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will. He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an emptiness, not-self. At the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in conjunction with the Devas of the Pure Abodes. This rebirth is not in common with run-of-the-mill people.

“These are four types of individuals to be found existing in the world.”

See also: [AN 10:196](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-10-196/); [AN 11:17](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-11-17/)

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*Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN4%5F126.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*