§ 27.

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "All the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising (in heaven) do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, & dazzles.

"Just as the radiance of all the stars does not equal one-sixteenth of the radiance of the moon, as the moon -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, & dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, & dazzles.

"Just as in the last month of the rains, in autumn, when the sky is clear & cloudless, the sun, on ascending the sky, overpowers the space immersed in darkness, shines, blazes, & dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, & dazzles.

"Just as in the pre-dawn darkness the morning star shines, blazes, & dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, & dazzles."

When one develops -- mindful --
good will without limit,
fetters are worn through,
on seeing the ending
of acquisitions.

If with uncorrupted mind
you feel good will
    for even    one being,
you become skilled from that.
But a Noble One produces
    a mind of sympathy
    for            all beings,
    an abundance of merit.

Kingly seers, who conquered the earth
    swarming with beings,
went about making sacrifices:
    the horse sacrifice, human sacrifice,
    water rites, soma rites,
    & the "Unobstructed,"
but these don't equal
one sixteenth
of a well-developed mind of good will --
as all the constellations don't,
one sixteenth
of the radiance of the moon.

One who        neither kills
        nor gets others to kill,
        neither conquers,
    nor gets others to conquer,
with good will for all beings,
has no hostility with anyone
            at all.

[See also: AN XI.16; Sn I.8]