Is there a thin line between love and hate?

[gavenv]

I have a question that I would like everybody to weigh in. The sharing of merit is a practice where one dedicates the goodness of one’s life to the benefit of all living beings as well as praying for a particular person but still some people don't cherish that and have hate in their hearts. Why????

[Katarzyna]

I have a question that I would like everybody to weigh in. The sharing of merit is a practice where one dedicates the goodness of one’s life to the benefit of all living beings as well as praying for a particular person but still some people don't cherish that and have hate in their hearts. Why????

I'm not sure that I understand your question. If you are asking why it is that some Buddhists don't cherish the practice of sharing merit, I guess it's because they don't believe in it. It's a practice that's thought by many to be a rather late development and unlikely to have been taught by the Buddha. If you are asking why the people to whom merit is transferred don't appear to undergo any improvement in character as a result, then the answer is that the practice doesn't actually have this as its aim. Those who do it believe that it can reduce other beings' suffering, not that it can change them into kinder people.

[Pinetree]

The thin line between love and hate is greed, meaning egoistical "love".

But also, I don't understand your post.

[Chi]

Metta meditation and/or developing bodhicitta and sharing merits is a lifelong practice.

Be patient with the mind. It doesn't change over night.

Keep practicing!

[paul]

Yes there is, it's the Middle Way:
"Loving-kindness has its "enemy within" in lust, which easily gains entry in its wake, and it must be well guarded against this. The remedy for lust is the contemplation of ugliness (in the body) as in the Satipattana Sutta (Digha Nikaya Sutta 22 and Majjhima Nikaya Sutta 10). Its "enemy without" is its opposite, ill-will, which finds its opportunities in the intervals when loving-kindness is not being actively practiced."
-"The practice of Loving-Kindness", Nanamoli Thera.

[SarathW]

Loving kindness has two enemies.
Selfish affection is the near enemy. It appears to be the loving kindness.
The question in OP related to a person with selfish affection
Ill will is the far enemy.

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