Loving Kindness translation

[Digger]

Is "loving kindness" a good translation of the meaning and intent of the Pali - or is "compassion" a better term? The reason for my question is that "loving" is usually thought to have an attachment component whereas generally compassion does not. One can feel sorry for and try to help another without attachment. But once you throw the word "loving" in, is attachment assumed by the way most people interprete the word?

[Prasadachitta]

Is "loving kindness" a good translation of the meaning and intent of the Pali - or is "compassion" a better term? The reason for my question is that "loving" is usually thought to have an attachment component whereas generally compassion does not. One can feel sorry for and try to help another without attachment. But once you throw the word "loving" in, is attachment assumed by the way most people interprete the word?

What word are you trying to translate?

"Metta" is one word

metta [mettaa]:
Loving-kindness; goodwill. One of the ten perfections (paramis) and one of the four "sublime abodes"

"Karuna" is anouther

karuna [karu.naa]:
Compassion; sympathy; the aspiration to find a way to be truly helpful to oneself and others. One of the four "sublime abodes"

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/glossary.html#k


Metta is a response appropriate to the perception of beings generally while karuna is a response to the suffering of beings more specifically. That is how I understand it anyway.

Metta

Gabe

[Digger]

Thanks for your response. I thought there would be a lot more discussion here because I feel that this is an important topic and common misunderstanding of the original intent.

Anyway, if metta can mean either goodwill or loving-kindness, these are two quite different meanings. Again I go back to my original post above, is “loving-kindness” a good term to use since loving is usually thought of as being linked to attachment – the exact thing we are trying to avoid. But you can have good will towards someone or something without attachment.

Please friends – I would really like to hear your opinions on this.

[Prasadachitta]

Thanks for your response. I thought there would be a lot more discussion here because I feel that this is an important topic and common misunderstanding of the original intent.

Anyway, if metta can mean either goodwill or loving-kindness, these are two quite different meanings. Again I go back to my original post above, is “loving-kindness” a good term to use since loving is usually thought of as being linked to attachment – the exact thing we are trying to avoid. But you can have good will towards someone or something without attachment.

Please friends – I would really like to hear your opinions on this.

Words tend to have spheres of influence in what they indicate. It helps to have context. In my opinion goodwill does not express as much caring as loving kindness. As far as I know traditionally metta does have the potential to shade into something like affection or sticky attachment so it can be "linked to attachment" as well. I like "universal loving kindness" to express the perfection of metta as one of the sublime abidings. That way attachment to an individual is excluded.

Take care

Gabe

[Kim O'Hara]

The translation is context-dependent at the English end as well: 'Love' is used for everything from passionate, totally immersive, romantic attachment through to impersonal goodwill-to-all-beings, and even to a greedy appetite for a particular food.
A lot of people have accepted 'loving-kindness' as an acceptable translation of 'metta', and that's near enough for me to begin with. Beyond that, you could just about make a list of related words in English, then a list of related words in Pali, and see how they line up.

Kim