Loving-kindness

AN 7:58B; selected - Loving-kindness

Translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi

Monks, do not be afraid of deeds of merit! They are equivalent to happiness, these deeds of merit. For I know very well that for a long time I have experienced desirable, pleasant and agreeable results from meritorious deeds often performed.

For seven years I cultivated thoughts of loving-kindness. Having cultivated a heart full of loving-kindness for seven years, I did not return to this world for seven aeons of world-contraction and world-expansion. Whenever a world was destroyed, I entered (by way of rebirth) among the devas of Streaming Radiance, and when the world unfolded again, I was reborn in an empty Brahma-palace. And there I was Mahabrahma, the unvanquished victor, all-powerful. And thirty-six times I was Sakka, ruler of the devas, and many hundred times I was a universal monarch, a just and righteous king.