Hi Bernd,
At the moment, I'm inclined to tell everyone I know to go and practice Metta - maybe that's actually not such a good idea then
Yeah, I don't think metta could hurt, but the unskillfulness of a practitioner could harmfully distort metta, e.g. i) One dealing with conceit can exude condescending pity/superior judgmentalism yet be under the impression of having metta, and/or ii) one dealing with self-loathing could use metta as a tool for self-abuse.
Bernd:
Are you referring to the Metta sutta?
No, when I wrote,
"Ven. Analayo makes this point in his book on the Satipatthana Sutta: metta is key for the fetters in second and three "paths" in the fetter model." that's exactly what I meant: Ven. Analayo makes this point in his book on the Satipatthana Sutta:
Footnote 58:
The reason loving kindness is linked to progress from stream-entry to non-returning could be related to the two fetters that are to be removed at this stage: sensual desire and aversion. Loving kindness, especially if developed up to absorption level, can act as an antidote to both, since the intense mental happiness experienced during deep concentration counteracts the search for pleasure through the external senses, while loving kindness, by its very nature, counters aversion.
I was more emphatic ("(...) metta is key (...)") because of a conversation had together in a class and from developing personal experience).
What is this?
This interpretation obviously fits in with Sujato's view that the Mahasi-fruition isn't stream entry.
Could you point to where Mahasi writes about stream-entry and fruition?
When I refer to the mental release that established a person as being stream-enterer sotapanna, I refer to the suttas' fetter model ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetter_(Buddhism)#cite_note-18: ^ For single-sutta references to both "higher fetters" and "lower fetters," see, DN 33 (section of fives) and AN 10.13. In other instances, a sutta regarding the lower fetters is followed by a sutta regarding the higher fetters, as in: SN 45.179 and 45.180; SN 46.129 and 46.130; SN 46.183 and 46.184; SN 47.103 and 47.104; SN 48.123 and 48.124; SN 49.53 and 49.54; SN 50.53 and 50.54; SN 51.85 and 51.86; SN 53.53 and 53.54; and, AN 9.67 and 9.70. In addition, the five lower fetters alone (without reference to the higher fetters) are discussed, e.g., in MN 64." These references I haven't checked.)
Bernd:
At the moment, I'm inclined to tell everyone I know to go and practice Metta - maybe that's actually not such a good idea then. (since I hardly know anyone who has done real insight practice...)
How does your parenthetical comment here influence your experimentation/study of metta?