The late Grandmaster Daniel K. Pai was known for frequently doing a chant that was translated as “Peace and joy, we wish you, forever more.” This chant is a form of what in the Buddhist tradition is known as metta meditation. Metta can be translated as loving kindness. It is about developing an attitude of mind where one focuses on the welfare of others. It is the antithesis of selfish and self-centered attitudes. Those who understand that Grandmaster Pai came from Hawaii, where the concept of the aloha spirit permeates interactions between all people, will have no trouble seeing the connection between Buddhist metta meditation practice and the Hawaiian essence of the Pai Family martial arts.

     It is fairly easy to generate feelings of loving kindness to oneself. When speaking of loving kindness, or metta, in the Buddhist tradition, I am speaking of a sense of spiritual well-being which a practitioner can learn to cultivate in himself and then learn to transmit for the benefit of others. The practice of generating loving kindness towards oneself and then radiating it out towards your family, your friends, your peers, neutral persons, and then even to your perceived enemies is known as the practice of metta meditation.

     Metta (loving kindness), along with karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy), and uppekha (equanimity) are considered to be the four Brahma Viharas (sublime states) that practitioners of Buddhism seek to cultivate in their consciousness. Grandmaster Pai used his “Peace and joy ...” chant to exemplify these qualities in his practice and teachings.

     For those who never had the blessings of being able to experience the vibrations of this chant performed by our beloved grandmaster, here is a translation of the 2500 year old Metta Sutra that has been used by Buddhist practitioners throughout the ages to cultivate, and project outwardly to the world, a similar attitude of loving kindness.