Themes

Not taken with views,
ß but virtuous & consummate in vision,
Having subdued desire for sensual pleasures,
One never again will lie in the womb.

The final verse of the Metta Sutta shifts the emphasis from meditation to attainment of wisdom — the highest plane of Buddhist aspiration. This is the culmination of the path, the destination reached when diligent meditation practice is developed upon a firm foundation of virtue. It emphasizes the purification of view, and the ability to see clearly. It suggests the overcoming of desire in the construction of experience, and names emancipation from rebirth and suffering as the fruit of awakening.