# SN 46.51: the Thai edition's better reading on starving ill will

**URL:** <https://4nt.discourse.group/t/sn-46-51-the-thai-editions-better-reading-on-starving-ill-will/32>\
**Category:** Lucid24.org\
**Created:** [October 5, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://4nt.discourse.group/t/sn-46-51-the-thai-editions-better-reading-on-starving-ill-will/32 "2026-10-05T13:58:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![frankk](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex053/user_avatar/4nt.discourse.group/frankk/32/7_2.png) [@frankk](https://4nt.discourse.group/u/frankk)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://4nt.discourse.group/t/sn-46-51-the-thai-editions-better-reading-on-starving-ill-will/32/1 "2026-10-05T13:58:16Z")

</div>

What starves ill will? In SN 46.51, the Burmese and Sinhala editions answer _mettā·ceto·vimutti_, the heart’s release by friendliness. The Thai edition has just _ceto·vimutti_, unqualified.

One word apart, and the teaching widens. Thanissaro, translating the Thai, takes the unqualified ceto-vimutti to cover all four brahmavihāras, not just mettā. That fits AN 5.161 and AN 5.162, where more than friendliness is prescribed for resentment.

The post sets the Burmese and Thai Pāli, Sujato and Thanissaro side by side, row by row, so you can see the difference for yourself. It ends with the commentarial point that what separates mettā from mettā ceto-vimutti is jhāna quality.

> **[SN 46.51: the Thai edition’s better reading on starving ill will](https://notes.lucid24.org/2026/10/05/sn-46-51-the-thai-editions-better-reading-on-starving-ill-will/)**
>
> The Burmese and Sinhala editions of this sutta give mettā ceto-vimutti as the antidote for ill will. The Thai edition has just the unqualified ceto-vimutti as the antidote.Thanissaro explains that here it covers all four brahmavihāras —not the...