Metta
Etymology
Pali "mettā" (Sanskrit "maitrī"), derived from "mitra," friend. It is the first of the Buddhist brahmavihāras, or "divine abodes," and is trained through a specific meditation of wishing others well.
noun · /MEH-tah/
An active, unconditional goodwill and loving-kindness extended toward oneself and all beings.
What it names
Benevolence as something you can deliberately cultivate and direct, rather than a feeling that merely happens to you.
Example
When she found herself seething at a stranger, she tried a few seconds of metta and wished him an easy day.
Related idea
It is the seedbed of mudita, sympathetic joy in others’ happiness; metta is the broad wish for their well-being, mudita the delight when it arrives.
See also