Brahmavihara - The Four Immeasurables (2/4)

The Brahmavihara may be parsed as "Brahma" and "vihara," which are often rendered into English as "sublime" or "divine abodes. The Brahmavihara are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables.

The Brahmaviharas are four prized emotions or mindstates that give us a framework to cultivate positive behaviours and minimise harmful ones. They are called the “divine abodes” because they are the mental states in which all the enlightened ones reside. They are also known as the “four immeasurables” or “four limitless ones” because they represent love and goodwill towards all sentient beings, without limit. 

The four Brahmaviharas are: 

1. Loving-kindness (Pali: mettā, Sanskrit: maitrī) is active good will towards all;
2. Compassion (Pali and Sanskrit: karuṇa) results from metta, which is identifying the suffering of others as one's own.
3. Sympathetic joy (Pali and Sanskrit: muditā) is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it. It is a form of sympathetic joy.
4. Equanimity (Pali: upekkha, Sanskrit: upekṣa) is even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially.  

The Four Immeasurables as a Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayer

May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness. 
May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering. 
May they never be disassociated from supreme happiness, which is without suffering. 
May they remain in boundless equanimity, free from both attachment to close ones and rejection of others.

The following section is excerpted from The Door to Inconceivable Wisdom and Compassion. There was a very famous Dzogchen master in thirteenth-century Tibet named Longchenpa who taught that the entire conduct of the bodhisattva can be summarised into two aspects: (1) aspirational Bodhichitta and (2) actualizing Bodhichitta. 

Longchenpa went on to explain that the aspirational bodhichitta is actually based on the Four Immeasurables: (1) immeasurable love, (2) immeasurable compassion, (3) immeasurable joy, and (4) immeasurable equanimity.

Because sentient beings are as limitless as space, our practice of these four virtues must also be immeasurable. We can begin developing these in our hearts by chanting aspirational prayers such as, “May all beings be happy, may the causes of their suffering be removed, may they always be joyful, and may they all remain in a state of equanimity.”

The aspirational bodhichitta is mainly applied at the levels of mind and speech. Through practice, it becomes the cause of the actualized bodhichitta. Once we accomplish this, we can perform actions with the confidence arising from our intention to benefit others.

The first of the Four Immeasurables is loving kindness. Presently, our loving kindness is very partial because we just love ourselves and our close friends, family members, and relatives. Love is something we can experience quite easily, and therefore, through practice, it can become profound and vast. 

The Buddha Shakyamuni taught that there are one thousand and one Buddhas that will come into our world during the superior aeon. Among those, three Buddhas have already come, so Shakyamuni is the fourth. The next, or fifth Buddha, is known as Maitreya in Sanskrit, which means "loving kindness." Buddha Shakyamuni spoke a lot about this future Buddha in the Mahayana Maitreya Sutra. He taught that Maitreya would realise Buddhahood solely through the practice of loving kindness.

When you really love, you feel respect for the person or beings who are the object of your love. This attitude of loving kindness expands and increases by seeing and appreciating their good qualities. True love is based on pure perception and a respectful attitude towards yourself and others.

If you decide to be loving, you can easily develop the other three immeasurables: compassion, a joyful attitude, and equanimity. So it is important that we know the value of love before we begin the other practices. The benefits of love are very powerful and special. As soon as you generate an attitude of loving kindness, you will start feeling more calm and peaceful and will naturally share this feeling with other beings. Your whole field of perception will be transformed into something beautiful. 

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Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

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