Brahmavihāra

The (sublime attitudes, lit. "abodes of Brahma") is a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables (Pāli: ) or four infinite minds ( Chinese: ). The are:
# loving-kindness or benevolence ()
# compassion ()
# empathetic joy ()
# equanimity ()

According to the ''Metta Sutta'', cultivation of the four immeasurables has the power to cause the practitioner to be reborn into a "Brahma realm" (Pāli: ).

Etymology and translations

* Pāli:
* (sathara brahmavihārā)
* , ( Wylie: )

may be parsed as "" and "", which is often rendered into English as "sublime" or "divine abodes".

, usually translated as "the immeasurables", means "boundlessness, infinitude, a state that is illimitable". Rhys Davids & Stede, 1921–25, ''Pali-English Dictionary'', Pali Text Society. When developed to a high degree in meditation, these attitudes are said to make the mind "immeasurable" and like the mind of the loving (gods).

Other translations:
* English: four divine abodes, four divine emotions, four sublime attitudes, four divine dwellings.
* East Asia: (), (), (). W.E. Soothill and Lewis Hodous, 1937
''A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms''

* (four ) or (four immeasurables).

The

The four are:
# Loving-kindness (Pāli: , ), or active good will towards all;
# Compassion (Pāli and ) results from , identifying the suffering of others as one's own;
# Sympathetic joy (Pāli and ) results from : the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it, as a form of sympathetic joy;
# Equanimity (Pāli: , ): even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially.

Early Buddhism

The is a pre-Buddhist Brahminical concept, to which the Buddhist tradition gave its interpretation. The ''Digha Nikaya'' asserts that according to Buddha, " is "that practice," and he then contrasts it with "my practice" as follows:

According to Richard Gombrich, an Indologist and scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, the Buddhist usage of the originally referred to an awakened state of mind, and a concrete attitude towards other beings which was equal to "living with Brahman" here and now. The later tradition took those descriptions too literal, linking them to cosmology and understanding them as "living with Brahman" by rebirth in the Brahma world. According to Gombrich, "The Buddha taught that kindness – what Christians tend to call love – was a way to salvation.

In the ''Tevijja Sutta'', "The Threefold Knowledge" in the '' Digha Nikāya'' or "Collection of the Long Discourses", a group of young Brahmins consulted Lord Buddha about the methods to seek fellowship/companionship/communion with Brahma. He replied that he knows the world of Brahma and the way to it, and explains the meditative method for reaching it by using an analogy of the resonance of the conch shell of the :

The Buddha then said that the monk must follow this up with an equal suffusion of the entire world with mental projections of compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (regarding all beings with an eye for equality).

In the two '' Metta Suttas'' of the ''Aṅguttara Nikāya,'' the Buddha states that those who practice radiating the four immeasurables in this life and die "without losing it" are destined for rebirth in a heavenly realm in their next life. In addition, if such a person is a Buddhist disciple (Pāli: ) and thus realizes the three characteristics of the five aggregates, then after his heavenly life, this disciple will reach . Even if one is not a disciple, one will still attain the heavenly life, after which, however depending on what his past deeds may have been, one may be reborn in a hell realm, or as an animal or hungry ghost.

In another sutta in the ''Aṅguttara Nikāya'', the laywoman Sāmāvatī is mentioned as an example of someone who excels at loving-kindness. In the Buddhist tradition she is often referred to as such, often citing an account that an arrow shot at her was warded off through her spiritual power.

''Visuddhimagga''

The four immeasurables are explained in ''The Path of Purification'' (''Visuddhimagga''), written in by the scholar and commentator Buddhaghoṣa. They are often practiced by taking each of the immeasurables in turn and applying it to oneself (a practice taught by many contemporary teachers and monastics that was established after the Pāli Suttas were completed), and then to others nearby, and so on to everybody in the world, and everybody in all universes.

''A Cavern of Treasures'' ()

''A Cavern of Treasures'' () is a Bonpo uncovered by Shenchen Luga () in the early eleventh century. A segment of it enshrines a Bonpo evocation of the four immeasurables. Martin (n.d.: p. 21) identifies the importance of this scripture for studies of the Zhang-Zhung language.

Origins

Before the advent of the Buddha, according to Martin Wiltshire, the pre-Buddhist traditions of , meditation, and these four virtues are evidenced in both early Buddhist and non-Buddhist literature. The Early Buddhist Texts assert that pre-Buddha ancient Indian sages who taught these virtues were earlier incarnations of the Buddha. Post-Buddha, these same virtues are found in the Hindu texts such as verse 1.33 of the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali''.

Three of the four immeasurables, namely , , and , are found in the later Upanishads, while all four are found with slight variations – such as instead of – in Jainism literature, states Wiltshire. The ancient Indian mentioned in the early Buddhist Suttas – those who attained nibbāna before the Buddha – mention all "four immeasurables."

According to British scholar of Buddhism Peter Harvey, the Buddhist scriptures acknowledge that the four meditation practices "did not originate within the Buddhist tradition". The Buddha never claimed that the "four immeasurables" were his unique ideas, like "cessation, quieting, nirvana".

A shift in Vedic ideas, from rituals to virtues, is particularly discernible in the early Upanishad thought, and it is unclear as to what extent and how early Upanishad traditions and Sraman traditions such as Buddhism and Jainism influenced each other on ideas such as "four immeasurables", meditation, and .

In an authoritative Jain scripture, the ''Tattvartha Sutra'' (Chapter 7, sutra 11), there is a mention of four right sentiments: , , , and :

References

Sources

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See also

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Further reading

* ''Buddhas Reden'' (Majjhimanikaya), Kristkreitz, Berlin, 1978, tr. by Kurt Schmidt
* Yamamoto, Kosho (tr.) & Page, Tony (revision) (2000). ''The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra''. London, UK: Nirvana Publications.

External links

The Sublime Attitudes: A Study Guide on the Brahmavihāras
- Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (2014)

The Four Immeasurable Attitudes in Hinayana, Mahayana, and Bon
- by Alexander Berzin (2005)

An Extensive Commentary on the Four Immeasurables
by Buddhagupta

The Four Sublime States
by the Venerable Nyanaponika Thera.

The Four Immeasurables

A Cavern of Treasures and Shenchen Luga (1017 AD)

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Buddhist philosophical concepts
Buddhist meditation
Pali words and phrases
Virtue