Brahmavihara

Some people follow Buddhist ways. They practice four kind feelings.

First, they feel love for all. Second, they feel compassion. This means they feel the pain of others.

Third, they feel joy when others are happy. This is called sympathetic joy.

Fourth, they stay calm and fair to everyone. This helps the mind grow.

Some believe these feelings lead to a good life. They may even lead to a heavenly place. It is a way to be kind to the whole world.

In Buddhism, there are four special ways to feel. These are called the Brahmavihara. Some people call them the four immeasurables. This means they are feelings without limits. These feelings help a person grow through meditation.

The first feeling is loving-kindness. This is a wish for good for all beings. The second is compassion. This means feeling the pain of others as your own. The third is sympathetic joy. This is feeling happy when others are happy. The fourth is equanimity. This means staying calm and being fair to everyone.

Many people believe these feelings are very powerful. The Metta Sutta says these ways can lead to a good rebirth. Some believe it can lead to a Brahma realm. This is a heavenly place. A woman named Samavati was known for her loving-kindness. Some stories say her kind spirit even stopped an arrow.

These ideas did not start with the Buddha. They were part of older traditions in India. Other groups, like the Jains, also use similar ideas. People use these four ways to train their minds. They start with themselves and then move to the whole world.

The Brahmavihara are four special ways of thinking in Buddhism. Some people call them the four immeasurables. This name means the feelings are without any limits. These four attitudes are loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Loving-kindness means having active good will toward everyone. Compassion happens when you feel the suffering of others as your own. Sympathetic joy is feeling happy because others are happy. Finally, equanimity is staying calm and treating everyone fairly.

Practicing these virtues is a way to train the mind. People use meditation to grow these four feelings. One way to do this is to take one feeling at a time. You start by feeling it for yourself. Then, you try to feel it for people nearby. After that, you send the feeling to everyone in the world. You can even send these feelings to all the universes. A scholar named Buddhaghoṣa wrote about this in a book called the Visuddhimagga. This book helps explain the path to a pure mind.

These ideas existed before the Buddha was born. They were part of older traditions in India. Some scholars say the Buddha did not invent them. He taught that kindness was a way to reach salvation. In the Tevijja Sutta, he spoke to young Brahmins about this. He used an analogy about the sound of a conch shell. He said a person should spread these feelings like a sound. This helps a person reach an awakened state of mind.

Many different groups have used these ideas over time. The Jain religion also has four right sentiments. These are very similar to the Buddhist virtues. In the eleventh century, a person named Shenchen Luga found a text. This text is part of the Bonpo tradition. It also mentions these four immeasurable feelings. Even Hindu texts like the Yoga Sutras mention similar things. This shows how many people in India valued these virtues.

Believing in these virtues can change what happens next in life. The Metta Sutta says these practices are very powerful. People who practice them may be reborn in a Brahma realm. This is a heavenly place. A woman named Sāmāvatī is a famous example of this. She was known for her great loving-kindness. Some stories say her spiritual power even stopped an arrow. Following these paths helps people move toward nirvana.

The Brahmavihara are a set of four Buddhist virtues used in meditation. The term literally means "abodes of Brahma." Many practitioners also call them the four immeasurables. This name refers to a state of being that is infinite or illimitable. These virtues are designed to cultivate specific mental attitudes. They help a person develop a mind that is boundless in its goodness. Through these practices, a person aims to reach a sublime state of being.

There are four distinct parts to this practice. The first is loving-kindness, or metta. This is defined as having active good will toward all beings. The second is compassion, known as karuna. This arises when a person identifies the suffering of others as their own. The third is sympathetic joy, or mudita. This is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if you did not help them. The fourth is equanimity, or upekkha. This means maintaining a sense of even-mindedness and serenity while treating everyone impartially.

To practice these, a person follows a specific sequence. The scholar Buddhaghoṣa explained this in his work, the Visuddhimagga. A practitioner takes one virtue at a time. They first apply the feeling to themselves. Next, they apply it to people nearby. They then extend this feeling to everyone in the world. Finally, they send the feeling to every being in all universes. This process helps the mind become immeasurable through constant mental projection.

These ideas have a long history that predates the Buddha. Scholars like Peter Harvey note that these practices did not originate solely within Buddhism. They were part of older Brahminical concepts in ancient India. The Buddha used these existing ideas in his own teachings. In the Tevijja Sutta, he used an analogy of a conch shell's resonance. He explained that a monk should suffuse the entire world with these mental projections. Some scholars believe the Buddha's usage transformed these ideas into a way to reach an awakened state of mind.

Different religious traditions in India share similar concepts. For example, the Jain scripture Tattvartha Sutra mentions four right sentiments. These include sentiments very similar to the Buddhist immeasurables. Even the Hindu Yoga Sutras of Patanjali mention three of these four virtues. In the eleventh century, the Bonpo tradition also recorded these immeasurables. Shenchen Luga uncovered a text called A Cavern of Treasures that includes them. This shows how these virtues moved through various ancient Indian belief systems.

In Buddhist belief, practicing these virtues has significant spiritual consequences. The Metta Sutta states that practicing them can lead to rebirth in a Brahma realm. This is a heavenly or divine realm. If a person is a Buddhist disciple and realizes the three characteristics of the five aggregates, they may eventually reach nirvana. Even if someone is not a disciple, they might still reach a heavenly life. However, their next rebirth could still be as an animal or a hungry ghost depending on other past deeds.

The story of Sāmāvatī provides a notable example of these virtues in action. She was a laywoman who was famous for her excellence in loving-kindness. Tradition says her spiritual power was so great that it warded off an arrow shot at her. These stories illustrate how the immeasurables are viewed as more than just thoughts. They are seen as powerful mental states that can affect a person's reality. This connects the internal practice of meditation to the external world of karma and rebirth.