The Four Immeasurables in Hinayana, Mahayana and Bon
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Description
Introduction
The four immeasurable attitudes (tshad-med bzhi, Skt. apramana, Pali: appamanna) are:
- Immeasurable love (byams-pa, Skt. maitrī, Pali: metta)
- Immeasurable compassion (snying-rje, Skt. karuṇā, Pali: karuna)
- Immeasurable joy (dga'-ba, Skt. mudita, Pali: mudita)
- Immeasurable equanimity (btang-snyoms, Skt. upeksha, Pali: upekkha).
They are also called "the four Brahma abodes" (tshangs-gnas bzhi, Skt. brahmavihara, Pali: brahmavihara) and are found in the various Hinayana and Mahayana traditions of Buddhism, as well as in Bon. Different schools and texts interpret them slightly differently, and certain practices in some traditions change their order.
The Theravada Tradition of Hinayana
Within the eighteen Hinayana schools, the Theravada tradition of the four immeasurable attitudes derives from The Brahma Abodes Sutta (Pali: Brahmavihara Sutta), found in The Collection of Progressive Divisions (Pali: Anguttara Nikaya). There, Buddha specifies that each of the four is free of attachment, repulsion, and indifference, and is accompanied by mindfulness and alertness. Upatissa's 1st-century Path of Liberation (Pali: Vimuttimagga), Buddhaghosa's early 5th-century Path of Purification (Pali: Visuddhimagga) and Anuruddha's 9th-century A Compendium of Points from Special Topics of Knowledge (Pali: Abhidhammattha-sangaha) contain full explanations of their practice.
They are called "Brahma abodes" because the four Brahma realms of the plane of ethereal forms (form realm) correspond, in turn, to the four immeasurable attitudes and to the four levels of mental stability (bsam-gtan, Skt. dhyana, Pali: jhana). The Brahma gods in the first Brahma realm have immeasurable love; those in the second, immeasurable compassion; those in the third, immeasurable joy; and those in the fourth, immeasurable equanimity. Similarly, practitioners of the first level of mental stability have absorbed concentration on immeasurable love; practitioners of the second level have it on immeasurable compassion, and so forth. Since the word brahma means pure, excellent, or sublime, practitioners who develop these immeasurable attitudes live with pure, sublime states of mind like Brahma gods. Moreover, the Brahma abodes are called "immeasurable" attitudes because they include all limited beings (sentient beings) in all conditions and because each attitude has no limit to its intensity.
The four immeasurable attitudes are included in the Theravada list of 52 mental factors. In Anuruddha's explanation of the 52, two of the four are specified as factors that are limitless, because their objects are infinite beings:
- Compassion – the factor that makes the heart quiver when others suffer and is the wish for the removal of their suffering. Its direct enemy is a cruel or harmful attitude (Pali: himsa). Its indirect enemy is grief, being emotionally overwhelmed by their suffering.
- Sympathetic joy or rejoicing – the factor of being happy at others’ prosperity. Its direct enemy is jealousy and its indirect enemy is exultation, being so excited about their prosperity that the state of mind is disturbed.
The basic forms, as opposed to the immeasurable forms, of the other two attitudes are included in the list of nineteen factors accompanying all constructive states of mind:
- Love – the wish for others to be happy and is included in non-anger (Pali: adosa; imperturbability). Its direct enemy is ill-will or anger, and its indirect enemy is clinging, getting too close.
- Equanimity – the factor of being even-tempered toward its object and is included in being even-minded (Pali: tatra majjhattata). Its enemy is attachment (Pali: raga) and its indirect enemy is indifference.
Buddhaghosa's explanation of immeasurable equanimity sheds further light on this state of mind. The function of immeasurable equanimity is to see the equality of all beings. Characterized as an even-tempered attitude toward everyone, it manifests as a quieting of attachment and ill-will toward others. It fails when it manifests as indifference. Its cause is the understanding that each limited being is responsible for his or her karma.
Meditation on the four entails generating each state of mind, one at a time, first directed at oneself, and then extending it to mother, father, family, friends, strangers, enemies, everyone in one’s country, and so forth, until the feeling reaches all limited beings. After going through this sequence with the first immeasurable attitude, one generates the next and extends it in the same way. The attitudes are:
- Wishing each of these limited beings well
- Wishing the removal of their suffering
- Rejoicing in their well-being and in their efforts to be constructive and to work toward liberation
- Being even-tempered toward them, in the sense of even when helping, not becoming too involved or not being indifferent, since ultimately everyone needs to reach liberation through his or her own efforts.
As a preliminary to developing immeasurable love, Upatissa explains that one first needs to think of the disadvantages of anger and resentment, which are the negative states of mind that prevent love, and meditate on the methods for overcoming them and for developing patience. Then one generates love, the wish for oneself and then others to be happy. Buddhaghosa elaborates this wish of love to include the wish for oneself and others to be free of being unhappy: may they be happy and not unhappy. Buddhaghosa also offers a more extensive version of this wish that lists three unhappy states of mind that prevent love and happiness: may they be free of enmity (by ridding themselves of ill-will and hostility), aggression (by ridding themselves of feeling annoyed) and anxiety (by ridding themselves of fear), and live happily.
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