- Buddha-Nature
- Compassion
- Defining Bodhicitta
- Emptiness
- Equalizing & Exchanging Self and Others
- Equanimity
- History of Bodhicitta Teachings
- How to Develop Bodhicitta
- Interdependent Origination
- Lineage of the Profound View
- Lineage of the Vast Conduct
- Mahāyāna
- Mind Training
- Non-Self
- Seven-Point Instructions of Cause and Effect
- The Bodhisattva Ideal
- The Bodhisattva Path
- The Bodhisattva Vow
- The Bodhisattva's Goal
- The Four Immeasurables
- The Six Perfections
- The Three Higher Trainings
- The Two Accumulations
- The Two Truths
- Tonglen: The Practice of Sending and Receiving
- Types of Bodhicitta
The four immeasurables—loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity—are foundational practices in Buddhism that help practitioners cultivate bodhicitta, the awakened mind dedicated to achieving enlightenment for all beings' benefit. These qualities expand practitioners' capacity for unconditional love and wisdom, forming essential preparation for the bodhisattva path of selfless service to liberate all sentient beings from suffering.
The Four Immeasurable Thoughts
The practice of cultivating the four immeasurable thoughts of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity exists in all the Buddhist traditions, and their roots almost certainly lie in Indian religious traditions that predate Buddhism. These practices can be found in the Pāli suttas where they are known as the four appamaññā brahmavihārā, literally the four boundless abodes of Brahmā, or the four limitless sublime mental states.
Of the two parts of the Pāli and Sanskrit word brahmavihārā, "brahma" is rendered literally as the Indian deity Brahmā, but also as sublime, divine, or pure. The word vihāra is translated as abode, but this can also be interpreted to mean "ways of thinking" or "ways of living." Since they are virtuous states of mind that help one to live positively, they are considered peaceful resting places of the mind.
The word appamaññā in Pāli, or apramāṇa in Sanskrit (ཚད་མེད་ in Tibetan), is translated as immeasurable, boundless, an infinitude, or something that cannot be limited. By cultivating these four mental states in meditation, we can eventually make them immeasurable. This is the reason for the reference here to Brahmā, because in the ancient Indian tradition the mind of the god Brahmā was considered limitless.
In the Buddhist tradition in general, these thoughts are cultivated toward all living beings without limit, embodying the highest forms of love, compassion, and joy—hence they are called immeasurable. In the Pāli tradition more specifically, they are the four "sublime" or "divine" abodes that can help the practitioner develop concentration and insight that will eventually help with the attainment of the state of mokṣa, liberation from the contaminated samsaric life of suffering, and therefore with the attainment of nirvana. In the Mahāyāna tradition in particular, they are used as a way to develop the ground on which to build the mind of bodhicitta, the mind that wishes to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings, so that eventually the practitioner can reach the fully enlightened state of a buddha.
The true depth of the four immeasurable thoughts emerges only through careful examination of what each practice actually entails and the rationale for practicing them:
- Loving-kindness (maitrī, བྱམས་པ་) is the wish that all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. Often translated as love, this is not the love of our romantic thoughts or selfish love overcome with self-interest, nor is it loving-kindness heavily influenced with attachment. It is not limited to a few people or merely about wishing others short-term pleasure. This is the pure, selfless wish that every being, whether we feel close to them or very distant from them, have all forms of happiness, especially the long-term happiness that comes from practicing the spiritual path.
- Compassion (karuṇā, ཉིང་རྗེ་) is the wish that all beings are free from suffering and the causes of suffering. But this is also not compassion that just wishes relief from a temporary complication in our lives or a manifest illness. Nor is it focused merely on a handful of loved ones. It is based on an understanding of the deepest ways in which we all suffer. Acknowledging that we all are the same in living lives that are characterized by suffering, our compassion then extends boundlessly to all without discrimination.
- Sympathetic joy (muditā, དགའ་བ་) refers to the thought that rejoices in the happiness of sentient beings and wishes that they be never separated from it. It helps to reduce our jealousy and to rejoice in the success and virtue of others. At its ultimate level, it is the wish that beings attain the states on the path where they will never again be separated from happiness—the states of nirvana and perfect enlightenment.
- Equanimity (upekṣā, བཏང་སྙོམས་) has several interpretations. One is to view all sentient beings with the equanimity that is free of either attachment or aversion to them, so that we feel neither overly close nor overly distant from anyone. This form of equanimity engages with beings with complete impartiality, without a trace of discrimination. This form of equanimity is usually practiced prior to love, compassion, and sympathetic joy.
- The other interpretation of equanimity is that we wish that all beings themselves be free from the thoughts of attachment and aversion to other beings and that they never hold some beings to be close and others to be distant.
The Purpose of Practicing the Four Immeasurables
Practicing the four immeasurable thoughts is a way to train the mind to become more warm-hearted and open to others' pain and suffering while also developing joy and delight in their happiness and spiritual development. Cultivating these states of mind helps us feel genuinely connected to all living beings.
We naturally have basic versions of these mental states in our daily lives. For instance, we already feel closely connected to the ones we love, and we feel a strong sense of love and compassion toward them. We care about our family and friends, our pets and neighbors, and those in our immediate circle. Although wishing for those close to us to be free from suffering and filled with happiness reflects a kind of love and compassion, these feelings represent very limited states of mind. These thoughts are not stable and are generally only focused on those we feel are kind to us. But do we ever extend them to strangers, and especially to those we dislike?
Our perspective is also limited in terms of what kind of suffering we wish them to be free of and what kind of happiness we wish for them. We are normally so focused on short-term happiness and temporary pleasure that even when we wish for happiness for ourselves or others, we can only think about it at this very basic level. Likewise, with suffering, even in relation to ourselves, we tend to think only of the manifest sufferings of sickness and pain. We can relate to suffering in terms of encountering circumstances that we don't want, being unable to get what we do want, or experiencing the loss of things we are attached to. We do understand suffering at this basic level. However, what all the Buddhist traditions encourage us to do is to think beyond this limited perspective. They point us toward a deeper understanding of how our negative mental states trap us in a cycle of existence the very nature of which is suffering. When we understand happiness, joy, and compassion at this level, we see that all beings share the same fundamental position as ourselves, regardless of their status, proximity, or wealth. When we start to meditate on these four thoughts and cultivate them in our minds, they can eventually become immeasurable.
The Source of the Four Immeasurable Thoughts
The four immeasurable thoughts likely originated in pre-Buddhist Indian religious traditions, but their clear formulation emerged within the early Buddhist tradition. We find a very early reference to the four immeasurable thoughts in the Pāli canon, where the Buddha presents them in the Experts in the Three Vedas Sutta (Tevijja Sutta) from the Dīgha Nikāya (Collection of Long Discourses). This is a curious sutta. The Buddha is asked by several Brahmins to clarify what is "the direct route that delivers one who practices that doctrine to the "company of Divinity." In their minds they are thinking of what leads them to the divine state of Brahmā, and they are keen for the Buddha to side with their particular teacher and their version of the path.
Instead of taking sides with any of these doctrines, the Buddha questions them about their systems and enquires whether they know of any Brahmins or practitioners who have actually reached that state of divinity by following those paths. They reply that they do not, and the Buddha then explains that, in contrast, buddhas respond without a moment's hesitation when questioned about the divine realm and how to attain it.
. . . the Realized One is never slow or hesitant when questioned about the realm of divinity or the practice that leads to the realm of divinity. I understand the Divinity, the realm of divinity, and the practice that leads to the realm of divinity, practicing in accordance with which one is reborn in the realm of divinity.[1]
The Buddha explains his version of the realm of Divinity and how to get there, saying:
It's when a Realized One arises in the world, perfected, a fully awakened Buddha . . . That's how a mendicant is accomplished in ethics. . . . Seeing that the hindrances have been given up in them, joy springs up. Being joyful, rapture springs up. When the mind is full of rapture, the body becomes tranquil. When the body is tranquil, they feel bliss. And when blissful, the mind becomes immersed.
They meditate spreading a heart full of love to one direction, and to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. In the same way above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of love to the whole world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.
Suppose there was a powerful horn blower. They'd easily make themselves heard in the four quarters. In the same way, when the heart's release by love has been developed like this, any limited deeds they've done don't remain or persist there.
This is a path to company with Divinity.
Furthermore, a mendicant meditates spreading a heart full of compassion . . .
They meditate spreading a heart full of rejoicing . . .
They meditate spreading a heart full of equanimity to one direction, and to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. In the same way above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of equanimity to the whole world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.[2]
In this direct conversation with the Brahmins, the Buddha suggests a radical new divine path to "union with Brahmā." This is not a path based on the current Brahmanical religious systems of the time but instead is a practice that is deeply rooted in the four immeasurables of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. We can see here in this sutta a major shift in the Buddha's metaphysical position, away from the doctrines of the pre-Buddhist traditions.
To illustrate the development of the four immeasurable thoughts in this sutta, the Buddha uses a traditional analogy of a horn or conch-shell blower who plays loudly enough to be heard in all four directions. In the same way, a meditator develops these four positive thoughts such that they reach out to every single being in every direction.
The Order of the Four Immeasurables
There is some discussion in the commentarial literature regarding the order of the four immeasurable thoughts. As we can see from the sutta above, they are traditionally presented in the order of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and finally equanimity. Equanimity is usually mentioned as the last of the four immeasurables. However, when actually engaging in meditation on these practices, the goal is to have these positive states of mind reach out boundlessly to all beings. For this reason, before engaging in the practices of immeasurable loving kindness, compassion, and joy, it makes sense to have a basic level of equanimity. Leaving behind bias toward particular beings, the practitioner is free to extend a feeling of closeness out to all, and this serves as a supportive basis on which to make those positive feelings eventually become immeasurable.
Here, the practitioner works to reduce attachment to those who are close and to reduce aversion to those who are considered enemies, building a strong foundation of complete impartiality. One comes to see every being with a feeling of closeness without the experience being tainted by attachment. If one does not begin with this solid foundation of equanimity, there is a very serious danger that any practice of love or compassion built upon that foundation will be biased toward those one is attached to.
This feeling of equanimity and equality of all beings finds its practical expression in one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's main life commitments—the promotion of universal and basic compassionate values to create a happier and more peaceful world. In relation to this work, he teaches us to understand that all human beings are exactly the same in being human and that recognizing our shared human experience can bring about a feeling of closeness to one another.
Immeasurable Sentient Beings
In his Extensive Commentary on the Four Immeasurables (*Caturapramāṇaṭīkā, ཚད་མེད་བཞིའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།), Buddhaguhya (also known as Buddhagupta), the great Buddhist master from the eighth century CE, explains in more detail how these four mental states become immeasurable:
Focusing on immeasurable sentient beings brings about immeasurable accumulations, immeasurable qualities, and immeasurable primordial wisdom.[3]
Because the object of our love, compassion, and joy are immeasurable, the qualities that we develop in relation to them become immeasurable. So the root of our ability to develop all these mental qualities is the limitless number of living beings. In relation to them, we can develop the immeasurable accumulations of merit and wisdom and the immeasurable qualities of the enlightened state of immeasurable primordial wisdom. Nevertheless, the question may occur to us: Why do we consider all beings to be immeasurable? In his text, Buddhaguhya describes the reason for this:
We cannot calculate the total number of sentient beings, saying, "This is how many there are in the three realms." And sentient beings are thus said to be immeasurable. As the Bhagavān said in the Noble Sūtra Teaching the Great Compassion of the Tathāgatas:
- Son of noble family, the sentient beings living in a space the size of a chariot wheel, visible to a Tathāgata, are extremely numerous. But the gods and humans throughout the world-systems of the vast billionfold universe are not like that: the realms of these imperceptible sentient beings are immeasurable.
Therefore, as the immeasurable realms of sentient beings are beyond comprehension, sentient beings are said to be immeasurable.[4]
According to Buddhaguhya, it is simply not possible for us to say there are this or that number of living beings, even on our own planet, let alone the vast universe. We cannot conceive of the number of beings in one town of one country, not even one street of one town. How, therefore, could we conceive of or measure the number of beings in the vast universe? But then the question may arise: How is it possible to focus on all these living beings when I am cultivating these four immeasurable thoughts, and how can I feel some kind of loving connection to them? Buddhaguhya again answers this question by providing a crucial perspective on how to understand our deep connection to others:
You might wonder: when cultivating the immeasurables, how should we focus on immeasurable sentient beings and meditate?
All sentient beings of the three realms have been circling throughout the higher and lower abodes throughout beginningless time based on the power of their individual karma. As there is not a single one who, in the course of this wandering, has not been close to us many hundreds or thousands of times, think: "These are my loved ones!” And abide in equanimity, extending the four immeasurables to all sentient beings. This is what is known as focusing on immeasurable sentient beings.[5]
According to this perspective, although we are unaware of it, all the beings we encounter in our lives have been connected to us in a positive way many, many times. Since every being has been so closely connected to us at some point, we must have thought of them as our beloved ones at that time. Although we may not relate to a particular person positively now, we can practice understanding that all beings are equal in having been kind to us over the long term.
With this fresh perspective of equanimity, we are able to deal with any being we meet, whether temporarily appearing as close or distant to us, with these thoughts of love, compassion, and joy.
If it is difficult for us to think of having a connection with beings over different lifetimes, another perspective to help create this mind of equanimity is to remember that all beings are in exactly the same situation as ourselves—they wish to have happiness and they wish to avoid suffering.
There is no being that does not have those basic feelings, and on the basis of that equality, we can train ourselves to have love, compassion, and joy for all, whether they are friend, stranger, or enemy.
Different Aspects of Cultivating the Four Immeasurables
The four immeasurable thoughts can be cultivated in a way where we merely have the aspiration that beings have these positive states. For instance, we may think:
May all beings, as limitless as space, attain happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all beings, as limitless as space, be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all beings, as limitless as space, never be separated from the sublime joy that is devoid of suffering.
This aspiration may even extend to the wish where we think:
How wonderful it would be if all beings, as limitless as space, could attain happiness and the causes of happiness.
How wonderful it would be if all beings, as limitless as space, be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
How wonderful it would be if all beings, as limitless as space, never be separated from the sublime joy that is devoid of suffering.
Taking the four immeasurables to a deeper and more committed level of engagement, instead of just wishing for these positive states for others, practitioners are instructed to actually take a certain level of responsibility for helping beings to achieve those goals. At a mental level, one commits to helping them achieve happiness and be free from suffering and in this way makes a pledge:
I shall help all beings, as limitless as space, attain happiness and the causes of happiness.
I shall help all beings, as limitless as space, become free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
I shall help all beings, as limitless as space, never be separated from the sublime joy that is devoid of suffering.
This deeper level of commitment does not necessarily mean that one always dives headlong into any situation where one sees another suffering and immediately tries to alleviate that suffering. But what it does is provide one with a mindset and basic mental framework for engagement with any living being that one meets.
Deepening the Practice of the Four Immeasurable Thoughts in the Mahāyāna Tradition
The Mahāyāna tradition builds on the earlier Pāli tradition's presentation and practice of the four immeasurable thoughts by using them as crucial building blocks for the altruistic motivation of bodhicitta, the wish to attain buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings. These practices help one to open up to the pain of others and also help build a sense of connection with others, which is an essential precursor to developing bodhicitta.
In order to do this, the Mahāyāna tradition combines the practice of the four immeasurables with increasingly subtle levels of wisdom and awareness that arise from contemplating the nature of phenomena beyond their superficial appearance. The great Indian master Candrakīrti mentions these deepening levels of wisdom in connection to compassion, although this can be equally applied to the other immeasurable thoughts.
In his seminal text Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra), Candrakīrti describes three levels of compassion—compassion focused on mere sentient beings (སེམས་ཅན་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་), compassion focused on the Dharma or the truth (སེམས་ཅན་ལ་དམིགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་), and compassion without apprehension, or nonreferential compassion (འདམིགས་པ་མེད་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་).
At the basic level of compassion focused on mere sentient beings, the focus of the compassion is all beings who are trapped in the suffering world of cyclic existence. There is no particular accompanying deeper wisdom that provides a context to that feeling of compassion.
The second level of compassion, compassion focused on the Dharma, recognizes the suffering that arises when beings fail to understand their fundamental impermanence—the constant moment-to-moment flux of their existence. This form of compassion is supported by the wisdom of realizing the subtle impermanence of all things.
At the deepest level of compassion, compassion without apprehension, one understands that all phenomena are empty of any form of intrinsic or true existence. This wisdom supports one's compassion, and one understands the subtle sufferings that beings must undergo if they do not understand reality correctly. Wishing them to be free of these most subtle forms of suffering creates a much more powerful understanding of what it means to have compassion for others.
These three different contexts can also be applied to the other immeasurable thoughts in exactly the same way.
For further information on these three levels in relation to compassion, visit the link below:
For further details on how to practice the four immeasurable thoughts, visit the link below:
Notes
- ↑ Sujato, Bhikkhu, trans. Tevijja Sutta (DN 13). SuttaCentral, 2018. https://suttacentral.net/dn13/en/sujato.
- ↑ Sujato, Tevijja Sutta (DN 13), https://suttacentral.net/dn13/en/sujato.
- ↑ Samye Translations (Laura Swan), trans., "An Extensive Commentary on the Four Immeasurables," by Buddhagupta (Lotsawa House, 2011), revised and edited for Lotsawa House, 2016, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/buddhagupta/four-immeasurables-commentary.
- ↑ Swan, "An Extensive Commentary," https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/buddhagupta/four-immeasurables-commentary.
- ↑ Swan, "An Extensive Commentary," https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/buddhagupta/four-immeasurables-commentary.
