Buddhist practice to open the heart

As the Dalai Lama teaches, our deepest drive as humans is tsewa: caring. And what do we care about? We care about not suffering, and experiencing happiness (Source: Alan Wallace).

The Four Immeasurables can help you experience a lasting kind of happiness, which is not dependable on external conditions.

The Four Immeasurable Qualities that bring happiness for oneself and others are loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

How to deepen these qualities, for the benefit of ourselves and those around us?

Thich Nhat Hanh,

A world-renowned Vietnamse Monk says

“If our love contains loving kindness,

Compassion, joy, and equanimity,

It will be healing and transforming,

And it will have the element of sacredness in it.

True love has the power to heal

And transform any situation

And bring deep meaning to our lives.” 

Let’s explore these four qualities,

And how to develop them by meditating,

To bring happiness for oneself and others.

The Four Immeasurables:

- Immeasurable loving kindness,

(Wishing others happiness)

- Immeasurable compassion,

(Wishing others free from suffering)

- Immeasurable joy

(Delighting in others’ well-being) &

- Immeasurable equanimity

(Regarding all as equals).

These qualities are said to have no measure,

Because they are extended to an

Immeasurable number of beings,

They evoke boundless good energy (karma)

And these divine mind-states are vast

And spacious like the sky,

Experienced unceasingly and naturally.

Let’s start with the Tibetan prayer

“The Four Immeasurables”:

"May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May they be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

May they never be separate from the supreme happiness which is without suffering.

May they remain in boundless equanimity, free from attachment to some and aversion to others."

- F o u r I m m e a s u r a b l e s P r a y e r -

LOVING-KINDNESS

The first aspect of true love is Loving Kindness,

The wish that all sentient beings,

Without any exception, be happy.

Loving-kindness counters ill will.

It’s the intention and capacity

To offer joy and happiness.

To develop that capacity,

We have to practice looking

And listening deeply

So that we know what to do

And what not to do

To make others happy.

“What a beautiful message”

Marlys

COMPASSION

The second aspect of true love

Is Compassion,

The intention and capacity

To relieve and transform

Suffering

And lighten sorrows. 

It counters cruelty and desire. 

And contains deep concern.

It reminds us of our

Interconnectedness

Or inter-being:

Just as I suffer,

So do millions of others

In the same way.

With compassion in our heart,

Every thought, word, and deed

Can bring about a miracle.

JOY

The third immeasurable

Is Appreciative Joy.

It is the wholesome attitude

Of rejoicing in the happiness

And virtues of all sentient beings.

It counters jealousy

And makes us less self-centred.

A joy that is filled with peace

And contentment.

We rejoice when we see others

Happy,

And we rejoice

In our own well-being as well. 

EQUANIMITY

The fourth element of true love is Equanimity,

Non-attachment, nondiscrimination,

Even- mindedness, or letting go.

If our love has attachment, discrimination,

Prejudice, or clinging in it,

It is not true love.

It is the attitude of

Regarding all beings as equals,

Irrespective of their present relationship to us.

The wholesome attitude of equanimity

Counters clinging and aversion.

The idea is that we should not cling

To relatives and friends

While regarding others with indifference

Or even hatred.

It is manifested as the quieting

Of resentment and approval.

Meditating on the Four Immeasurables

Practice training your mind gradually -

Begin by meditating on your breath

Allowing yourself to relax.

Take a moment to aspire that

You enhancing these qualities

Will be of benefit to

Everyone you’ll ever meet.

To practise the meditation

Of these qualities

One should begin with oneself.

Then developing the practice

To those you love like family and friends.

Then extending to strangers,

Followed by widening the practice

To those you find challenging,

Eventually including all beings.

Meditation on Loving Kindness:

“May I be happy

May those I love be happy

May those I don’t know be happy

May those I dislike be happy

May all beings be happy.”

Meditation on Compassion:

“May I be free from suffering

May those I love be free from suffering.”

Etc.

Meditation on Joy:

“May I be happy for the joy I have.

May my joy increase.

May I be grateful and content.“

Extending to strangers, enemies and all beings.

Meditation on Equanimity:

“May I be free from preference and prejudice.

May I abide in equanimity,

Free from attachment and hatred.”

And as with the three other qualities,

Extending to strangers, enemies

And eventually all beings.

At the end of your meditation session

Complete with aspiring

That by you doing this practice

All beings will be inspired

To develop these boundless qualities.

Bring your awareness back to your breath

Until you are ready to open your eyes.

The Four Immeasurables open the heart,

Heal our relationships to ourselves,

And deepen our relationships to others. 

By practicing these immeasurable qualities,

We stop dividing the world into good and bad,

And we will experience more freedom

And ease in daily life.

With love, Karin

PS

Curious to learn more?

Feel free to ask me.

But even better,

Google your nearest Buddhist Center

And ask for instructions from

A Buddhist Meditation Teacher.