#brahmaviharas

[kongque-jiaan]

Tibetan lamas often begin teaching by saying “All beings want happiness, and do not want to suffer.” Accepting this simple truth is the basis of both love and compassion. Every living being has the same essential desire: to stay alive, to feel safe, loved, and appreciated, to satisfy its need for food and shelter, and to have pleasant, positive experiences. The desire for happiness unites all beings, human and non-human. Feeling love for others means acknowledging this desire, respecting it, and doing what we can to fulfill it.

-Venerable Sangye Khadro in Awakening the Kind Heart

[kelledias-garden]

May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the causes of happiness,

May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,

May they never be separated from the great happiness which is devoid of suffering,

And may they dwell in the great happiness which is free from attachment and aversion.

~ The Four Brahmaviharas 🪷

[interested-pig]

Becoming Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger claims that his success was his ability to have a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve. He recounts his inspiration for becoming a body builder and a movie star seeing a picture of body builder Reg Park in Hercules. In a world of linear cause and effect it could be said that the picture caused Arnold to firstly win body builder competitions which allowed him to move into the movie industry and to become the phenomenon he became.

However, there are good reasons to consider our Universe which is not one of linear cause and effect but one on non-linearity - circular causality. Consider the Universe to be ineffable whole of interconnections. Within such a system emergent patterns appear called strange attractors. Think of the flock as the strange attractor of interacting starlings.

So what is Arnold Schwarzenegger in an interconnected Universe? Well let’s consider him as a pattern in the interconnected system labelled The Arnold Strange Attractor. Similarly then that the picture of Reg Park is the Picture Strange Attractor. The interaction of the Arnold Strange Attractor and the Picture Strange Attractor creates an imagining pattern which is once again is a strange attractor labelled here as The Success Strange Attractor.

An imagining seems very ethereal pattern compared to a very material thing like the Arnold pattern. However they are still both Strange Attractors, it is just one is more ‘tangible’ than the other.

Now instead of seeing Arnold striving towards his goal, the non-linear view is an attraction towards a convergence of The Arnold Strange Attractor and The Success Strange Attractor where the relationship making the Success Strange Attractor more tangible.

Arnold wins competitions and the image of The Success Strange Attractor is broadcast to spectators. A TV documentary is made about him and the Success Strange gains more tangibility through the replication process, not only through the show, marketing and word of mouth. The Success Strange Attractor paired with The Arnold Self Attractor is in a constant state of reinforcement until a very tangible Successful Arnold Strange Attractor is emergent.

Bizarrely, due to the nature of interconnected systems the Success Arnold Strange Attractor is simultaneously Arnold the movie star, Reg Park who was photographed and the future of politics. Arnold is just an atemporal pattern in a much larger pattern.

So, we are not always in charge of what we think and imagine, but sometimes we feel we have the capacity to will them. We may think that those wilful, intangible thoughts and imaginings are private and locked away from the Universe, but each one could actually be shaping our tangible Universe. If this is true should we question the very ethics of what we think, envision or sing about? What we put on social media?

Either way It is good to feel we were as much part of Arnold’s success as he was to his own, something that has brought joy to many, many people - good on us.

[yoga-onion]

The Quest for Buddhism (110)

Buddhist cosmology

Brahmaviharas - the meditation on compassion (Ref)

Appamanna (4 immeasurable minds) are part of the 40 Karmasthana (a total of 40 meditation objects). It refers to having a calm mind, without undue worry and without any animosity or enmity towards other lives. Also called Brahmavihāra or 4 Brahma practices.

The term appamanna refers to the 'innumerable number of sentient beings' or 'the complete fulfilment without reserve of compassion with regard to the individual sentient beings subject to it'.

The Buddhist usage of the brahma-vihara 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 literally, linking them to cosmology and understanding them as "living with Brahman" by rebirth in the Brahma-world.

The brahmaviharas (sublime attitudes, lit. "abodes of brahma") are a series of 4 Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are:

Loving-kindness (Pali: metta, Skt: maitri) is the mind active good will towards all, the mind for the others' at ease.

Compassion (Pali,Skt: karuna) results from metta, it is identifying the suffering of others as one's own, the mind that wants to remove the suffering of others.

Sympathetic joy (Pali,Skt: mudita): is the feeling of joy because others are happy, even if one did not contribute to it, it is a form of sympathetic joy.

Equanimity (Pāli: upekkha, Skt: upeksa): is even-mindedness and serenity, treating everyone impartially.

仏教の探求 (110)

仏教の宇宙論

四無量心 (しむりょうしん) 〜慈悲の瞑想（参照）

四無量心 (しむりょうしん、梵: ｱﾌﾟﾗﾏｰﾆｬ, 巴: ｱｯﾊﾟﾏﾅｰ) とは、止 (し、サマタ瞑想) の対象である四十業処 (ごうしょ、巴:ｶﾝﾏｯﾀ-ﾅ、梵: ｶﾙﾏｽﾀｰﾅ、全部で40種の瞑想対象のこと)の一部。他の生命に対する自他怨親なく平等で、過度の心配などのない、落ち着いた気持ちを持つことをいう。 四梵住 (しぼんじゅう、梵，巴:ﾌﾞﾗﾌﾏｰｳﾞｨﾊｰﾗ)、四梵行（しぼんぎょう）ともいう。

無量 (ｱｯﾊﾟﾏﾅｰ)というのは、「対象となる衆生が無数であること」あるいは「対象とする個々の有情(うじょう)について、慈悲の心で余すことなく完全に満たす」という遍満無量(へんまんむりょう、巴: ﾌｧﾗﾅ･ｱｯﾊﾟﾏﾅｰ)の観点である。

仏教の四梵住 (しぼんじゅう、梵，巴:ﾌﾞﾗﾌﾏｰｳﾞｨﾊｰﾗ)は、元来、覚醒した心の状態や、今ここで「梵天 (ぼんてん, 巴: ﾌﾞﾗﾌﾏｰ)とともに生きる」ことと等しい、他の存在に対する具体的な態度に言及するものであった。しかし、後世の伝統は、その記述を文字通りに受け取り、宇宙論と結びつけて、梵天界 (ﾌﾞﾗﾌﾏｰ･ﾛｶ)に生まれ変わることによって「梵天とともに生きる」と理解したのである。

ブラフマーヴィハーラ (四梵住:しぼんじゅう、崇高な態度の意、直訳すると「梵天の住処」) は、仏教の四つの徳目とそれを培うためになされる一連の瞑想修行のことである。四つの無量心は:

慈無量心 (じ、巴:ﾒｯﾀｰ、梵: ﾏｲﾄﾘｰ) とは「慈しみ」、万物に対する積極的な善意のこと、相手の楽を望む心。

悲無量心 (ひ、巴: 梵: ｶﾙﾅｰ) とは「憐れみ」、慈無量心から生じ、他人の苦しみを自分の苦しみとして認識すること、苦を抜いてあげたいと思う心。

喜無量心 (梵、巴: ﾑﾃﾞｨﾀｰ) とは「喜び」、相手の幸福を共に喜ぶ心、共感的喜びの一形態である。

捨無量心 (しゃ、巴: ｳﾍﾟｯｶｰ、梵: ｳﾍﾟｸｼｬｰ) とは「平静・平常心」、相手に対する平静で落ち着いた心、誰に対しても公平に接すること。動揺しない落ち着いた心を指す。

[raffaellopalandri]

Book of the Day - Living Kindness

Today’s Book of the Day is Living Kindness – Metta practice for the whole of our lives, written by Kevin Griffin in 2022, and published by Shambhala Publications. Kevin Griffin is a leader in the mindful movement and a Dharma Leader and Teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He is the author of five previous books, including One Breath at a Time. He has studied with the leading Western…

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[panatmansam]

The Four Living Abodes

Remember these four words/phrases:

loving kindness

compassion

empathetic joy

equanimity

Add these four to your meditation practice. After you breathe and quiet your mind take first a moment and hold the words loving kindness in focus and feel that feeling and direct it toward one deserving and then, to the best you are able to another less deserving. Feel compassion toward one who suffers. Feel joy for the good fortune and success of another and practice calm, that serene calm we know as equanimity, the calm that allows a person’s spirit to unfold.

[dpalden]

I made a new shrine for the last night of the retreat.

[yoga-onion]

The Quest for Buddhism (112)

Buddhist cosmology

Brahmaviharas – From the teachings preached by the Buddha to his son Rahula (Ref)

“O Rahula, deepen your meditation on loving-kindness. Because if you deepen your meditation on loving-kindness, any resentment, hatred will disappear.

O Rahula, deepen your meditation on compassion. Because if you deepen your meditation on compassion, all harmful intentions will disappear.

O Rahula, deepen your meditation on sympathetic joy. Because if you deepen your meditation on sympathetic joy, any dissatisfaction will disappear.

O Rahula, deepen your meditation of equanimity. Because if you deepen your meditation on equanimity, any anger will disappear.”

Excerpt from Maha-rahulovada-sutta in Majjhima Nikaya (MN)]

仏教の探求 (112)

仏教の宇宙論

四無量心 (しむりょうしん) 〜ブッダが息子のラーフラ (羅睺羅:らごら参照)に説いた教法より

”ラーフラよ、慈の瞑想を深めなさい。なぜなら、慈の瞑想を深めれば、どんな瞋恚 (しんに: 憎悪)も消えてしまうからである。

ラーフラよ、悲の瞑想を深めなさい。なぜなら、悲の瞑想を深めれば、どんな害意も消えてしまうからである。

ラーフラよ、喜の瞑想を深めなさい。なぜなら、喜の瞑想を深めれば、どんな不満も消えてしまうからである。

ラーフラよ、捨の瞑想を深めなさい。なぜなら、捨の瞑想を深めれば、どんな怒りも消えてしまうからである。”

中部 (ちゅうぶ、巴: ﾏｯｼﾞﾏ･ﾆｶｰﾔ) の大ラーフラ教誡経 (だいラーフラきょうかいきょう、巴:ﾏﾊｰﾗｰﾌﾛｰｳﾞｧｰﾀﾞ･ｽｯﾀ) からの抜粋