Reading Guides for the Brahmaviharas?

Q & A
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Basically the title

I’ve come to recognize I have a good inclination towards metta practices, I find I get concentrated on them quickly and stay with them longer and come out feeling better and acting better in my regular life.

But I feel like I haven’t developed a good base of knowledge from the suttas regarding the viharas and found myself during meditation today asking questions like “what is loving kindness or impersonal love anyway? A feeling? A vibe? A thought? A bodily sensation? Maybe all those things” and then recognizing I had actually no idea how to apply equanimity in this context of love and compassion.

I noticed at one point that my metta phrases stopped being an expression of emotion or intent but at one point was more a repetition of sound in my head. I noticed at the same time I was more easily distracted and felt further from concentration when I got to that point. After I took a break and got some tips from a friend in the practice I was able to maintain the feeling more but also had trouble trying to transition from directed thoughts that aroused loving kindness and just being present with the loving kindness.

If there are any existing reading guides, reputable essays or recorded talks that people could recommend they would be greatly appreciated while I try to develop this practice

:pray:t2: with love

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With just one thing in mind, what you are looking for is a great practice, and pursuing Enlightenment will give you the Highest level of Brahmavihara practices as well as Metta, Loving-kindness, and Compassion contemplations. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi,

Sharon Salzberg’s book “Lovingkindness” offers a good overview with practical guidelines for practicing the Brahmaviharas. The meditations are mostly based on the Visuddimagga.

Ven. Anālayo’s book “Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation” is more detailed and academic, and is rich in information about these practices.
He also has audio meditations here:

Of course, there are many books and essays on this topic, but these might be useful for you.

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This is Ven. Thanissaro’s study guide:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/#sublimeAttitudes

You could also try the brahmavihara entries in the CIPS:

(works best on desktop)

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Your questions on ‘loving kindness (mettā)’ meditation and the Brahmaviharas seem closely relevant to SN 41.7 and its corresponding Chinese version, SA 567.

See pp. 94-104 in Choong Mun-keat, “A comparison of the Pāli and Chinese Saṃyutta/Saṃyukta discourses on the housemaster Citta/Citra, a respected layman dhamma/dharma-teacher” in The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, vol. no. 23 (2023), pp. 93-123 (published in 2024).

Pages 94-104 from Pali Chinese versions Citta Samyutta IIJBS Choong MK 2024 pages 93-123.pdf (596.2 KB)

According to the comparative study,

  • " The practice of mettā in the four immeasurables (Brahma-vihārā) appears very similar to the practice of ‘right thought’ (sammā saṅkappa), one stage of the eightfold path, i.e. thought of detachment (nekkhamma saṅkappa), thought of non-malice (abyāpāda saṅkappa), and thought of non-harming (avihiṃsā saṅkappa). All four immeasurables contain the word abyāpāda (abyāpajjha), which also is part of sammā saṅkappa ." (p. 103)

That means, ‘loving kindness (mettā)’ meditation is just the practice of ‘right thought’ (sammā saṅkappa), one stage of the eightfold path.

  • The set of four Brahmaviharas (i.e. the four immeasurables: mettā ‘lovingkindness’, karuṇā ‘compassion’, muditā ‘joy’, and upekkhā ‘equanimity’) is an expanded version. The main practice could be just one focus, mettā, which is also called mettā-vihāra, regarded as kullaka-vihāra, a ‘family-meditative state’, whereas suññatā-vihāra is viewed as mahāpurisa-vihāra, the ‘meditative state of great men’.

  • Their essence is ‘empty of desire, hatred and delusion’ (i.e. the immovable/non-contention meditation: akuppa-cetovimutti/ 無諍wuzheng).

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I have come to realise it is really great to have no clue of what is love and compassion. Not having a really clear understanding of it. Like one cannot really describe and grasp it.
Probably, in that one knows love and compassion best. What we imagine it to be, that is not love and compassion, but just an idea of it. An image of it, a reflection of it.

I have realised for myself that the best way to be friendly, loving, compassionate is just to let go, be simple, open up and empty oneself also of ideas like ‘i must be friendly, compassionate, loving’.

Me simple? Yes, i can be simple, really :blush:

In general, i feel, our poor heads/minds are filled with all kind of signs and missions. And i do not feel this really contributes to love and compassion or even wisdom. What really contributes to love and compassion is abandoning those missions. Just let go and relate to everything and everyone in an missionfree way, just open and emptied.

It might not be the way of the world, mundane, but i have for myself recognised this is best. Like the sutta’s also say, qualities are based upon dispassion, and all those missions, all those task we constant see for ourselves and which lighten up like signs to the mind while relating to others, are all based upon passion.

I also feel this is the difference between the mundane Path in buddhism (based upon passion) and the supramundane path, based upon dispassion (MN117) The mundane practice of love and compassion does not free from suffering and samsara. But the supramundane does. That is about letting go and having trust that dealing with others and situation in an open way, is compassionate, warm, friendly, loving.

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Does Ven. Anālayo’s book cover also using metta as a route into jhana? A lot of my education in metta comes more from a psychotherapy background which isn’t really aimed at jhana

Thank you

Edit: I tracked it down and found the “practical” chapter to be pretty much was I was looking for and the rest of the book looks like the information I have been wanting too, this is a good recommendation :heart:

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Hi,

I read the book a number of years ago, and don’t recall all the details. However, to the best of my recollection he does describe the use of metta practice as a way to enter into the first jhana.

He also wrote that even if one does not enter into Jhana with this practice, one still benefits from developing deep Metta-Samadhi.

:pray:

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