SuttaCentral
Hiya Jim 
I’ve actually ‘clarified’ (clear as mud 
) my post, to which you refer. I just meant to give that break-down as an example - but the more I looked at it, the more problematic that particular grouping was. The point still stands - but I had conflated levels/degrees of each state… so it became less clear.
this still totally applies, but that each can be taken to a deeper level. see post above
just goes to show how deficient a 2 paragraph response to a complicated issue can be 
Exactly, practice needs to be tailored to individual needs
There are certainly some aspects which aren’t that suitable for certain types. For example if one has a tendency to depression, care and balance needs to be applied when immersing oneself in Karuna inducing conditions… This ‘danger’ is absent from the positive and joyful states.
However, I would disagree that it needs to be a Bhikkhu. One benefits from a skilled teacher, whether that teacher is ordained or not. It is the skills and experience of the individual that are key, whether they are Bhikkhuni, Bhikkhu, lay woman or lay man… The ordination ceremony doesn’t imbue a person with skills or wisdom… Afterall, the vast majority of monks in the world have neither read the Pali canon, nor developed a meditation practice. So use the Buddhas advice and criteria to find a good teacher
Just to add, that we are so lucky here at SC and the forum, in that we are led by such wise and skillful Ajahns and that there are so many skilled, learned and diligent people, both lay and monastic that contribute 
Sorry to be so picky
I like how you’ve boiled the brahmaviharas down. The only observation I made was with karuna. I’ve understood that karuna is nuanced as the concern for others to be free from affliction and dukkha, the wish and vision of relief from suffering. And importantly, karuna needs to be differentiated from the act of seeing the suffering of others, which would fall under contemplation of dukkha. So one would take the vision of freedom from affliction as the object rather than dukkha, thus avoiding sadness. This brings joy and encouragement rather than sorrow or pity.
I just came across this passage
AN5.44:7.9: Atha kho bhagavā uggaṁ gahapatiṁ vesālikaṁ iminā anumodanīyena anumodi:
AN5.44:7.9: And then the Buddha rejoiced with Ugga with these verses of appreciation:
and am wondering if the term anumodanīya—or the verb anumodati—is in any way related to muditā?
Nyanatiloka seems to see such a relation. In the dictionary “pali-german” in palikanon.com I find (german):
anumodaníyena anumodi - (meist ‘anumodaná’ genannt)
Danksagung, wörtlich: «Mitfreude»,
nämlich mit dem vom Spender erworbenen sittlichen Verdienst. Die Texte hierfür enthalten keinen Dank, sondern den Wunsch, daß der Spender die Früchte seiner guten Tat ernten möge, in glücklicher Wiedergeburt und schließlich im Gewinn der Erlösung (Nibbána).
Eine ‘Anerkennung’ des durch Gaben erworbenen sittlichen Verdienstes wird auch heute noch in den südbuddhistischen Ländern nach einem Spendenmahl oder anderen Gaben für die Mönchsgemeinde von einen der anwesenden Mönche feierlich rezitiert.
Eine solche ‘Anerkennung’, häufig in feststehender Formulierung, mag ganz kurz sein oder auch den Umfang einer kurzen Predigt haben oder von einer solchen eingeleitet werden. Der Geber wird darin an die mannigfachen guten Folgen seiner verdienstlichen Handlung erinnert: in diesem Leben, in künftiger Existenz und als helfende Bedingung für die Erreichung des Nibbána. Das anumodana nimmt die Stelle einer Danksagung oder eines Segensspruches ein, hat aber inhaltlich keineswegs einen solchen Charakter.
Siehe auch anumodati <wtb02_ar.html> :
anu-modati, wörtl. “Nach-Freude” bedeutet Zustimmung, Billigung Mitfreude, Dankbarkeit, Segen, so wie wir sagen, daß jemand seinen Segen zu etwas gibt. Es ist die herzliche Billigung einer guten Tat, so die Mönche nach dem Mahle.