In-person sangha this Sunday, March 15

[Riane Yates]

Hello sangha!

We will be meeting in person this Sunday, March 15! Janet will be giving a talk on the Four Immeasurables. 

 

If you can make it in person, please join us at 6017 Abilene Trail from 10am until noon. But as always, we will be on zoom if you can't make it in-person. 

Regular schedule details & quick links:

• Morning Meditation: 7:30 - 8:15 AM Monday - Friday
• Book Study:  6:30-8:00 PM Tuesday
  • "Into the Haunted Ground" by Anam Thubten
    
• Sunday Sangha 10am - 12pm Every Sunday
  • In-person Mar 1, Mar 15 & Mar 29
  • Address: 6017 Abilene Trail Austin, TX 78749
• Zoom Link for All Events: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3999708495?pwd=bURaMEpzSm5aY3NuZGwxTEtuUmFmQT09

With love,

Riane

[Janet Gilmore]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking forward to discussing the Four Immeasurables with everyone on Sunday.  I've been putting together some thoughts on the subject.  I wish I could be more succinct but, as Mark Twain once said, "I didn't have time to write a short essay so I wrote a long one instead." Actually Mark Twain said "letter" instead of "essay."

with gratitude and love,

Janet

May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.

May all beings be free from suffering and the cause of suffering.

May all beings never be separate from joy that knows no sorrow.

May all beings abide in equanimity free from attachment and hatred.

This is the practice of the four immeasurables, the method of cultivating our true nature. This loving kindness prayer points to four qualities of love, compassion, joy and equanimity. These are not four separate qualities but together comprise the enlightened heart/mind known as bodhichitta that is our true nature. 

Like many Dharma teachings, this is a pointing out instruction, reminding us of our true nature so that we cultivate and nourish these innate qualities by recognizing the various thoughts, speech and actions that obscurations that veil these qualities.  It is always important to start from this clarity -- that we are not having to acquire or develop anything-- instead recognize what is standing in the way of seeing our natural state.

Sometimes called the Brahmaviharas, Four Divine Abodes or, as first taught to me by Pema Chodron, Four Immeasurables, is an essential teaching of Buddhism. It can be found in the original Pali Canon, which is recording of Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings.  It is embellished and emphasized greatly in the Mahayana vehicle and is a standard component of Vajrayana practices as well.  It is a core teaching and practice -- right up there with the four noble truths and the eightfold path. In Thich Naht Hanh's book, "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching," he says:

During the Buddha's lifetime, those of the Brahmanic faith prayed that after death, they would go to Heaven to dwell eternally with Brahma, the universal God. One day a Brahman man asked the Buddha, "What can I do to be sure that I will be with Brahma after I die?'"and the Buddhie replied, "As Brahma is the source of Love, to dwell with him you must practice the Brahma Abodes or Four Immeasurable Minds -- love, compassion, joy and equanimity." The Four Brahmaviharas are the abodes of true love. This address is much greater than a four-star hotel. It is a 1,000-star dwelling. The Four Brahmaviharas are called "immeasurable," because if you practice them, they will grow in you every day until they embrace the whole world. You will become happier and everyone around you will become happier, also.

Near enemies & Images

We all assume we know what love, compassion and joy mean but it helps to contemplate the meaning in this context because here we are talking about boundless and unconditional love, joy and compassion. Each quality has an image associated that can provoke a palpable experience of the quality. I find it most helpful to explore the "near enemies"  of these abodes, which are various ways to miss the point and the "far enemy," its opposite.  Here's a short recap of these.

The Sanskrit word for boundless love is Maitri, which may be better translated as loving kindness or benevolence.  It is unconditional love that does not expect anything in return. The image associated with Maitri is a mother bird caring for the babies in her nest, nurturing them and feeding them so they can grow wings and fly away.   The near enemies (near misses) of this quality of love include sentimental attachment (typically what we think of as romantic love), neediness (love that requires a transactional response), desire for comfort for oneself (eg, I love ice cream or so called self love that is really about hiding out), old patterns of trying to escape any pain (feeding addictions).  The far enemy of love is hate. 

When we wish all beings happiness, that is the wish that everyone without exception experience their true nature of boundless love and at the same time, that heartfelt wish IS the boundless love we are talking about.  So it's self-referential or an infinite loop. I like to think of it as a catch 23 -- we experience what we wish for others just by wishing that for others!

Compassion is the recognition of suffering, not turning away from the first noble truth and seeing it applies to all beings, along with the intention to free others from suffering. This is called karuna in Sanskirt. The image that is used to provoke a feeling of true boundless compassion is that of a mother with no arms whose child has fallen into the river and is being washed away.  This image reminds us that Karuna is a powerful heartfelt longing and her not having arms reminds us to not approach with the idea of fixing, this is not about self- or other-improvement. 

There are near enemies of compassion, thoughts and actions that we think are compassion but really miss the point. We miss the point of compassion when we do not view ourselves and others as equals - so when we pity others ("bless her heart") or even when we we think we are somehow not in the same boat with another, that is not true compassion. When we act as martyrs (because we don't think we ourselves deserve happiness), that is also not true compassion.  Another common near enemy of compassion is to turn away due to overwhelm.  This overwhelm seems to have become a modern day risk given the state of our world.   Overwhelm happens when we make the suffering of others about ourselves and how it affects US.  All of these near enemies, especially overwhelm, can lead to the far enemy, the opposite, of compassion, which is cruelty.

We experience joy, called mudita in sanskrit, when we rejoice in the good fortune of others. The image is a that of a mother camel (btw - mothers are very important in TIbetan buddhism and camels are apparently known for mother-love) child returns after being lost (think prodigal son or daughter).  The far enemy of joy is jealousy and we might notice how we practice this all the time. Someone says they went to a great concert or had a great vacation and we say "I'm so jealous." When we notice this happening, try switching that up just as an experiment and say "I'm so happy for you" and actually mean it, share the joy that the other person is feeling from their experience. The near enemies include niceness, hypocrisy or insincerity (i.e. faking it). In this case the words might be there, but there is no real feeling of joy behind it. This happens we believe in self and other -- so we are not really understanding the point that we share each other's joy (and sorrow). Comparison is another near enemy. For instance, we're happy for them when someone else wins 2nd prize but happier when we win 1st prize.  Another subtle near enemy is joy for our team or our child or our spouse or even someone we know when they have good fortune (like winning a grammy), but not for the other team or a stranger's child or stranger when they do.  Mudita is rejoicing in all other's good fortune, so the source is truly limitless and boundless.   This joy lives side-by-side with compassion (Karuna) for all other's sorrow and suffering. The Dali Lama speaks of a Tibetan prayer, “Whenever I see someone, may I never feel superior.”   This is the true boundless joy that knows no sorrow and leads us to the last of the four divine abodes.

Equanimity  (upeksa) is the necessary quality that is foundational and interwoven through the other three immeasurables. Without equanimity, these qualities are conditional and limited. The practice of opening our heart and widening the circle is the practice of equanimity.

There is a beautiful image associated with the practice of equanimity - a party where everyone is invited.  When I originally encountered the teachings or just heard the term equanimity, I thought it a good goal, maybe a little boring, probably not something that I could live up to  (nor would I want to - where's the fun in it), but when I heard this metaphor,  I started looking at the practice of equanimity in a very different way. I like parties and I always want to invite everyone.  Everyone is invited' also points to every condition, both externally and internally. It reminds us to maintain a balanced state of mind in the face of winning or losing, praise or blame, pleasure or pain, fame or disgrace. For example, when we sit in meditation, we invite all feelings and we sit in the reality of the moment, whether it is hot or cold or noisy or quiet. Fears, resistance and uncertainty, even groundlessness, is invited, the love arising within each of us and even the broken heart is invited.  Equanimity asks us to train in that approach to each person and circumstance and in every moment of our lives. 

Contrary to being boring or lifeless, like I originally thought,  equanimity is quite juicy.  There are other misconceptions about what we mean by equanimity. We might think that equanimity is our ticket out of the painful feelings but It is not indifference, numbness or avoidance of pain.  When the Buddha sat beneath the Bodhi tree and was visited by Mara - the demons of his own mind, he experienced those feelings and transformed them into beautiful flowers. He did not turn away.   There is a story of a Zen master who, whenever anyone asked him how he was, he always said he was okay.  Finally one day a student asked him, Roshi don't you ever have a bad day and he said, "Sure, on my bad days I'm okay. On good days, I'm okay."  This is equanimity.   

Practicing the four immeasurables

In a way, this is not a conceptual teaching but can be practiced conceptually.  It is a discovery of the true nature of reality, reflecting the truth of who we truly are.

Even though these qualities are our true nature, they have become obscured through our attempting to achieve happiness by practicing the three poisons: attachment, aversion and ignorance. These habits have become layered and enmeshed to such a degree we are unable to see that we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

We can practice the four immeasurables in our meditation practice and we do all the time -- through loving kindness meditation and tonglen. We can also practice the four immeasurables anywhere anytime and use the circumstances of our ordinary day to 1) recognize the near enemies at work and 2) cultivate these boundless qualities and 3) widen the circle. We do this in all of our affairs. As usual, we start wherever we are. 

When we feel suffering, we remind ourselves that other people feel this too. And we extend our compassion to everyone who is suffering in the same way.

When we feel happiness to be alive on an early spring morning central Texas morning, we wish that those among us who are unhappy might feel lighthearted and feel the sun on their face, see the bluebonnets blooming and hear the birds sing.

We offer these boundless qualities to all others, starting with our loved ones and widening the circle to include even those that cause harm, especially including them. Mahatma Gandhi was once asked, “What would you do if a plane was flying over your ashram with the intention to bomb you?” His answer: “I would pray for the pilot.” 

This world of ours seems to be falling apart and our country is devolving at a rapid rate.  Some say this is the acceleration of the Kali Yuga, the dark age, where the world is in spiritual decline and corruption, abuse, war and famine are rampant. Whether this is the Kali Yuga or not, the four immeasurables were made for times such as these.  Whether we are fully enlightened, aware of our true nature, or not, the practice of the four immeasurables are appropriate and so useful. 

The great mystery - a doorway to the four immeasurables.

One important doorway to the four immeasurables is this: we do not really know what is happening most of the time. Our view is limited, to say the least.  One of the discoveries we all have in meditation is the vastness and infinity of each moment, alongside the radical impermanence of ourselves and all others and everything.  When we let go of each thought as it arises, each moment seems to create itself out of the thin air of spaciousness.  Life itself is an unfathomable mystery.  And yet we struggle and suffer out of our limited views. Due to our confusion and misguided reliance on impermanent conditions as a source of happiness, we become lost in samsara.  We fall in and out of awareness.  We see this happening with everyone we know and everyone we encounter and we see this happening with those in powerful positions affecting millions of people, including us. This realization of the truth of suffering gives rise to this broken-open heart of bodhichitta and longing to relieve the suffering that is avoidable -- the confusion, the attachment and the resistance that gives rise to anger and hatred.  Love, compassion and joy arise spontaneously and boundlessly without exception or limits.  This is our true nature that arises. Through practice and through understanding and study, we can cultivate this tender heart and experience life through the lense of bodhichitta more and more.

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