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I had the opportunity to attend an online meditation retreat with the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi and others from Buddhist Global Relief this weekend. It focused on the Brahma Viharas, which translates to The Divine Abodes, and are sometimes called ‘The Four Sublime States.’ They have also been called ‘The only emotions worth having.’

Mettā, or loving-kindness. This is a deep, gentle, heartfelt concern for the wellbeing of others and is the basis of the Brahma Viharas.

Karuṇā, or Compassion is what happens when Loving-Kindness encounters Suffering. It is the sincere wish that others’ suffering is relieved and empathizing with their pain to the point where you feel it as well.

Muditā, or Sympathetic Joy, or Altruistic Joy is what happens when Loving-Kindness encounters wholesome Happiness or Joy. It is the celebration of others’ wholesome happiness and joy, sharing in their happiness and being happy that they’re happy.

Upekkhā, or Equanimity is what balances the others. It sees the larger picture and the sameness and equality and unity of all living beings.

The four work with each other and connect to each other. If you only practice one, you will become unbalanced. If you only practice loving-kindness you can become attached to the people you direct it to. If you only practice compassion you can be overwhelmed by the suffering and the compassion can turn to pity. If you only practice sympathetic joy you can lose sight of the suffering of others and become hypocritical. If you only practice equanimity you can become indifferent to the others because everything’s the same and eventually going to end, so they become unimportant.

The real benefit to meditating on these feelings and practicing them often is that you can change your character. What you think becomes what you say and what you say becomes what you do. So, the more you think about things from these points of view and feel these emotions, the more they will saturate into your everyday life until they become your instinctual reactions. When you encounter a situation that you would normally feel anger you will feel love, compassion, and equanimity with the other person and be able to calmly and wisely approach the situation.

Overall, the retreat was a really good experience and I enjoyed it greatly while learning a lot. It gave me a lot to add to my daily meditation practice and I can’t wait to continue exploring these concepts.

You can watch the entire retreat on YouTube, here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt_a6UaknGoqf4WV-y12PbmD5COzQwxKR

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