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Meditation

Reflections on Tibetan Buddhist Meditation

Part 3 – Bodhicitta (Compassion) Practice – The Four Immeasurables

Introduction

Bodhicitta (noble or awakened heart) is the Buddhist Sanskrit word describing a state of awakened compassion. In the Mahayana tradition (greater vehicle) Bodhicitta practices played an important role. The desire (and associated practices) to rouse Bodhicitta carried forward into the Vajrayana or Tantric tradition. Versions of these practices spread to all the regions that adopted Mahayana Buddhism, primarily Tibet, China and Japan. That being said, the Theravadin tradition of Southeast Asia also developed compassion practices.

Why engage in practices to develop compassion? In the Buddhist tradition it is said that compassion naturally arises when we contact our true nature i.e. Bodhicitta already exists in our “Buddha Nature” but we need ways to access it. Teachings and practices evolved to assist the practitioner in making this connection. We are not talking here about romantic love or a “Hallmark Card” sense of warm fuzziness. It is not that these emotions are wrong. In the case of romantic love, it can unfortunately be tinged by a grasping attachment and/or neediness. Warm feelings that are dependent on having the ideal circumstances (such as in a movie) are very transient and typically difficult to rouse without those conditions.

There are said to be two aspects of “relative” Bodhicitta. (Discussion about “Absolute Bodhicitta” is not in the scope of this paper). The first aspect of relative Bodhicitta is the Bodhicitta of “aspiration”. Teachers sometimes refer to students of these practices as “aspiring Bodhisattvas”. A Bodhisattva (awakened being) is a being who has fully awakened but chooses to reincarnate to be of benefit to beings. The Bodhisattva vow includes the words “until all beings are awakened”. As this is a seemingly impossible task when we take the vow, we “aspire” to be of benefit to all beings. Then we practice with that goal in mind. The main body of teachings associated with the Bodhicitta of aspiration are the teachings on the “Four Immeasurables” or “The Four Limitless Ones” (brahma-viharas in Sanskrit). The second aspect of relative Bodhicitta is the Bodhicitta of “action”. The teachings around this aspect are largely based on the six “Paramitas” or perfections which we will discuss in another paper in this series.

The common order in which the Four Immeasurables are taught is as follows:

Loving-Kindness (maitri)*

Compassion (karuna)

Sympathetic Joy (mudita)

Equanimity (upeksha)

However, in the Longcheng Nyingpa tradition (in which I practice), Equanimity is often taught as the first Immeasurable. It is said in that without developing Equanimity, it is very difficult to develop and practice the other three qualities. Since that has been my personal experience as well, I will discuss Equanimity first.

So what is the quality of Equanimity (Upeksa)? It is not indifference. It is not distancing oneself, dissociating or shutting down. Then what? Chogyam Trungpa describes Equanimity as “keeping your seat” (his wife was a dressage rider). As the winds of pleasure and pain, positive circumstances or challenging ones, good relationships or difficult ones blow through our daily lives, we don’t get thrown out of the saddle. We maintain or fairly easily regain our balance. A seemingly lofty aspiration. However, just like a rider, one doesn’t sit solidly in the center of the saddle in the first months or even years of training. It requires many hours of practice. This teaching also assumes that the student has the foundation of a meditation practice that fosters self awareness and an understanding of the transitory nature of thoughts and emotions. As an important note, this doesn’t mean that we don’t feel anger, pain, grief etc. We need to feel, or we are in danger of shutting down. It does mean that we don’t (as Pema Chodron says) “bite the hook”. We feel but we don’t get carried off in mental machinations and storytelling that pull us far out of our center.

Loving-kindness (Maitri) may seem a little more accessible than Equanimity but can be equally challenging. We can’t force ourselves to “feel” loving kindness toward someone or circumstance. But we can wish for them to “have happiness and the roots of happiness”. With this practice, we start with people or animals toward whom we easily feel warmth. Many people start with a beloved pet as feelings tend to be less complicated than with friends or family members. As we practice, we gradually increase the range of people and circumstances to whom we send loving kindness. It’s like building a “Maitri Muscle”.

Compassion (Karuna) takes us a step further in our practice of Bodhicitta. The main compassion practice in this tradition is the practice of “Tonglen”, sometimes referred to as the “receiving and sending practice”. What is different from Maitir practice is that we actually seek to connect and, on some level, feel the suffering of another being(s). So we take on or identify with the suffering of the other and then we send out relief and the wish that “they be free of suffering and the root of suffering” .

The practice of “Joy” or “Sympathetic Joy” (Mudita) asks us to further dissolve the barriers between ourselves and others. Whereas with Karuna we sought to connect with the suffering of others and wish for the relief of their suffering, with Mudita we aspire to connect with the joy of another and wish them continued good fortune. This can be quite challenging if we ourselves are feeling what Chogyam Trungpa calls “poverty stricken” in some area of our lives. When teaching this practice, Pema Chodron advises that we first connect with something that arouses joy in our own lives. For example, perhaps our good friend lands a great job, and we are feeling stuck in our career. We might feel jealous or envious as our first reaction. The teaching is then to connect with something in our lives that brings us joy, perhaps our good health or our beloved life partner. Feeling grateful for those gifts, we can then more easily rejoice in our friend’s success.

In summary, these seemingly simple practices are powerful tools to dissolve the illusion of our separateness and connect with our ”inter-being”, as Thich Nhat Hanh so eloquently stressed in his teaching. Quantum science is also showing the reality of our interconnectedness. In the teachings on Bodhicitta, it is stressed that we already have these qualities in our true nature. Like a jewel incrusted in dirt, it simple requires that we gradually dust it off.

At Golden Devi, we offer classes to learn the teachings and practices of the Four Immeasurables. Classes are offered in Zoom series and in on-site workshop format. Watch for announcements of classes coming this fall.