Wisdom Wide and Deep

by Shaila Catherine

  TABLE 7.1

  Immaterial Jhānas

  MEDITATION SUBJECT BASIS JHĀNA POTENTIAL

  Infinite space The removal of any fully expanded kasiṇa (except the limited-space kasiṇa); perception of the space previously occupied by the expanded kasiṇa Base of infinite space

  Infinite consciousness Removal of the sign of the base of infinite space; perception of the consciousness that cognized infinite space Base of infinite consciousness

  Nothingness Removal of the sign of the base of infinite consciousness; perception of absence of the consciousness that cognized infinite space Base of Nothingness

  Neither-perception-nor-nonperception Removal of the base of nothingness; perception of the consciousness that cognized nothingness Base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception

  CHAPTER 8

  Boundless Heart: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy, and Equanimity

  May all beings be happy and secure!

  May their hearts be wholesome!

  Whatever living beings there may be:

  Weak or strong, tall or middling,

  Short or large, without exception;

  Seen or unseen, dwelling far or near,

  Already born or yet to be born,

  May all beings be happy!

  One should cultivate an unlimited loving mind

  Without obstruction, anger, or opposition

  To the whole world

  Above, below, and across.

  —SUTTA NIPĀTA130

  AFAVORITE BUDDHIST STORY recalls a group of monks who were meditating in a forest inhabited by mischievous spirits. Frightened by eerie noises, the monks tried in vain to concentrate, but their efforts to establish jhāna repeatedly collapsed. Terrified by the creepy disruptions and discouraged by lack of progress, the monks sought the Buddha’s guidance and received instructions in loving-kindness (mettā) meditation.131 You may not be as concerned with ghosts or spirits, but you may have other fears—fears of being hurt, of loss, of loneliness, or being wrong—that might prevent you from doing things you know are good and useful.

  The divine abodes (brahmavihāras) of loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity represent four modes of relating with openness, friendliness, responsiveness, and steadiness toward all beings. The Buddha taught them as ways of engaging with life that lead to “immeasurable liberations of mind.”132 The series begins with the development of loving-kindness, and it extends to compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. When a concentrated mind, imbued with mettā, contemplates beings who are suffering, compassion arises. Contemplating the successes of others elicits appreciative joy. Reflecting on the impact of causes and effects on beings brings equanimity to the fore.

  This chapter includes daily life reflective exercises that will enhance these altruistic attitudes for meditators and nonmeditators alike. This chapter also includes explicit instructions for developing loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity as meditation subjects that can lead to jhāna. These are versatile subjects that can be used for deep jhāna meditation, for supporting other meditation practices, as a basis for insight,133 or for simply developing and enhancing a pervasively loving response to life. Although presented in this course of training primarily as a means for cultivating concentration, these beautiful qualities should not be reduced to such a utilitarian purpose. They express the clear, wise, and caring engagement of a free mind with all life.

  THE KIND HEART

  Loving-kindness (mettā) is the universal wish for the welfare and happiness of all living beings. Loving-kindness meditation is a powerful practice that dissolves fear and opens the heart to a genuine connection with life. Mettā, and the happiness associated with it, may arise naturally, it may be cultivated during daily social encounters, or it may be embraced in a formal meditation practice. It is a clear intention that weakens ill will, fear, and blame; it is an attitude of noncontention, a quality of heart that embraces life without conflict. The Pali term, mettā, is derived from a word for friendship, and therefore can be understood as a deep friendship with life. This should not imply that mettā is necessarily easy. Deep friendship implies being present, connected, and caring even through difficult times.

  Loving-kindness practice generates strong concentration and will produce a quick, buoyant, light, and joyful mind. It brings forth pragmatic skills and wholesome states that steer the meditator clear of pitfalls on the path to liberation. Mettā is both an ideal attitude toward living beings and a versatile meditation subject with numerous benefits. It has the power to dispel anger and fear, protect the mind from ill will, generate happiness, encourage simplicity and upright conduct, support peaceful community relationships, and establish jhāna concentration. You may choose to use it as a daily contemplation to purify your intentions, to soften angry or irritable tendencies, or to enhance a disposition toward happiness and ease. Even a brief experience of mettā is something the Buddha praised: “Monks, if for just the time of a finger-snap, a monk produces a thought of loving-kindness, develops it, gives attention to it, such a one is rightly called a monk. Not in vain does he meditate.”134

  Mettā creates a field of reprieve in which the heart can heal old wounds and the meditator can strengthen restraint, commit to wholesome endeavors, and create resolve for peace, happiness, and insight. It also supports the cultivation of concentration, and so is traditionally compared to kindling that nurtures a fire—meditators may “warm-up” their concentration with loving-kindness practice at the beginning of each meditation session or at the beginning of a retreat.

  About Mettā

  Loving-kindness is not a passionate response of feeling, but rather a mental factor or attitude that can be cultivated. Feelings change with the vicissitudes of pleasure and pain; you will discover mettā, however, not in your feelings, but in your intentions.

  Mettā is a strong receptive quality that bears pain as well as pleasure. You can wish well while remaining open to the complexities of suffering that plague our world. One day I was hiking on the grass-covered hills near my home and saw a hawk swoop down and snatch something from a field; I found only a twitching lizard tail left behind in the grass. With mettā, it was natural to wish the lizard be free of pain, rejoice in the good fortune of the hawk, and contemplate with equanimity the struggles of existence and death. Conflict is part of our existence and mettā practice opens the heart to connect with the truth of life, enabling us to face pain with love.

  Mettā’s opposite—its “far enemy”—is ill will. Stephen Levine, known for his work with hospice programs, was once asked how he became so loving. He replied, “by noticing all the times my heart was closed.” The practice can bring to light any latent tendencies toward ill will, which will weaken through being recognized and create opportunities to replace thoughts that close the heart in judgment and anger with thoughts that promote connection, kindness, and love.

  MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 8.1

  A Good Start Each Day

  Notice the first thoughts that arise in the morning. If you discover that you wake to irritated, anxious, worried, fearful, grumpy, or demanding mental patterns, exchange them for the happy ease of mettā. If you find that you jump in the shower in the morning already rehearsing how you might respond to confrontations that have not yet occurred, lamenting minor social blunders made in previous days, or armoring yourself against dangers that are not present, your mind has set the stage for a miserable day.

  To start each day with the intention of good will, before you crawl out from under your blanket, contemplate mettā by reciting and deeply considering the four traditional phrases:

  May I be safe from harm.

  May I be happy, and free from mental distress.

  May I be healthy, and free from illness and pain.

  May I live with ease in the world.

  Align your attitude with the powerful intention of kindness, and direct these intentions toward the people you might meet that day. Thin
k of a person and wish:

  May you be safe from harm.

  May you be happy, and free from mental distress.

  May you be healthy, and free from illness and pain.

  May you live with ease in the world.

  As you practice mettā at home, the purification of unwholesome tendencies will be accomplished gradually in daily life; then, when you take mettā as a subject in retreat, it will be easy to develop concentration.

  Mettā cultivates a deep friendship with life. When mettā is strong, you can trust your intentions. This confidence supports concentration. As you trust yourself, faith in the practice grows.

  In this practice, “hate has to be abandoned and patience attained”;135 therefore, the initial instruction is to “review the danger in hate and the advantage in patience.”136 After all, “one cannot abandon unseen dangers and attain unknown advantages.”137 A person who harbors hatred is compared to a fool who in anger reaches for a pile of dog poop to throw at an enemy—she soils herself first.138 In this practice you train your mind away from hostility and consistently incline your heart toward good will for all beings—those whom you like, as well as those you do not like; those who have helped you, as well as those who have hurt you. Although you cannot control the words others speak to you, you can increase your capacity to bear them with peace, free of hatred. As the ancient illustration describes, when you add a teaspoon of salt to a glass of water, the taste of salt is strong, but if you add a teaspoon of salt to a lake, there will be very little impact. Just so, you can develop a mind so filled with love that it remains unaffected by irritating encounters or verbal abuse.139

  Little Moments with a Wide Community

  Loving-kindness is cultivated through the little moments of kindness and sensitivity toward yourself, others, and the world. Mettā practice offers an opportunity to shift habitual relationships, even small ones, by widening the circle of your community. Take notice of the little creatures that you share a day with—grasshoppers, butterflies, ants, frogs, cats, raccoons, spiders. You are not alone in this world.

  I spent a number of years practicing meditation in monasteries in the forests of Thailand, where I would sit cross-legged on the ground to eat lunch. Large black ants also lived in these jungles. This variety of ant did not travel along orderly highways; each ant, with antennae wiggling, seemed to be on an individual quest for my rice and curry. Whenever an ant had zeroed in on my bowl, it would crawl up my foot or leg, make its way to the bowl, reach in, take one grain of rice, and abscond with its bounty. At first I struggled to keep my bowl bug-free, but this only caused me agitation—I was after all sitting on the ground in a jungle; there was no “bug-free” place. Finally, I began to offer each ant one grain as it approached my leg. The ant would gently accept the rice grain from my finger-tip and scurry away. There was no more struggle or annoyance. It was a simple shift that removed the conflict and cost me only six to ten grains of rice each meal.

  Human relations are often more complicated, though, and the people we love the most are often the ones who trigger our anger, because we expect more from them than others. When an untrained mind does not get what it wants, it lashes out. Mettā provides a radically different response.

  I once lived in a community that was riddled with conflict; thoughts of my fellow community members did not stimulate immediate and bountiful happiness, so first I generated mettā for the dog who was always willing to walk with me. Mettā is such a powerful attitude that even wishing happiness for a dog prevented ill will from dwelling in my heart and perhaps helped halt the escalation of conflict. Don’t wait until you feel loving before you start mettā practice. Loving-kindness develops through practice. Informed by a depth of mettā, we will sense the connection and friendship with life growing within and around us. The contraction around me, and what I want, the stories of who did what to me and why it was not fair, the grasping after what I feel I deserve, and the armor that we weave around our hearts, all melt in the field of mettā.

  Transforming the Little Things

  Consider transforming some of your habitual reactions. Notice people that you see on a regular basis but generally disregard; for instance, clerks in stores, at the post office, or cafés. Walking your dog you may pass the mail carrier or someone watering plants. Instead of ignoring these people, try adding a few moments of interest and care by generating thoughts of mettā.

  Many of my students enjoy reciting mettā phrases while driving—a welcome alternative to becoming angry at the driver who cut you off in traffic. Wish for his safety and well-being. See how a few thoughts of loving-kindness sprinkled throughout the day can transform your mood.

  COMPASSION

  Compassion (karuṇā) is the wish that all beings be free from suffering and pain. When you recognize suffering, you will want to alleviate it; as such, compassion is expressed in action. People habitually withdraw, avoid, or turn away from pain and suffering. So the challenge karuṇā practice presents is the opportunity to connect and respond. When you see suffering in the news or hear stories of other people’s pain, do you sense their pain but ignore or avoid recognizing it? When you meet someone who is suffering, ill, limping, grieving, confused, cold, or hungry, how do you feel and what action do you take?

  One time I traveled to Colorado to lead a retreat. I boarded the small nineteen-seat plane and soon realized that another passenger, a young woman traveling with her boyfriend, was in tears. As the plane readied for takeoff her distress increased—she was terrified of flying. Discerning the situation, another passenger moved near and engaged her in friendly conversation, holding her attention with eye contact and simple questions. As the plane prepared for takeoff, the compassionate stranger, who was a trained pilot, proceeded to anticipate the sounds, explain the bumps, and narrate the flight. His reassuring presence convinced her that everything was reasonable and expected. She calmed and their conversation segued into a lively discussion of literature and creative writing punctuated by laughter and delight, interspersed with periodic explanations of bumps or rumbles. The pilot’s off-duty intervention helped this young woman transform the grip of terror into joyful interaction and illustrated for me the essence of compassion. Compassion is not reserved for Nobel Prize nominees—notice your response to pain and let it elicit compassion.

  The first step in compassion practice is to be willing to perceive suffering without aversion—neither reacting in blame and anger nor withdrawing in fear and denial. Then wisdom can inform action. When your heart is softened by mettā, is moved with compassion, and is strengthened by equanimity, you will be able to consider what a skillful response might be.

  My grandfather lived in one city for nearly sixty years, active in church clubs and bingo, with several sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews living nearby. As his condition deteriorated with age, he was forced to move into a nursing home a couple of miles from his home. Once he was ensconced in the facility, his siblings rarely visited. During the two years that he resided in the institution, his sister, who had lived across the street for six decades, never appeared. When I visited and offered to drive her, she told me, “I can’t go in there, it just breaks my heart to see him like that.” Through the cultivation of compassion meditation, you become willing to see suffering and respond by opening your heart to the suffering that you witness; you are cultivating the capacity to respond kindly and clearly to the inevitable pain in life.

  Compassion may appear as a full, heartfelt feeling; a quivering of the heart; a softness in the chest. Like mettā, compassion is a mental factor, an intention or attitude that you bring to experience; it is not a feeling. A condescending attitude of pity is considered the near enemy of compassion. It is a quality that is commonly confused with compassion, but is corrupted by the judgmental stance of self-interest. The far enemy of compassion, its opposite, is cruelty.

  Don’t Turn Away from Suffering

  When you wake up in the morning, make the commitment: Today I will not turn aw
ay from another person’s suffering. As you go about your daily activities, notice what is happening around you. Take note of your response to suffering and don’t permit yourself to turn away. You may offer only eye contact, recognition, or a smile; you may do something that could help; you may recognize that the danger is great or your skill level insufficient and choose to wisely withdraw. Learn to meet suffering without resistance or fuss, then ask, “How can I help?” and stay present to consider the response.

  APPRECIATIVE JOY

  Appreciative joy (muditā) is also called sympathetic, empathetic, or altruistic joy. It is the wish that the happiness of others continue and increase. Muditā manifests when mettā meets the success and good fortune of another being. You may experience this quality of happiness when you rejoice with a friend’s good news, witness a colleague succeed, or delight in the performance of an athlete. Appreciative joy is the pinnacle of good sportsmanship, permitting us to deeply appreciate our rival’s superior performance and our friend’s good luck.

  The term muditā means to be pleased, to have a sense of gladness, and to be nondemeaning. It develops with the recognition that our happiness does not diminish as the happiness of others increases. Recall a time in your life when you accomplished something challenging. How did you feel when someone expressed happiness for you, and how did you feel when someone reacted with envy? Rejoicing with success and happiness honors the achievement, delights in the good fortune, and simultaneously brings joy to your life, almost as if the gains of others are your own.