
                        THE FOUR SUBLIME STATES
                                          
                  Contemplations on Love, Compassion, 
                     Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity
  
  
                                  by
                           Nyanaponika Thera
                                          
                                          
                      The Wheel Publication No. 6
                           ISBN 955-24-0109-7

                        First published in 1958
                    Reprinted 1960, 1972, 1980, 1993
                                          
                    Copyright 1958 Nyanaponika Thera
  

                      BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
                      KANDY              SRI LANKA
                                          
                                          
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                         DharmaNet Edition 1994
                                          
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                            * * * * * * * *
  


  
  The Buddha often spoke about four states of mind as the four 
  "Brahma-viharas": the divine or god-like dwellings, the lofty and 
  excellent abodes in which the mind reaches outwards towards the 
  immeasurable world of living beings, embracing them all in these 
  boundless emotions. These four "sublime states" are: loving-kindness, 
  compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. They are considered to be 
  the ideal social attitudes, the springs underlying the ideal modes of 
  conduct towards living beings. The great healers of social tension and 
  conflict, the builders of harmony and cooperation, they serve as 
  potent antidotes to the poisons of hatred, cruelty, envy and 
  partiality so widespread in modern life. In the present tract, Ven. 
  Nyanaponika Thera, one of the great interpreters of Buddhist teachings 
  in our time, offers a series of contemplations on these four lofty 
  states, exploring them individually and in their subtle and complex 
  inter-relationships. Though short in extent, this tract remains one of 
  the most inspiring and uplifting essays on Dhamma to appear in our era.
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  
  
  
  
                              INTRODUCTION
  
  
  Four sublime states of mind have been taught by the Buddha:
  
       Love or Loving-kindness (//metta//)
       Compassion (//karuna//)
       Sympathetic Joy (//mudita//)
       Equanimity (//upekkha//)
  
    In Pali, the language of the Buddhist scriptures, these four are 
  known under the name of //Brahma-vihara//. This term may be rendered 
  by: excellent, lofty or sublime states of mind; or alternatively, by: 
  Brahma-like, god-like or divine abodes.
    
    These four attitudes are said to be //excellent// or //sublime// 
  because they are the right or ideal way of conduct towards living 
  beings (//sattesu samma patipatti//). They provide, in fact, the 
  answer to all situations arising from social contact. They are the 
  great removers of tension, the great peace-makers in social conflict, 
  and the great healers of wounds suffered in the struggle of existence. 
  They level social barriers, build harmonious communities, awaken 
  slumbering magnanimity long forgotten, revive joy and hope long 
  abandoned, and promote human brotherhood against the forces of 
  egotism.
    
    The Brahma-viharas are incompatible with a hating state of mind, and 
  in that they are akin to Brahma, the divine but transient ruler of the 
  higher heavens in the traditional Buddhist picture of the universe. In 
  contrast to many other conceptions of deities, East and West, who by 
  their own devotees are said to show anger, wrath, jealousy and 
  "righteous indignation," Brahma is free from hate; and one who 
  assiduously develops these four sublime states, by conduct and 
  meditation, is said to become an equal of Brahma (//brahma-samo//). If 
  they become the dominant influence in his mind, he will be reborn in 
  congenial worlds, the realms of Brahma. Therefore, these states of 
  mind are called //God-like//, //Brahma-like//.
    
    They are called //abodes// (//vihara//) because they should become 
  the mind's constant dwelling-places where we feel "at home"; they 
  should not remain merely places of rare and short visits, soon 
  forgotten. In other words, our minds should become thoroughly 
  saturated by them. They should become our inseparable companions, and 
  we should be mindful of them in all our common activities.  As the 
  Metta Sutta, the Song of Loving-kindness, says:
  
       When standing, walking, sitting, lying down,
       Whenever he feels free of tiredness
       Let him establish well this mindfulness -- 
       This, it is said, is the Divine Abode.
  
    These four -- love , compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity -- 
  are also known as the //boundless states// (//appamanna//), because, 
  in their perfection and their true nature, they should not be narrowed 
  by any limitation as to the range of beings towards whom they are 
  extended. They should be non-exclusive and impartial, not bound by 
  selective preferences or prejudices. A mind that has attained to that 
  boundlessness of the Brahma-viharas will not harbor any national, 
  racial, religious or class hatred.
    
    But unless rooted in a strong natural affinity with such a mental 
  attitude, it will certainly not be easy for us to effect that 
  boundless application by a deliberate effort of will and to avoid 
  consistently any kind or degree of partiality. To achieve that, in 
  most cases, we shall have to use these four qualities not only as 
  principles of conduct and objects of reflection, but also as subjects 
  of methodical meditation. That meditation is called 
  //Brahma-vihara-bhavana//, the meditative development of the sublime 
  states. The practical aim is to achieve, with the help of these 
  sublime states, those high stages of mental concentration called 
  //jhana//, "meditative absorption." The meditations on love, 
  compassion and sympathetic joy may each produce the attainment of the 
  first three absorptions, while the meditation on equanimity will lead 
  to the fourth jhana only, in which equanimity is the most significant 
  factor.
    
    Generally speaking, persistent meditative practice will have two 
  crowning effects: first, it will make these four qualities sink deep 
  into the heart so that they become spontaneous attitudes not easily 
  overthrown; second, it will bring out and secure their //boundless// 
  extension, the unfolding of their all-embracing range. In fact, the 
  detailed instructions given in the Buddhist scriptures for the 
  practice of these four meditations are clearly intended to unfold 
  gradually the boundlessness of the sublime states. They systematically 
  break down all barriers restricting their application to particular 
  individuals or places.
    
    In the meditative exercises, the selection of people to whom the 
  thought of love, compassion or sympathetic joy is directed, proceeds 
  from the easier to the more difficult. For instance, when meditating 
  on loving-kindness, one starts with an aspiration for one's own 
  well-being, using it as a point of reference for gradual extension: 
  "Just as I wish to be happy and free from suffering, so may //that// 
  being, may //all// beings be happy and free from suffering!" Then one 
  extends the thought of loving-kindness to a person for whom one has a 
  loving respect, as, for instance, a teacher; then to dearly beloved 
  people, to indifferent ones, and finally to enemies, if any, or those 
  disliked. Since this meditation is concerned with the welfare of the 
  living, one should not choose people who have died; one should also 
  avoid choosing people towards whom one may have feelings of sexual 
  attraction. 
    
    After one has been able to cope with the hardest task, to direct 
  one's thoughts of loving-kindness to disagreeable people, one should 
  now "break down the barriers"(//sima-sambheda//). Without making any 
  discrimination between those four types of people, one should extend 
  one's loving-kindness to them equally. At that point of the practice 
  one will have come to the higher stages of concentration: with the 
  appearance of the mental reflex-image (//patibhaganimitta//), "access 
  concentration" (//upacara samadhi//) will have been reached, and 
  further progress will lead to the full concentration (//appana//) of 
  the first jhana, then the higher jhanas.
    
    For spatial expansion, the practice starts with those in one's 
  immediate environment such as one's family, then extends to the 
  neighboring houses, to the whole street, the town, country, other 
  countries and the entire world. In "pervasion of the directions," 
  one's thought of loving-kindness is directed first to the east, then 
  to the west, north, south, the intermediate directions, the zenith and 
  nadir.
    
    The same principles of practice apply to the meditative development 
  of compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, with due variations in 
  the selection of people. Details of the practice will be found in the 
  texts (see //Visuddhimagga//, Chapter IX).
  
    The ultimate aim of attaining these Brahma-vihara-jhanas is to 
  produce a state of mind that can serve as a firm basis for the 
  liberating insight into the true nature of all phenomena, as being 
  impermanent, liable to suffering and unsubstantial. A mind that has 
  achieved meditative absorption induced by the sublime states will be 
  pure, tranquil, firm, collected and free of coarse selfishness. It 
  will thus be well prepared for the final work of deliverance which can 
  be completed only by insight.
    
    The preceding remarks show that there are two ways of developing the 
  sublime states: first by practical conduct and an appropriate 
  direction of thought; and second by methodical meditation aiming at 
  the absorptions. Each will prove helpful to the other. Methodical 
  meditative practice will help love, compassion, joy and equanimity to 
  become spontaneous. It will help make the mind firmer and calmer in 
  withstanding the numerous irritations in life that challenge us to 
  maintain these four qualities in thoughts, words and deeds.
    
    On the other hand, if one's practical conduct is increasingly 
  governed by these sublime states, the mind will harbor less 
  resentment, tension and irritability, the reverberations of which 
  often subtly intrude into the hours of meditation, forming there the 
  "hindrance of restlessness." Our everyday life and thought has a 
  strong influence on the meditative mind; only if the gap between them 
  is persistently narrowed will there be a chance for steady meditative 
  progress and for achieving the highest aim of our practice.
    
    Meditative development of the sublime states will be aided by 
  repeated reflection upon their qualities, the benefits they bestow and 
  the dangers from their opposites. As the Buddha says, "What a person 
  considers and reflects upon for a long time, to that his mind will 
  bend and incline."
  
                            * * * * * * * *
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
              THE BASIC PASSAGE ON THE FOUR SUBLIME STATES
                                          
                   from the Discourses of the Buddha
  
  
  I.
  
  Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart 
  filled with loving-kindness, likewise the second, the third, and the 
  fourth direction; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the 
  entire world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with 
  loving-kindness, abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity 
  and free from distress.
  
  
  
  II.
  
  Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart 
  filled with compassion, likewise the second, the third and the fourth 
  direction; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire 
  world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with compassion, 
  abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity and free from 
  distress.
  
  
  
  III.
  
  Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart 
  filled with sympathetic joy, likewise the second, the third and the 
  fourth direction; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the 
  entire world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with 
  sympathetic joy, abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity 
  and free from distress.
  
  
  
  IV.
  
  Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart 
  filled with equanimity, likewise the second, the third and the fourth 
  direction; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire 
  world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with equanimity, 
  abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity and free from 
  distress.
  
                                               Digha Nikaya 13
  
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  
  
  
  
                           CONTEMPLATIONS ON 
                        THE FOUR SUBLIME STATES
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                   I
  
                              LOVE (Metta)
  
  //Love//, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate 
  sense there is no possession and no possessor: this is the highest 
  //love//.
  
    //Love//, without speaking and thinking of "I," knowing well that 
  this so-called "I" is a mere delusion.
    
    //Love//, without selecting and excluding, knowing well that to do 
  so means to create love's own contrasts: dislike, aversion and hatred.
    
    //Love//, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it 
  on earth, in the water or in the air.
    
    //Love//, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only 
  those who are useful, pleasing or amusing to us.
    
    //Love//, embracing all beings, be they noble-minded or low-minded, 
  good or evil. The noble and the good are embraced because //love// is 
  flowing to them spontaneously. The low-minded and evil-minded are 
  included because they are those who are most in need of //love//. In 
  many of them the seed of goodness may have died merely because warmth 
  was lacking for its growth, because it perished from cold in a 
  loveless world. 
    
    //Love//, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow 
  wayfarers through this round of existence -- that we all are overcome 
  by the same law of suffering.
    
    //Love//, but not the sensuous fire that burns, scorches and 
  tortures, that inflicts more wounds than it cures -- flaring up now, 
  at the next moment being extinguished, leaving behind more coldness 
  and loneliness than was felt before.
    
    Rather, //love// that lies like a soft but firm hand on the ailing 
  beings, ever unchanged in its sympathy, without wavering, unconcerned 
  with any response it meets. //Love// that is comforting coolness to 
  those who burn with the fire of suffering and passion; that is 
  life-giving warmth to those abandoned in the cold desert of 
  loneliness, to those who are shivering in the frost of a loveless 
  world; to those whose hearts have become as if empty and dry by the 
  repeated calls for help, by deepest despair.
    
    //Love//, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which 
  knows, understands and is ready to help.
    
    //Love//, that //is// strength and //gives// strength: this is the 
  highest //love//.
    
    //Love//, which by the Enlightened One was named "the liberation of 
  the heart," "the most sublime beauty": this is the highest //love//.
    
    And what is the highest manifestation of //love//?
    
    To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the 
  path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the 
  Exalted One, the Buddha.
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
                                   II
  
                          COMPASSION (Karuna)
  
  
  The world suffers. But most men have their eyes and ears closed. They 
  do not see the unbroken stream of tears flowing through life; they do 
  not hear the cry of distress continually pervading the world. Their 
  own little grief or joy bars their sight, deafens their ears. Bound by 
  selfishness, their hearts turn stiff and narrow. Being stiff and 
  narrow, how should they be able to strive for any higher goal, to 
  realize that only release from selfish craving will effect their own 
  freedom from suffering?
  
    It is //compassion// that removes the heavy bar, opens the door to 
  freedom, makes the narrow heart as wide as the world. //Compassion// 
  takes away from the heart the inert weight, the paralyzing heaviness; 
  it gives wings to those who cling to the lowlands of self.
  
    Through //compassion// the fact of suffering remains vividly present 
  to our mind, even at times when we personally are free from it. It 
  gives us the rich experience of suffering, thus strengthening us to 
  meet it prepared, when it does befall us.
    
    //Compassion// reconciles us to our own destiny by showing us the 
  life of others, often much harder than ours.
    
    Behold the endless caravan of beings, men and beasts, burdened with 
  sorrow and pain! The burden of every one of them, we also have carried 
  in bygone times during the unfathomable sequence of repeated births. 
  Behold this, and open your heart to //compassion//!
    
    And this misery may well be our own destiny again! He who is without 
  //compassion// now, will one day cry for it. If sympathy with others 
  is lacking, it will have to be acquired through one's own long and 
  painful experience. This is the great law of life. Knowing this, keep 
  guard over yourself!
    
    Beings, sunk in ignorance, lost in delusion, hasten from one state 
  of suffering to another, not knowing the real cause, not knowing the 
  escape from it. This insight into the general law of suffering is the 
  real foundation of our //compassion//, not any isolated fact of 
  suffering.
    
    Hence our //compassion// will also include those who at the moment 
  may be happy, but act with an evil and deluded mind. In their present 
  deeds we shall foresee their future state of distress, and 
  //compassion// will arise.
    
    The //compassion// of the wise man does not render him a victim of 
  suffering. His thoughts, words and deeds are full of pity. But his 
  heart does not waver; unchanged it remains, serene and calm. How else 
  should he be able to help?
    
    May such //compassion// arise in our hearts! //Compassion// that is 
  sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and 
  is ready to help.
    
    //Compassion// that //is// strength and //gives// strength: this is 
  highest //compassion//.
    
    And what is the highest manifestation of //compassion//?
    
    To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the 
  path pointed out, trodden and realized to perfection by Him, the 
  Exalted One, the Buddha.
  
  
                                 * * *
  
                                          
                                  III
                                          
                                          
                        SYMPATHETIC JOY (Mudita)
  
  
  Not only to compassion, but also to //joy with others// open your 
  heart!
  
    Small, indeed, is the share of happiness and joy allotted to beings! 
  Whenever a little happiness comes to them, then you may rejoice that 
  at least one ray of joy has pierced through the darkness of their 
  lives, and dispelled the gray and gloomy mist that enwraps their 
  hearts.
    
    Your life will gain in joy by sharing the happiness of others as if 
  it were yours. Did you never observe how in moments of happiness men's 
  features change and become bright with joy? Did you never notice how 
  joy rouses men to noble aspirations and deeds, exceeding their normal 
  capacity? Did not such experience fill your own heart with joyful 
  bliss? It is in your power to increase such experience of 
  //sympathetic joy//, by producing happiness in others, by bringing 
  them joy and solace.
    
    Let us teach real joy to men! Many have unlearned it. Life, though 
  full of woe, holds also sources of happiness and joy, unknown to most. 
  Let us teach people to seek and to find real joy within themselves and 
  to rejoice with the joy of others! Let us teach them to unfold their 
  joy to ever sublimer heights!
    
    Noble and sublime joy is not foreign to the Teaching of the 
  Enlightened One. Wrongly the Buddha's Teaching is sometimes considered 
  to be a doctrine diffusing melancholy. Far from it: the Dhamma leads 
  step by step to an ever purer and loftier happiness.
    
    Noble and sublime joy is a helper on the path to the extinction of 
  suffering. Not he who is depressed by grief, but one possessed of joy 
  finds that serene calmness leading to a contemplative state of mind. 
  And only a mind serene and collected is able to gain the liberating 
  wisdom.
    
    The more sublime and noble the joy of others is, the more justified 
  will be our own //sympathetic joy//. A cause for our //joy with 
  others// is their noble life securing them happiness here and in lives 
  hereafter. A still nobler cause for our //joy with others// is their 
  faith in the Dhamma, their understanding of the Dhamma, their 
  following the Dhamma. Let us give them the //help// of the Dhamma! Let 
  us strive to become more and more able ourselves to render such help!
    
    //Sympathetic joy// means a sublime nobility of heart and intellect 
  which knows, understands and is ready to help.
    
    //Sympathetic joy// that //is// strength and //gives// strength: 
  this is the highest joy.
    
    And what is the highest manifestation of //sympathetic joy//?
    
    To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the 
  path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the 
  Exalted One, the Buddha.
  
  
                                 * * *
  
  
                                   IV
  
  
                          EQUANIMITY (Upekkha)
  
  
  //Equanimity// is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in 
  insight.
  
    Looking at the world around us, and looking into our own heart, we 
  see clearly how difficult it is to attain and maintain balance of 
  mind.
    
    Looking into life we notice how it continually moves between 
  contrasts: rise and fall, success and failure, loss and gain, honor 
  and blame. We feel how our heart responds to all this with happiness 
  and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, hope 
  and fear. These waves of emotion carry us up and fling us down; and no 
  sooner do we find rest, than we are in the power of a new wave again. 
  How can we expect to get a footing on the crest of the waves? How can 
  we erect the building of our lives in the midst of this ever restless 
  ocean of existence, if not on the Island of Equanimity.
    
    A world where that little share of happiness allotted to beings is 
  mostly secured after many disappointments, failures and defeats;
    
    a world where only the courage to start anew, again and again, 
    promises success;
    
    a world where scanty joy grows amidst sickness, separation and 
    death;
    
    a world where beings who were a short while ago connected with us by 
    //sympathetic joy//, are at the next moment in want of our 
    //compassion// -- such a world needs //equanimity//.
    
    But the kind of equanimity required has to be based on vigilant 
  presence of mind, not on indifferent dullness. It has to be the result 
  of hard, deliberate training, not the casual outcome of a passing 
  mood. But equanimity would not deserve its name if it had to be 
  produced by exertion again and again. In such a case it would surely 
  be weakened and finally defeated by the vicissitudes of life. True 
  equanimity, however, should be able to meet all these severe tests and 
  to regenerate its strength from sources within. It will possess this 
  power of resistance and self-renewal only if it is rooted in insight.
    
    What, now, is the nature of that insight? It is the clear 
  understanding of how all these vicissitudes of life originate, and of 
  our own true nature. We have to understand that the various 
  experiences we undergo result from our kamma -- our actions in 
  thought, word and deed -- performed in this life and in earlier lives. 
  Kamma is the womb from which we spring (//kamma-yoni//), and whether 
  we like it or not, we are the inalienable "owners" of our deeds 
  (//kamma-ssaka//). But as soon as we have performed any action, our 
  control over it is lost: it forever remains with us and inevitably 
  returns to us as our due heritage (//kamma-dayada//). Nothing that 
  happens to us comes from an "outer" hostile world foreign to 
  ourselves; everything is the outcome of our own mind and deeds. 
  Because this knowledge frees us from fear, it is the first basis of 
  equanimity. When, in everything that befalls us we only meet 
  ourselves, why should we fear?
    
    If, however, fear or uncertainty should arise, we know the refuge 
  where it can be allayed: our good deeds (//kamma-patisarana//). By 
  taking this refuge, confidence and courage will grow within us -- 
  confidence in the protecting power of our good deeds done in the past; 
  courage to perform more good deeds right now, despite the discouraging 
  hardships of our present life. For we know that noble and selfless 
  deeds provide the best defense against the hard blows of destiny, that 
  it is never too late but always the right time for good actions. If 
  that refuge, in doing good and avoiding evil, becomes firmly 
  established within us, one day we shall feel assured: "More and more 
  ceases the misery and evil rooted in the past. And this present life 
  -- I try to make it spotless and pure. What else can the future bring 
  than increase of the good?" And from that certainty our minds will 
  become serene, and we shall gain the strength of patience and 
  equanimity to bear with all our present adversities. Then our deeds 
  will be our friends (//kamma-bandhu//).
  
    Likewise, all the various events of our lives, being the result of 
  our deeds, will also be our friends, even if they bring us sorrow and 
  pain. Our deeds return to us in a guise that often makes them 
  unrecognizable. Sometimes our actions return to us in the way that 
  others treat us, sometimes as a thorough upheaval in our lives; often 
  the results are against our expectations or contrary to our wills. 
  Such experiences point out to us consequences of our deeds we did not 
  foresee; they render visible half-conscious motives of our former 
  actions which we tried to hide even from ourselves, covering them up 
  with various pretexts. If we learn to see things from this angle, and 
  to read the message conveyed by our own experience, then suffering, 
  too, will be our friend. It will be a stern friend, but a truthful and 
  well-meaning one who teaches us the most difficult subject, knowledge 
  about ourselves, and warns us against abysses towards which we are 
  moving blindly. By looking at suffering as our teacher and friend, we 
  shall better succeed in enduring it with equanimity. Consequently, the 
  teaching of kamma will give us a powerful impulse for freeing 
  ourselves from kamma, from those deeds which again and again throw us 
  into the suffering of repeated births. Disgust will arise at our own 
  craving, at our own delusion, at our own propensity to create 
  situations which try our strength, our resistance and our equanimity.
    
    The second insight on which equanimity should be based is the 
  Buddha's teaching of no-self (//anatta//). This doctrine shows that in 
  the ultimate sense deeds are not performed by any self, nor do their 
  results affect any self. Further, it shows that if there is no self, 
  we cannot speak of "my own." It is the delusion of a self that creates 
  suffering and hinders or disturbs equanimity. If this or that quality 
  of ours is blamed, one thinks: "//I// am blamed" and equanimity is 
  shaken. If this or that work does not succeed, one thinks: "//My// 
  work has failed" and equanimity is shaken. If wealth or loved ones are 
  lost, one thinks: "What is //mine// has gone" and equanimity is 
  shaken.
    
    To establish equanimity as an unshakable state of mind, one has to 
  give up all possessive //thoughts of "mine"//, beginning with little 
  things from which it is easy to detach oneself, and gradually working 
  up to possessions and aims to which one's whole heart clings. One also 
  has to give up the counterpart to such thoughts, all egoistic 
  //thoughts of "self//", beginning with a small section of one's 
  personality, with qualities of minor importance, with small weaknesses 
  one clearly sees, and gradually working up to those emotions and 
  aversions which one regards as the center of one's being. Thus 
  detachment should be practiced.
    
    To the degree we forsake thoughts of "mine" or "self" equanimity 
  will enter our hearts. For how can anything we realize to be foreign 
  and void of a self cause us agitation due to lust, hatred or grief? 
  Thus the teaching of no-self will be our guide on the path to 
  deliverance, to perfect //equanimity//.
  
    Equanimity is the crown and culmination of the four sublime states. 
  But this should not be understood to mean that equanimity is the 
  negation of love, compassion and sympathetic joy, or that it leaves 
  them behind as inferior. Far from that, equanimity includes and 
  pervades them fully, just as they fully pervade perfect equanimity.
  
  
                            * * * * * * * *
  
  
  
  
             THE INTER-RELATIONS OF THE FOUR SUBLIME STATES
  
  
  How, then, do these four sublime states pervade and suffuse each 
  other?
  
    Unbounded //love// guards //compassion// against turning into 
  partiality, prevents it from making discriminations by selecting and 
  excluding and thus protects it from falling into partiality or 
  aversion against the excluded side.
    
    //Love// imparts to //equanimity// its selflessness, its boundless 
  nature and even its fervor. For fervor, too, transformed and 
  controlled, is part of perfect //equanimity//, strengthening its power 
  of keen penetration and wise restraint.
    
    //Compassion prevents //love// and //sympathetic joy// from 
  forgetting that, while both are enjoying or giving temporary and 
  limited happiness, there still exist at that time most dreadful states 
  of suffering in the world. It reminds them that their happiness 
  coexists with measureless misery, perhaps at the next doorstep. It is 
  a reminder to //love// and //sympathetic joy// that there is more 
  suffering in the world than they are able to mitigate; that, after the 
  effect of such mitigation has vanished, sorrow and pain are sure to 
  arise anew until suffering is uprooted entirely at the attainment of 
  Nibbana. //Compassion// does not allow that //love// and //sympathetic 
  joy// shut themselves up against the wide world by confining 
  themselves to a narrow sector of it. //Compassion// prevents //love// 
  and //sympathetic joy// from turning into states of self-satisfied 
  complacency within a jealously-guarded petty happiness. //Compassion// 
  stirs and urges //love// to widen its sphere; it stirs and urges 
  //sympathetic joy// to search for fresh nourishment. Thus it helps 
  both of them to grow into truly boundless states (//appamanna//).
    
    //Compassion// guards //equanimity// from falling into a cold 
  indifference, and keeps it from indolent or selfish isolation. Until 
  //equanimity// has reached perfection, //compassion// urges it to 
  enter again and again the battle of the world, in order to be able to 
  stand the test, by hardening and strengthening itself.
    
    //Sympathetic joy// holds //compassion// back from becoming 
  overwhelmed by the sight of the world's suffering, from being absorbed 
  by it to the exclusion of everything else. //Sympathetic joy// 
  relieves the tension of mind, soothes the painful burning of the 
  compassionate heart. It keeps //compassion// away from melancholic 
  brooding without purpose, from a futile sentimentality that merely 
  weakens and consumes the strength of mind and heart. //Sympathetic 
  joy// develops //compassion// into active sympathy.
    
    //Sympathetic joy// gives to //equanimity// the mild serenity that 
  softens its stern appearance. It is the divine smile on the face of 
  the Enlightened One, a smile that persists in spite of his deep 
  knowledge of the world's suffering, a smile that gives solace and 
  hope, fearlessness and confidence: "Wide open are the doors to 
  deliverance," thus it speaks.
    
    //Equanimity// rooted in insight is the guiding and restraining 
  power for the other three sublime states. It points out to them the 
  direction they have to take, and sees to it that this direction is 
  followed. //Equanimity// guards //love// and //compassion// from being 
  dissipated in vain quests and from going astray in the labyrinths of 
  uncontrolled emotion. //Equanimity//, being a vigilant self-control 
  for the sake of the final goal, does not allow //sympathetic joy// to 
  rest content with humble results, forgetting the real aims we have to 
  strive for.
    
    //Equanimity//, which means "even-mindedness," gives to //love// an 
  even, unchanging firmness and loyalty. It endows it with the great 
  virtue of patience. //Equanimity// furnishes //compassion// with an 
  even, unwavering courage and fearlessness, enabling it to face the 
  awesome abyss of misery and despair which confront boundless 
  //compassion// again and again. To the active side of //compassion//, 
  //equanimity// is the calm and firm hand led by wisdom --  
  indispensable to those who want to practice the difficult art of 
  helping others. And here again //equanimity// means patience, the 
  patient devotion to the work of //compassion//.
    
    In these and other ways equanimity may be said to be the crown and 
  culmination of the other three sublime states. The first three, if 
  unconnected with equanimity and insight, may dwindle away due to the 
  lack of a stabilizing factor. Isolated virtues, if unsupported by 
  other qualities which give them either the needed firmness or pliancy, 
  often deteriorate into their own characteristic defects. For instance, 
  loving-kindness, without energy and insight, may easily decline to a 
  mere sentimental goodness of weak and unreliable nature. Moreover, 
  such isolated virtues may often carry us in a direction contrary to 
  our original aims and contrary to the welfare of others, too. It is 
  the firm and balanced character of a person that knits isolated 
  virtues into an organic and harmonious whole, within which the single 
  qualities exhibit their best manifestations and avoid the pitfalls of 
  their respective weaknesses. And this is the very function of 
  equanimity, the way it contributes to an ideal relationship between 
  all four sublime states.
    
    Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in 
  insight. But in its perfection and unshakable nature equanimity is not 
  dull, heartless and frigid. Its perfection is not due to an emotional 
  "emptiness," but to a "fullness" of understanding, to its being 
  complete in itself. Its unshakable nature is not the immovability of a 
  dead, cold stone, but the manifestation of the highest strength.
    
    In what way, now, is //equanimity// perfect and unshakable?
    
    Whatever causes stagnation is here destroyed, what dams up is 
  removed, what obstructs is destroyed. Vanished are the whirls of 
  emotion and the meanderings of intellect. Unhindered goes the calm and 
  majestic stream of consciousness, pure and radiant. Watchful 
  mindfulness (//sati//) has harmonized the warmth of faith (//saddha//) 
  with the penetrative keenness of wisdom (//panna//); it has balanced 
  strength of will (//viriya//) with calmness of mind (//samadhi//); and 
  these five inner faculties (//indriya//) have grown into inner forces 
  (//bala//) that cannot be lost again. They cannot be lost because they 
  do not lose themselves any more in the labyrinths of the world 
  (//samsara//), in the endless diffuseness of life (//papanca//). These 
  inner forces emanate from the mind and act upon the world, but being 
  guarded by mindfulness, they nowhere bind themselves, and they return 
  unchanged. Love, compassion and sympathetic    joy continue to emanate 
  from the mind and act upon the world, but being guarded by 
  //equanimity//, they cling nowhere, and return unweakened and 
  unsullied. 
    
    Thus within the Arahat, the Liberated One, nothing is lessened by 
  giving, and he does not become poorer by bestowing upon others the 
  riches of his heart and mind. The Arahat is like the clear, well-cut 
  crystal which, being without stains, fully absorbs all the rays of 
  light and sends them out again, intensified by its concentrative 
  power. The rays cannot stain the crystal with their various colors. 
  They cannot pierce its hardness, nor disturb its harmonious structure. 
  In its genuine purity and strength, the crystal remains unchanged. 
  "Just as all the streams of the world enter the great ocean, and all 
  the waters of the sky rain into it, but no increase or decrease of the 
  great ocean is to be seen" -- even so is the nature of //holy 
  equanimity//.
    
    Holy equanimity, or -- as we may likewise express it -- the Arahat 
  endowed with holy equanimity, is the inner center of the world. But 
  this inner center should be well distinguished from the numberless 
  apparent centers of limited spheres; that is, their so-called 
  "personalities," governing laws, and so on. All of these are only 
  apparent centers, because they cease to be centers whenever their 
  spheres, obeying the laws of impermanence, undergo a total change of 
  their structure; and consequently the center of their gravity, 
  material or mental, will shift. But the inner center of the Arahat's 
  equanimity is unshakable, because it is immutable. It is immutable 
  because it clings to nothing.
  
    Says the Master:
  
       For one who clings, motion exists; but for one who clings 
       not, there is no motion. Where no motion is, there is 
       stillness. Where stillness is, there is no craving. Where no 
       craving is, there is neither coming nor going. Where no 
       coming nor going is, there is neither arising nor passing 
       away. Where neither arising nor passing away is, there is 
       neither this world nor a world beyond, nor a state between. 
       This, verily, is the end of suffering.
  
                                               Udana 8:3
  
  
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 TITLE OF WORK: The Four Sublime States: Contemplations on Love,
                Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity (The Wheel
                Publication No. 6)
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 AUTHOR: Nyanaponika Thera
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