"The Limits of the Unlimited Attitudes: the Brahmavihāras on the Path to Awakening"

 "The Limits of the Unlimited Attitudes: the Brahmavihāras on the Path to Awakening"

"The first meditation instructions given to a child raised in a Theravāda Buddhist family usually focus on the practice of mettā, or goodwill. The parents teach the child to spread thoughts of goodwill — a wish for happiness — to all living beings every night before going to sleep.

As the child grows older, the instructions are expanded to include three other attitudes, which — along with mettā — are called the brahmavihāras when these attitudes are developed in an unlimited way. The term brahmavihāra is a combination of two words: brahma, which is a being on a high level of heaven, plus vihāra, which literally means “dwelling,” and figuratively “attitude” — an attitude in which the mind habitually dwells. The brahmavihāras are the habitual attitudes of beings on a high plane of existence.

Unlimited mettā is the first of the four attitudes, the other three being unlimited karuṇā, or compassion — a wish that suffering and the causes of suffering will end; unlimited muditā, or empathetic joy — a wish that happiness and the causes of happiness will continue; and unlimited upekkhā, or equanimity — an impartial acceptance of what can’t be changed.

These attitudes are unlimited in the sense that they’re extended to all beings everywhere — including oneself — without bias. Because human beings aren’t on the level of the brahmas, they don’t automatically dwell in these attitudes in an unlimited way. They tend to feel them more strongly for some living beings than for others. However, human beings can make these attitudes unlimited through conscious practice, and in that way lift their minds to a higher level.

If the child doesn’t take any further interest in meditation, he or she will probably equate mettā or the brahmavihāras with meditation throughout life. In fact, in Thailand, where the language has a tendency to string words of similar meaning together, the words mettā and bhāvanā — “meditation” — are a common string. And the attitudes of the brahmavihāras are highly regarded throughout the culture. I’ve even known Thai Christians who insist that the brahmavihāras are not a specifically Buddhist teaching. Respect for the brahmavihāras is part of being Thai.

If the child ‘does’ take further interest in meditation as he or she gets older, the development of the brahmavihāras provides the framework for whatever other practice he or she may specialize in. Ajaan Mun, the founder of the Wilderness tradition, specialized in contemplation of the body, but he is said to have spent time developing the brahmavihāras three times a day: when waking up in the morning, when waking up from his afternoon nap, and just before going to sleep at night. He taught one of his students, Ajaan Khao, a chant expressing the attitudes of the brahmavihāras directed to all the classifications of beings in all directions throughout the cosmos, a chant that takes a good half-hour to recite. Ajaan Lee, another of his students — who specialized in breath meditation — popularized another chant focused on the brahmavihāras that takes a similar amount of time to recite.

When you look into the Pāli Canon — the source texts for the Theravada tradition — it’s easy to see why the brahmavihāras are given so much importance in the living tradition, for there the brahmavihāras are connected to all three aspects of the path to the end of suffering: virtue, concentration, and discernment."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Limits of the Unlimited Attitudes: the Brahmavihāras on the Path to Awakening"

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/BeyondAllDirections/Section0010.html