Chapter 14

Cultivating Healthy Mental States:

Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy,

and Equanimity As you learn and implement The Teachings of Gotama Buddha, you will need to cultivate the healthy mental states of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity to attain Enlightenment. These four (4) mental states are often referred to as “The Brahmā-vihāras”. The Four (4) Brahmā-vihāras are:

1.) Loving-kindness (Pāli: mettā) is active goodwill towards all beings

without judgment. A genuine interest in seeing all beings be well.

2.) Compassion (Pāli: karuṇā) is concern for the misfortunes of others.

3.) Sympathetic joy (Pāli: muditā) is joy for others’ success, even if you did

not contribute to it.

4.) Equanimity (Pāli: upekkhā) is mental calmness, composure, and

evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation; treating everyone impartially. These mental states can be cultivated through meditation and in your daily life. Your intentions, speech, and actions should emanate from these mental states. Loving-kindness is the remedy for anger, hatred, ill will, hostility, aggression, and other harsh intentions, speech, and actions. Loving-kindness also helps eliminate judgment of others looking down on them with arrogance or conceit. A Practitioner can train the mind to treat all beings in a polite, kind, friendly, and respectful way, without judgment. Compassion is the remedy for lack of care, indifference, worry, and anxiety. Sympathetic joy is the remedy for envy, jealousy, and pride.

Equanimity is the remedy for an overactive mind that has restlessness and worry, it helps to cultivate patience. Equanimity will also assist a Practitioner to eliminate measuring and comparing beings treating all beings equally. As you experience life, it is important to practice equanimity in all situations.

Mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper while treating

everyone impartially without judgment, are mental states that will help you trust all beings. One way of cultivating these mental states is through generous deeds, practicing generosity. Through the practice of giving and helping others, you do so with a mind of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. No one can give you a magic potion or secret spell that will cultivate these qualities for the mind. You will need to apply these in practice through your intentions, speech, and actions. Meditation can help you cultivate these mental states internally so that your intentions, speech, and actions emanate from these mental qualities. Give the mind time to gradually cultivate these mental states through meditation and your life practice. By practicing these mental states and ensuring that your intentions, speech, and actions reflect these mental qualities, you will ensure you are producing healthy and wholesome Kamma at all times. Another quality of the mind that you need to cultivate is one of generosity. Generosity is a readiness and taking the action of frequently giving something more than is strictly necessary, such as time, effort, energy, financial support, or resources without any expectation of anything in return. A practice of giving and helping others as part of an ongoing and comprehensive life practice. This action can help you develop and cultivate a more caring and compassionate mind as one chooses to consistently give and share through their life to eliminate selfishness. Generosity eliminates craving/desire/attachment in the mind, thus, helping to eliminate discontent feelings from the mind. Generosity is to give and help others without any expectation of benefit for yourself. Through giving and helping others, we develop loving-kindness and compassion while also practicing non-attachment to our own possessions or wealth. By sharing, the mind practices generosity and non-attachment, which helps the mind to realize the interconnected nature of all beings through sharing with humanity.

We can be giving with our time, effort, energy, and resources. By helping others through our unselfish acts of giving our time, effort, energy, and resources for beneficial causes, we are producing good and healthy benefit for other beings and to humanity while applying effort to eliminate selfishness. The unEnlightened mind will oftentimes pursue its own selfish desires but this can be remedied through giving and sharing without the expectation of anything in return. You should make regular efforts to help others in need through giving with daily efforts to strive in cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The Path to Enlightenment encompasses many Teachings a Practitioner will need to learn and practice to attain Enlightenment. The Brahmā-vihāras are four mental states that are crucial in the development of the mind. It is not until a Practitioner has fully cultivated The Brahmā-vihāras and practice them daily that the mind will move closer to Enlightenment.

Learning Resources for Further Exploration

Audiobook

(Audiobook) - (Volume 1 - Chapter 14) - Cultivating Healthy Mental States

(Read & Listen)

https://youtu.be/w4xgB9fpIew

Ep. 514 - (Audiobook) - (Volume 1 - Chapter 14) - Cultivating Healthy Mental

States

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/buddhadailywisdom/episodes/Ep--514---Audiobook---

Volume-1---Chapter-14---Cultivating-Healthy-Mental-States-e272ue1

Youtube Video(s)

(Group Learning Program) - Chapter 14 - Cultivating Healthy Mental States

https://youtube.com/live/XoLv1idH1LA