Happy for People You Don’t Like (outdoors)
September 03, 2019
When we spread goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity to all beings, we’re said to be developing a sublime abiding. The Pali term is brahmavihara―literally “the dwelling places of Brahmas.” We try to take our human mind, which can be very partial about wishing well to others, and lift it to the level of the Brahmas, where they wish well to everybody. But if you just do the brahmaviharas, that’s as far as it takes you: to a very high level of being. It’s not release. As the Buddha said, the brahmaviharas on their own don’t lead to dispassion. They don’t lead to unbinding. But if you combine them with the factors for awakening, they can lead to unbinding. What this means is that you should develop them with strong concentration and also use your discernment to analyze what you’re doing, to analyze what you’re wishing in a way that leads to dispassion.