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BRAHMA VIHĀRA |
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The
four Brahma Vihāras are considered by Buddhism to be the four
highest emotions. The word brahma literally means 'highest' or
'superior.' It is also the name given to the supreme god in Hinduism
during the Buddha's time. Vihāra means 'dwelling,’ 'living' or
'abiding.' Thus the Brahma Vihāras are not emotions one occasionally
feels but those that one 'lives in' and 'lives by' all the time.
These four Brahma Vihāras are love, compassion,
sympathetic joy and equanimity. They can be
understood from several different perspectives - as four related but
separate qualities or perhaps better, as four different ways by which
the spiritually mature person relates to others according to their
situation. So for example, we relate to friendly people with love, to
those in distress with compassion, to the successful with sympathetic
joy and to unpleasant people with equanimity. The purpose of the
practice called loving kindness meditation is to encourage and
nurture the Brahma Vihāras. See Kindness and Sympathy.
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