(3) Gladness (muditā)

84. One who begins the development of gladness^[1] should not start with the dear person and the rest; for a dear person is not the proximate cause of gladness merely in virtue of dearness, how much less the neutral and the hostile person. One of the opposite sex and one who is dead are also not the field for it.

85. However, the very dear companion can be the proximate cause for it—one who in the commentaries is called a “boon companion,” for he is constantly glad: he laughs first and speaks afterwards. So he should be the first to be pervaded with gladness. Or on seeing or hearing about a dear person being happy, cheerful and glad, gladness can be aroused thus: “This being is indeed glad. How good, how excellent!” For this is what is referred to in the Vibhaṅga: “And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervading one direction with his heart endued with gladness? Just as he would be glad on seeing a dear and beloved person, so he pervades all beings with gladness” (Vibh 274).

86. But if his boon companion or the dear person was happy in the past but is now unlucky and unfortunate, then gladness can still be aroused by remembering his past happiness and apprehending the glad aspect in this way: “In the past he had great wealth, a great following and he was always glad.” Or gladness can be aroused by apprehending the future glad aspect in him in this way: “In the future he will again enjoy similar success and will go about in gold palanquins, on the backs of elephants or on horseback, and so on.”

Having thus aroused gladness with respect to a dear person, he can then direct it successively towards a neutral one, and after that towards a hostile one.

87. But if resentment towards the hostile one arises in him in the way already described, he should make it subside in the same way as described under lovingkindness (§§14–39).

He should break down the barriers by means of mental impartiality towards the four, that is, towards these three and himself. And by cultivating that sign, developing and repeatedly practicing it, he should increase the absorption to triple and quadruple jhāna in the way already stated under loving-kindness.

Next, the versatility consisting in unspecified pervasion in five ways, specified pervasion in seven ways, and directional pervasion in ten ways, and also the advantages described as “He sleeps in comfort,” etc., should be understood in the same way as stated under loving-kindness.

This is the detailed explanation of the development of gladness. [317]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Muditā—“gladness” as one of the divine abidings is always in the sense of gladness at others’ success. Sometimes rendered as “altruistic joy” and “sympathetic gladness.”