Chapter 10 - The Practice Of Benevolence

The desire to do good, to bring about the happiness and well being of others, is effectively cultivated in Buddhism by the systematic practice of the four "sublime attitudes" (brahmavihara): loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), altruistic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha). By cultivating these qualities a Buddhist can gradually remove the mental defilements such as hatred, cruelty, and envy, and bring into being the most exalted virtues. The sublime attitudes elevate human beings to a divine like stature; they break the barriers that separate individuals and groups; they build bridges more solid than those constructed of stone and steel.

1. Metta is goodwill, loving kindness, universal love, a feeling of friendliness and heartfelt concern for all living beings, human or non human, in all situations. The chief mark of metta is a benevolent attitude: a keen desire to promote the welfare of others. Metta subdues the vice of hatred in all its varied shades: anger, ill will, aversion, and resentment. The Buddha said:

Hatreds do not cease through hatreds
Anywhere at anytime.
Through love alone do they cease:
This is an eternal law.

(Dhp. v. 5)

This stanza is of special significance to us in this nuclear era when the most appalling destructiveness has erupted all over the globe. Peace will never be achieved by meeting force with force, bombs with bombs, violence with retaliation. Metta or loving kindness is the only effective answer to violence and destructiveness, whether by conventional weapons or nuclear missiles.

2. Karuna is the attitude conveyed by such terms as compassion, sympathy, pity, and mercy. Its basic characteristic is sympathy for all who suffer, and it arouses a desire to relieve or remove the pain and suffering of others. Karuna helps to eliminate callousness and indifference to others woes. It is the direct antidote to cruelty, another vice common in the world today. It is compassion that prompts one to serve others selflessly, expecting nothing, not even gratitude, in return.

3. Mudita is altruistic joy, appreciative joy: the desire to see others rejoicing in their happiness, the ability to share the happiness and success of others. This attitude is the complement of karuna: while karuna shares the sorrow of others, mudita shares their joy. Mudita is the direct antidote to envy. Envy arises over the good fortune of others: it resents those who achieve position, prestige, power, and success. But one who practices mudita will not only be happy when others do well, but will try to promote their progress and welfare. Hence this attitude is of vital importance for achieving social concord and peace.

4. Upekkha, the last of the four sublime attitudes, is equanimity. Upekkha establishes an even or balanced mind in an unbalanced world with fluctuating fortunes and circumstances: gain and loss, fame and ill repute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha also looks upon all beings impartially, as heirs to the results of their own actions, without attachment or aversion. Upekkha is the serene neutrality of the one who knows.

The constant, methodical, and deliberate cultivation of these sublime virtues in everyday life transforms the attitudes and outlook of the practitioner. They should be the foundation of all Buddhist social action, as well as of individual and collective peace and harmony. Buddhist social welfare work may take many forms, but what is most essential is the spirit in which it is performed. This spirit should be marked by the subordination of the private good to the good of the whole. For Buddhist social work to be of real value, action should spring from genuine love, sympathy, and understanding for ones fellow humans, guided by knowledge and training. Welfare work should be the perfect expression of compassion, untouched by condescension, washed clean of pride -- even of the pride of doing good. It should be a sheer manifestation of the brotherhood of all human beings.

The four sublime attitudes should be diligently cultivated with unremitting effort by every true follower of the Master. These qualities never become obsolete. They convey a universal message, which transforms us into universal human beings.