The Four Brahma Vihara, also known as the Four Divine Abodes or Four Immeasurables, are core Buddhist virtues and meditation practices for cultivating boundless, positive states of mind towards all beings.
The four qualities are:
Loving-kindness (Metta): The sincere wish for the well-being, happiness, and safety of all living beings, without any limitations or bias. It is an active goodwill that acts as an antidote to hatred and ill-will.
Compassion (Karuna): The heartfelt empathy and desire to relieve the suffering of others. It is the active willingness to help those in distress and serves as an antidote to cruelty.
Sympathetic Joy (Mudita): The ability to genuinely rejoice in the happiness, success, and good fortune of others, without jealousy or envy. It is an antidote to envy and jealousy.
Equanimity (Upekkha): A state of inner peace, balance, and impartiality, treating everyone even-mindedly regardless of their relationship to you, and calmly facing life’s changing conditions (gain and loss, pleasure and pain, etc.). It is an antidote to partiality and indifference.
The goal of practicing the Brahma Vihara is to expand these attitudes in all directions, making them “immeasurable” and free from all enmity and distress, leading to a pure and tranquil mind that is a strong basis for further spiritual insight.
