Heart Practices Course (Brahma Viharas)
The Brahma Viharas (“heavenly abodes” in Pali) refer to the qualities of an open heart: loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. They are the most beautiful and powerful states of mind we can inhabit. They express the natural happiness of humankind.
In the Buddhist tradition, the path to liberation is seen as a bird that needs to develop its two wings. One wing is wisdom, which we develop through mindfulness, and the other wing is compassion, which we strengthen with heart practices.
Mindfulness meditation allows us to better understand the different aspects of our mind, the tendencies, the habits that bind us, the most common patterns of thoughts and emotions by developing the ability to be with these experiences without being swept away by them.
Through the practice of the Brahma Viharas, we cultivate kindness and love, opening our hearts and reconnecting with our most compassionate nature. In the West, we often believe we have a fixed amount of love, but with these practices, we discover that apart from removing the blocks that are on the way of feeling them, we can also cultivate them actively through heart practices. Without losing sight of the importance of discernment, which helps us know when to set boundaries, cultivating the Brahma Viharas improves our connection with others, helps us forgive and heal wounds we may be carrying, and enhances our relationship with ourselves.
Below is a brief description of each of the four qualities of the heart that we will cultivate in this course.
Metta (bondad amorosa)
The essence of loving-kindness is benevolence; it is wishing good, wanting another person, ourselves, everyone, to be well. It is unconditional goodwill toward others and toward ourselves, regardless of what we do or fail to do.
Metta is always there; we can cover it up, we can forget it ever existed, but it is inherent in our nature and can be rediscovered and further cultivated.
Karuna (compassion)
Compassion is allowing ourselves to be touched by our own vulnerability and suffering, and by that of other beings. It includes action; we not only open ourselves to the presence of suffering, but we also respond to it.
Mudita (sympathetic joy)
Sympathetic joy is the quality of rejoicing in the happiness, good fortune, and successes of others. Some consider it the most difficult to practice because of the comparative tendency of our minds.
Upekkha (Equanimity)
Equanimity is knowing how to be with our present experience without judging or rejecting it; it is allowing life to be as it is. Thus, when life appears difficult or unpleasant, cultivating equanimity allows us to have enough space, balance, and openness to lovingly and carefully hold whatever arises. And this is the foundation of inner freedom: not needing life to be different from how it is in this moment to connect with the natural love and tenderness of the heart.
During the four weeks of the course, we will learn meditations to cultivate these qualities and experience their power to transform our lives. These practices help us reconnect with ourselves, others, and the world around us.
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