The Buddha recognized and taught what he saw about human nature and the human condition and the way out of suffering. As there are so many elements to our psyches there are many elements that work together in Buddhism. As I pointed out in the last essay that featured wisdom as a result of following the suggestions on the Noble Eightfold Path has to be tempered with the cultivation of emotional sophistication known to some as compassion translated more closely as loving-kindness.
Wisdom and compassion are sometimes compared to two wings that work together to enable flying, or two eyes that work together to see deeply. Thoughtco.com
I know that when I first heard of this I thought to myself I will never be able to do this. First thing to understand that this is not an exercise in perfection. Of course the average person cannot do this because they have not undertaken the purification of mind necessary for this level of empathic caring to arise. So, not to worry. Loving-kindness will arise on it’s own when the conditions are right. It is our job to put in the effort and that is all.
While I have explained before (see links to previous essays below) that each step on this path supports all other steps and it is not a linear process it is helpful to look at certain practices that offer a step-by-step approach keeping in mind that we always start where we are with whatever situations we find ourselves faced with whether it’s compassion for ourselves, others or both. Wisdom or clear seeing helps us discern this.
We have to understand that happiness is not a component of a good life. It is the result of understanding, patience, and loving kindness.
~Mara Sobotka
Metta and The Defilements
How many times have you tried to “think positive” only to fail? How many times have been things gone your way or unexpectedly experience sudden turn of fortunate events like falling in love, winning a court case, receiving a gift or just feeling like you are in a good mood – to only have happiness fade as soon as something that does not meet your expectations occur? This is what we are talking about here!
A lot of people say things like happiness is the way, or joy is the way or happiness is a choice. When you begin to develop wisdom and see clearly you can deconstruct what is going on in reality and see that happiness is not a choice. Happiness arises as a result of certain causes and conditions coming together. If the conditions have not been met you will not experience happiness and no amount of positive thinking is going to change that. It’s kind of a relief, isn’t it?
The reason this happens is because we have not recognized that the negative states which exist in the minds and hearts of all human beings have not be seen and worked with.
Photo by Amanda Flavell on Unsplash
The wisdom of Buddhism over the last 2500 years gives us a way out of this mess. One way is called the practice of metta or metta-bhavana. This is a six-stage process and for a very good reason. One of the reasons is that within the mind it was uncovered by the Buddha and confirmed by practitioners since that time there are negative and positive states that are commonly experienced by human beings and the negative qualities have to be addressed and dealt with before we can sustain happiness or compassion. Metta-bhavana is the practice of having loving-kindness, compassion or empathetic caring. The six-stage process of metta-bhavana are as follows:
- Understanding the defilements and working to overcome them
- Toward ourselves
- Toward our loved ones
- Toward people we feel neutral toward
- Toward those with whom we are having conflicts
- Toward all sentient beings
Understanding the undertaking before us we can see the wisdom in how this has been laid out. If the defilements are not removed and our minds and hearts not purified we cannot have true compassion.. The defilements are:
a) Wrong thought
b) Greed
c) Hatred
Seeing that this is first on our list and then seeing that the first person on our list that we will be working toward having compassion with in this practice is ourselves it becomes much more palatable that we would be able to move forward step by step and gaining ground as we do because we are moving in a logical fashion. You can’t have one without the other and so on it goes.
In the next essay we will dive into each step and light the flame of illumination in our minds.
Photo by Cathal Mac an Bheatha on Unsplash
What do you think?
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