The “Other” Brahma-Viharas

The topic came up in the meditation group the other night, and it was requested that I try to dig up the phrases for the “other” Brahma-Viharas: compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha).

It did take some poking around via Google, but I finally did find the phrases more or less as I remember Abhaya once introducing them to us:

For compassion:
“May [I/you] be free from [my/your] pain and sorrow; may [I/you] find peace.”

For sympathetic joy:
“May your happiness and good fortune continue; may it always be so.”

For equanimity:
“All beings are the owners of their karma. Their happiness and unhappiness depends upon their actions, not upon my wishes for them.”

The webpage on which I found this information offers some alternative phrasing, as well as suggestions of where to begin (e.g., compassion for one who is suffering; sympathetic joy for a friend or loved one; equanimity for a neutral person). As with metta practice, the idea seems to be to follow the path of least resistance. You also want to find words that not only capture the intended feeling but also resonate personally.

The page also has a lot of interesting information on metta practice, too. While each of the Brahma-Viharas supports the others, metta remains the foundation.

There is plenty of good material available if anyone is interested in learning more, including this article on ”The Four Sublime States” by Nyanaponika Threa (via Access to Insight).