Good morning. Can you hear me okay? I'm getting thumbs up here and there, so I'm going to trust that. Thank you. This lecture's topic is the Four Brahman-Viharas, or the Four Unmeasurable Minds. And I'm very happy to be talking about this. I can't say that, although we are engaged in this practice and we chanted the Metta Sutta earlier this morning, which is imbued with the spirit of this practice, I can't say that I've concentrated on it that much, even though every time I recite the Metta Prayer, which is a creation of Maybe Scott, we chant that once a week,

[01:12]

I feel really great. So I'm really happy to kind of explore this a little further. The practice of the Four Unmeasurable Minds is a very powerful practice for deepening and extending universal love, goodwill, and joyfulness to self and others, and hope for positive outcomes for all beings. And so I'm remembering that once someone asked Sojin, at least the story goes, he may have said this several times, probably some of you have heard this, that someone asked him, why don't we ever talk about love? And he said, well, that's what

[02:16]

we always talk about. That's the only thing we're talking about here. And I thought, yeah. But now that I've looked into this a little further, I'm feeling there's a really deep and fundamental connection between our practices, articulated through the Zen tradition, and these four qualities of universal love and goodwill that are now what I feel are a basic component of our practice. These are love or metta, compassion or karuna, joy, in Sanskrit, mudita, and equanimity or aksha. And they originally

[03:20]

practiced and formulated prior to the time of the Buddha, but then they became part of the Buddhist teaching in the Pali tradition. And I found just the name of this, referring to this practice, immeasurable minds, have kind of a deep resonance with our thoughts about the Mahayana concepts of avalokiteshvara, her thousand hands and eyes, and the Bodhisattva vow to awaken with all beings. Anyway, so love, in our sort of reference text for this practice period, which I'm holding up here, and if I take that on, the heart of Buddha's teaching,

[04:27]

he talks about each one of these. And these four qualities are all naturally occurring qualities of the human heart available to everyone. And the practice is fundamentally a means to nourish self-connection and connection with others and overcome hindrances. Sometimes this is known as the four faces of love. And each of these is appropriate to a specific circumstance and are interdependent in function with and supportive of the others. So these qualities of the four brahmaviharas speak to the quality of our connection with ourselves and with others. Brahmavihara means the abode of Brahma.

[05:33]

Vihara meaning abode, and Brahma meaning the god Brahma. So last week, Hosan spoke about the three marks of existence and how interpretation of traditional teachings like that can make pivot on whether engaging with them promotes self-connection and connection with others or not. The three marks, impermanence, not-self, and either suffering or nirvana, you can land either on suffering or nirvana depending on whether or not

[06:37]

whether or not metta is practiced. So, Thich Nhat Hanh goes on and talks about each one of the four brahmaviharas. He starts with love, which is normally often formulated as, stated as, loving-kindness. And what I really admire about Thich Nhat Hanh is his ability to simply decide whether or not he's going to use a word or he's going to redefine it in his telling of this. Love is just love. And in fact, he wishes that it were not qualifiable.

[07:44]

He sort of says that love is, in our normal usage, that it's become a sick word that needs to be reinstated in its glory. So, I'll accept that. But he also says quite clearly, again and again, that love, what he calls true love, must take into account not only your intention, but also the results, the impact of what you choose to do, that deep understanding is really important as part of any expression of love. What is it that the person really wants and needs? Your beloved. Without that, love is weakish and not very consequential.

[08:55]

Compassion, the next one, compassion, aruna, literally means to, compassion means to suffer with. But in fact, it's probably, in my view, something more like empathy, or as meeting, sitting with the person, really taking in where they're at as yourself, not so much as a kind of merging, but meeting you exactly where you are, so you know you're not alone. It's kind of not two, not one, sort of presence. The next vihara is joy, and often, usually rendered as sympathetic joy, or rejoicing at another's happiness. But again, Thich Nhat Hanh kind of cuts the chase and says,

[10:10]

joy is, you know, not something to slice and dice, to say to one person, you're happy at someone else's joy. Joy just fills the whole room. And the fourth is equanimity, or even-mindedness. Again, has the quality of not two, not one. And equanimity supports love. Sakyong used to talk about, when he talked about love, he'd talk about it as like a small fire that warms everyone in the room, not as a raging blaze, not as a dying ember, but something that gives light and warmth to everyone.

[11:15]

So, equanimity is valuable as a sort of support of the other viharas, for instance, in compassion. With equanimity, we can be present with someone else's deep pain without being overwhelmed by it. Likewise, with joy, without being overly excited at someone else's happiness, or sad when something changes again, and that goes by the by. So, the characteristics of this practice,

[12:17]

mental practice, of the Four Unlimited Minds, the Four Immeasurable Minds, there's a kind of boundless quality to it, and a quality of no gaining mind. I'm not going to get something out of this. It's opened up, it's opened up into boundlessness. So, in the spirit of that, when we practice this practice, we just plunge in, not trying to measure it, it's immeasurable, no judgment, not stimulating small mind or fear, which blocks creative collaboration. And, as I mentioned before, this practice is included in our liturgy. We just chanted the Metha Sutta.

[13:19]

The Sutta includes both a wish for positive outcomes, and also freedom from negative states of mind. And this creates resilience. This creates resilience when you are dealing with life's challenges. I'd like to think of Dr. Martin Luther King as persisting in an endeavor that can be only accomplished by love, and the example of his resilience is deeply encouraging. I'll come back to that in a little bit. So, also, another resonance, point of resonance, between the Four Immeasurables and the Bodhisattva vows, is a kind of impossibility of accomplishing them on some level, and

[14:31]

have this non-doable nature, pointing to an intention not to be limited to small mind approach. Now, one of the things I noticed about the Metha Sutta and that we chant weekly here is that it's a little different from, and also, the Metta prayer is in the same way. I noticed that a certain phrase, a certain couple of words, shows up frequently, may I, and I was asking myself, well, what is that about? I looked up translations of the Metta Sutta and saw many of them which didn't include those words, and I kind of, asking myself, you know, it seems like, may I,

[15:42]

as it says in the Mahamudin, Metta Sutta, may all beings be happy, may they be joyous and live in safety, may I not deceive another, may I practice the way with gratitude, may I cultivate an infinite goodwill towards the whole world. That evokes a very powerful moment in this Metta Sutta, because it's sort of like, what's happening, one's making a sort of deep self-request. This is the point at which you let go of the outcome, and that makes it possible to make an even deeper request and let go of the outcome.

[16:53]

So, the request is offered, it's an offering, you know, may I, may I, when we say may I, we're not being polite, we're making a really deep offering of what it is that matters to us most, what is most powerful in our life. And we only really want it if it's freely given, and it is given with the joy and happiness that we wish for everyone. So, it's a pivotal word, and we'll come back to that in a little bit. The machine, Patricia Ikeda, came and spoke at the Berkley Zen Center about a couple years ago,

[18:07]

I guess, about universal goodwill. And I looked up an article of hers about the four brahmajaharas and metta meditation, and I'm just going to read something she wrote. Metta meditation is not a magical spell you can cast on the population of the U.S. in order to produce a state of utopian bliss. It is not a cure-all for oppression and unequal distribution of power and privilege. Metta meditation does not work like that. It's about being determined, courageous, and patient, and purifying your own heart and mind. And then she gives an example, again, referencing Dr. Martin Luther King.

[19:10]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about the need for, quote, aggressive nonviolence. There are times and situations in which we have to show up and throw down, and this may be such a time. Whether I do that from a mind of toxic hatred, or from a mind that recognizes that every human being has at some point been my mother, my parent, or guardian, depends on how well I practice metta. Again, Machine McCabe writes, What this form of meditation is designed to do, and for many people does very successfully, is to purify us of hatred and ill will. Goodwill is the antidote to ill will.

[20:11]

Goodwill, our loving kindness, is the antidote to ill will, hatred, and enmity. So, I'm going to quote from an article by Gil Fronsdale, that's published on the Insight Meditation website. It says, So, Machine McCabe,

[21:40]

gives examples of how to practice metta, in terms of a wording of the meditation, that you might choose to either recite to yourself silently, or out loud. Traditionally, this kind of meditation is recommended as proceeding in stages, starting with yourself, and then proceeding to a friend, and then maybe a neutral person, and then perhaps more challenging, someone you don't like, and more challenging than that, someone whose activities and speech have been harmful in many ways, and then to the whole world and the whole universe. So, you might say something like this,

[22:45]

after settling down into a quiet place. Goodwill toward yourself. Using these words or others, because you can adapt this however you like, you begin with these wishes of goodwill to yourself. So, may I be safe and protected from physical and mental harm. May I be strong and healthy and enjoy well-being. May I be peaceful and truly happy. May I live my life with more joy and ease. But sometimes, it's said that this is the place to start, because it's easy and simplest. Not always, perhaps. If you think of the last time you made a mistake and discovered that the impact of that was something you really didn't like, or something that someone else really didn't like,

[23:49]

you know, you might have to be careful. But then, when you feel like you can give yourself empathy or a wish for goodwill, then you turn to its friends, saying to yourself, may you be safe and protected from physical and mental harm. May you be strong and healthy. May you be peaceful and happy. May you live with joy and ease. And then forward towards neutral beings, which is interesting. Vishuddhi Meketa has an interesting reflection, which is that are such things actually exist in the world from your own personal point of view, or are there just always some subtle either like or dislike that you have

[24:57]

with regard to people you consider neutral? For instance, someone who lives across the street and you don't interact with much. In her thoughts on the extension of metta to enemies, she says, Thich Nhat Hanh said, well, it is easy to love the lovable, and maybe the unlovable who need our love more. And so this is a particularly challenging aspect. And there can be a lot of gradations. Of how challenging it can be. She writes, then to the extent possible,

[26:06]

you can extend these good wishes toward people who have caused you more pain and to institutions and organizations that have caused you, your family and your community pain and suffering. And she gives the advice, let this develop naturally, relax and invite yourself to experiment with it. I think that's the spirit to which all of these suggestions are. So it's included in all these suggestions implicitly, that this is something that we explore. It is not a formula for success. But if we use it to open ourselves to the possibility of greater love and connection with others, it's really a powerful practice. So

[27:22]

I'm going to close my remarks with reciting the Metta Prayer, written by, composed by Maile Scott, who was a teacher here in years past. And then we can have some discussion. Metta Prayer May I be well, loving and peaceful. May all beings be well, loving and peaceful. May I be at ease in my body, feeling the ground beneath my feet and letting my back be long and straight, enjoying breath as it rises and falls and rises. May I know and be intimate with body-mind, whatever is feeling or mood, calm or agitated,

[28:49]

tired or energetic, irritated or friendly, breathing in and out, in and out, aware, moment by moment of the risings and passings. May I be attentive and gentle towards my own discomfort and suffering. May I be attentive and grateful for my own joy and well-being. May I move towards others freely and with openness. May I receive others with sympathy and understanding. May I move towards the suffering of others with peaceful and attentive confidence. May I recall the Bodhisattva of Compassion, her 1,000 hands, her instant readiness for action, each hand with an eye in it, the instinct of knowing what to do. May I continually cultivate the ground of peace for myself and others and persist, mindful and dedicated to this work, independent of results. May I know that my peace and the world's peace are not separate,

[29:53]

that our peace in the world is a result of our work for justice. May all beings be well, happy and peaceful. And it's occurred to me to say that I really believe this has the effect that these commentators attribute to it, that freeing ourselves from reactivity and negative states of mind is a really powerful aid in advancing the Dharma and advancing peace in the world and peace within our own personal context as well. So, thank you for listening to me, and I invite I invite Blake to manage the to and fro going forward here.

[30:56]

Thank you, Peter. As usual, Godsangha, please raise your digital hand. If you'd like to ask a question, you can chat me directly with the word question in front of it. There are 75 people on this Zoom meeting, and my feeling is that you should pretend like everybody is going to get a chance to talk. That's how brief your comments should be. So, with that in mind, could you raise your digital hand and please bring forth some ideas or questions. Ed, I invite you to unmute yourself and ask a question. I'll be trying to quickly highlight people, spotlight people. Hi. Would you say something about how the Metta prayer relates to

[32:06]

self-hatred or self-dislike? Thank you. Yes. We all harbor, you know, you know, most of us harbor some negative stories about ourselves, which are often expressed in our self-talk when something comes up that's a little challenging or stressful. And the Metta prayer relates to having full choice about how you wish to show up for yourself, how you wish to touch the deepest part of yourself. Usually, there's something extremely wholesome and care and valuable

[33:12]

underneath that negative story. And so, how to find that? Like, well, for instance, if you notice in the Metta Sutta, there's often a, there's may I be well, loving and peaceful. And there's also, may I be free from all these kinds of negative states. And so, I think in answer to your question, it's more like, I'm going to focus on this offering of my request for ease and peace. I'm going to focus on that. I'm not going to let my attention be diverted from that as a practice. And then see what happens.

[34:13]

Ben, I invite you to unmute yourself and ask a question. Hi, Ben. Hi, Peter. Good to see you. Good to see you. It just occurred to me when you were calling up some phrases from the Metta Sutta that there's also an aspect in that Sutta of without intending to evoke any bad connotations for anyone, but vow of poverty or something like that. There's sort of a wish to not acquire riches or possessions. And I wonder if you could say something about how that connects to our universal love. Well, I think it's... We all know that great possessions, as mentioned in the Sutta,

[35:25]

come with responsibility. And so, the question is, do you own it or does it own you? And I think that's what they're getting at there. Some people can be very skilled in managing a lot of responsibilities. Then we're all not like that. So, great possessions, like if you win the lottery or something like that, it could ruin your life, that kind of thing. Because it's a pretty strong stimulus for all your stuff. It might change your life's work, actually. So, that's what I think about that. Andrea Thatch, I invite you to unmute yourself and ask a question. Thank you, Blake. Peter, thank you so much for a really rich and deep talk.

[36:32]

Oh, I'll try to do both of them. Well, I'm going to test you, I guess. But not really. I think I understood them a little differently in this talk. And I wanted to see if I connected with something you were saying. Which is, over the years, as I've worked with the mentor phrases particularly, but phrases for all of these, I've often thought of cultivating goodwill or loving kindness for myself, for others, in a different arrangement. And that's been very helpful. But what I've understood, particularly with sympathetic joy, and with what you and Mushim have said, is that actually what these do are help me, help us be aware of joy exists, love exists. There's a kind of, I don't like to use the word absolute, but there is in this place of freedom,

[37:36]

of not holding on to hatred, or stinginess, or comparative mind, whatever. There's this kind of free energy where there are the brahmavaharas, and that we can reside there. Could you say something about how you relate to that? And thank you. Thank you very much. It just occurred to me that, in some ways, how we relate to these is a matter of choice about how in our state of mind we can cultivate a state in which we emphasize joy, and love, and equanimity. Or we can go back to what's easiest, which is creating delusion. So I think that's shorthand for a lot of stuff, obviously. You know, it's part of our inheritance, each one of us,

[38:41]

that we have to deal with. I love this teaching because it says I have choice about how I'm going to manage my being in this world. And I think it's very powerful in that regard. Thank you. Okay. From the chat, there is a question. How might you practice metta while inhabiting a collective story, both unconscious of its impact in my lived experience, and once it comes into awareness? And how might right anger be engaged as a gateway to fully energized joy?

[39:52]

I'm sorry, I didn't read that well. Perhaps we could focus on the latter half or not. And how might right anger be engaged as a gateway to fully energized joy? Well, I'll give a shot at that. In my view, anger is energy, is information. And so, the question is, is it in the service of joy and love? Can you bring that energy in a loving state of mind? Or is it... Or are you getting caught? So, if you say right anger, I'm going to say anger. I'm going to assume that we're talking about one of the examples I gave in the talk,

[40:59]

which is Dr. Martin Luther King, who was passionate and brought everything, all that anger and sorrow, all that energy, to confronting the harm that was being done in this country. And that's a pretty tall order. But anyway, I think the key to it is knowing that anger is energy and information, and which can be put to service. But the question is, what choices are being made about how I'm going to take care of my state of mind? Am I going to intentionally do things which might stimulate negative states and others?

[41:59]

Sometimes you don't have a choice. But I think, personally, if I'm reading the question right, there's always choice about how to move forward with positive energy. So, that's my shot at it. Thank you. Mary Beth Lamb, please unmute yourself and ask a question. Hi, Peter. Hi. When you were speaking with Ed, I found that I had a question about something that you said. And I may not get it exactly right, but you had said something to the effect of that the parts of ourselves that we don't like, that we have a hard time with, there's actually something wonderful motivating them or beneath them.

[43:03]

And I was wondering if you could give a specific example about that, because that would be pretty helpful for me. Well, if you think about a mistake you made that caused suffering, let's just put it bluntly, you know, for yourself or somebody else. There was, you know, and maybe it was one of those mistakes that involved not understanding the relationship between intention and impact. But there was some motivation. There's some basic need of yours or mine to act in this way that I think is responsive to, you know, wholesome feelings and wholesome inclinations.

[44:06]

And I just didn't understand what I was doing. It's a little bit like what Thich Nhat Hanh was talking about love, that it's really important to look deeply and carefully at our motivations and what it is we're trying to, how we're trying to connect with another person sitting, or yourself for that matter. That understanding is deeply important when you're confronting with, you know, difficult circumstances. So I don't know if that addresses exactly what you're talking about. But I feel like, I guess I have a trust that I am always acting and behaving and speaking from a place of, I'll put it this way, this may be going out of my limb a little bit, but I trust that I'm always acting and thinking and speaking in a way that's consistent with love.

[45:10]

And at the same time, maybe I may be misled. I may have a lack of understanding of the circumstances of the people involved or myself in a way that's naive. And then I get slapped upside the head, which is, you know, the world telling me that, oh, time to wake up. So oftentimes we're reacting to the time to wake up stimulus. And we've forgotten about how deeply it mattered to us to choose what we did choose at that time. We can talk further about this. It's a little tricky, but I think there's something It's not just focusing on our intention and saying we had good intentions.

[46:11]

But it's saying that there's something deeper than that, that to give rise to, something we should be able to trust. Anyway, I'll think more about it and we can talk about it further. Thank you. Thank you. Susan Marvin, please unmute yourself. Hi, Peter. Hi, Susan. Thank you so much. So what you just said, is that purity? Is that what love is? How are we ever sure of the purity of an intention? You know, knowing kind of full well that the ego is so tricky.

[47:17]

We don't until we find out. But it's like, maybe the right word is trust. And trust. And trust again after you've learned more. And are you saying that that purity is love? Is that what you were saying love is? No, I'm sort of saying that that's our nature. And there, let's see. I'm saying that love is something which connects to our deepest wish for everyone. I guess that's what I'm saying.

[48:19]

And connecting to that deepest wish is what I was talking about. What you were asking about. And is that, I may be going in circles, but is that deepest wish purity? I don't know how to answer that. I mean, what is at the bottom? What is at the bottom? There may be no bottom, but there's always something. I like that there may be no bottom. There's a question from the chat again. Since we are already in the midst of reality as it is, how do we break this teaching into a less complex practice without getting lost in the clouds? Thank you, Peter.

[49:19]

Let's see, I'm trying to figure out what it's really being asked about. Because I think of it as a very simple practice, and maybe that's my problem. I would recommend the basic texts, like the Metta Prayer, and considering that as a sort of gateway to an understanding. But also, I think, Thich Nhat Hanh's exposition in his book. It's almost backwards or whatever, but anyway. I think that he, well, he has a lot to say, of course. His attitude is one of kind of trying to veer towards simplicity and care.

[50:30]

So I think that's about what I can say in response. Thank you. Stephanie Solar, I invite you to unmute yourself. Good morning, Peter. Morning. Thank you so much for your talk today. Thank you. Something came up for me as you were answering Mary Beth's question. I have found that the nonviolent communication model, which I think you're familiar with, right? Yes. Participated in those groups. I find that it's been very helpful to me and to the people I work with, because the focus is really on understanding what our basic needs are. And if we're able to distill down what those needs are,

[51:36]

I found that I can come from a much clearer place in the way I communicate with people. So for those who don't know about the model, I find that the more that I have studied the model, the more I find that it really complements our practice. So thank you, Peter, for stimulating that thought and for your very generous talk. Well, thank you. You're welcome. Did you have any question or anything like that? No, it was more of a statement. That I got in touch with something that I think others might find valuable, particularly Mary Beth. Thank you. Just to say that I found the same resonance between the nonviolent communication model and our practice over the years, and it's been very helpful to me. How are we doing, Blake?

[52:42]

Ah, beautifully, Peter. We have, but to your question, we have, we can end now. We have five minutes. I would just like to add while we're waiting for a hand, how intimidated, especially this morning, I am when reciting the Metta Sutta and the Metta Prayer. It's such a grand, grand vow and vows. I invite Kabir Nabi to unmute yourself and ask a question. Hi, Peter. Thank you for the great talk. What about love and compassion towards the ego? Oh, I saw that in the chat. Yes. Uh, well, the ego, um, where do you separate you?

[53:51]

I mean, is that any different from love and compassion for yourself? I'm trying. It's a battle. I'm, you know, there's no really a separation. I mean, I'm, I'm studying IFS internal family system, which is, you know, and, and also don't even talk about like all the sentient beings of my mind. But I don't know. I don't hate the ego. I, there are times that I need it. I mean, I wouldn't survive if it wasn't for it. I mean, but at the same time, I have to be very careful not to always give it the wheel. Yeah. Who's in charge? Exactly. Yeah. And, uh, you know, something, your ego is trying to keep you safe.

[54:54]

Yeah. Do all sorts of things for you. Exactly. You'd rather not be involved in. Right. You know, and Ajay Shanti, and which I don't like the comment that he put about the ego, he calls it a shapeshifter. You know, I mean, I don't know. So it can be a little tricky and could be a little trickster or, but maybe that's just, it's nature, right? I mean. Yeah. We do have those parts of our head. Right. If I try so hard to discipline it or to change it or to fix it, then it becomes a battle. Well, I think, you know, some of the, what's suggested in my mind as you speak is figuring out how to let go. Allow it, you know, it's not going to go away.

[56:00]

And it's just going to come and go. And it's, you know, it's some part of yourself that wants you to make sure that certain things are taken care of. Or maybe some part of yourself that wants you to be, wants ease, and the best way to do that is to distract yourself with some harmful thing. Same. Have some compassion for it, but let it go. No clinging, right? Yeah. See if you can, you know, get that off. Thank you. I have a follow up question. You know, in Buddhism, about love and then attachment. So, and there's so, sometimes they're hard to distinguish. Between love and attachment. Thich Nhat Hanh says something really useful about that,

[57:03]

is that when he talks about equanimity, he talks about how most of what people consider love is trying to possess something. Yes. And when you do that, love disappears. And so, freedom for the beloved is really important. So it comes down to, oh, right, sort of like, sort of like letting go. Yeah, letting go, finding some way to have a more spacious relationship with whatever it is, whoever it is you love. Thank you so much, Peter. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Beautiful talk. Thank you. So, is this time, Blake? Is it time? It is.

[58:04]

Thank you very much, everyone here, for participating, being patient with me. And I'd love to see you soon again, face to face, which I'm sure we will. Okay. Take care.

[58:19]

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