The Four Immeasurables

The Buddhist teachings offer two main approaches appropriate to the needs of different individuals. The Hinayana approach, known as the lesser vehicle, concerns the teachings regarding achieving individual liberation, and the Mahayana, known as the greater vehicle, concerns the pursuit of the greater approach of achieving liberation for the sake of all beings. Here we are concerned with the Mahayana, and the cornerstone of this approach which is developing the four immeasurable attitudes of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Rather than simply being confined to topics discussed in the teachings, these are specific and direct methods we as individuals can use to gain liberation in this greater context of Mahayana, known as the bodhisattva path.
These immeasurable attitudes and the teachings concerning them are not only the province of Buddhist teachings; they are in the public domain. They are valid for all of us, whether we are practicing Buddhists or non-Buddhists, whether we are spiritual or completely worldly. They are qualities that really matter, and they make an enormous and positive difference in all our lives, regardless of our orientation.

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According to the Buddhist view, what essentially do we mean by love, by compassion, by joy, and by equanimity? To begin to answer this, we need to consider how these terms are used, and what they signify.
Love is defined in these teachings as the heartfelt wish that another being enjoy happiness and the fruits of happiness, and that they be endowed with the causes of future happiness. Compassion refers to the heartfelt desire that another being be free from suffering in the present moment; that they will not generate the causes for future suffering; and that they will be free from any future suffering. Joy is the joyful, sympathetic response from the heart of one being who perceives another being who is both free from suffering and enjoying happiness. Equanimity, the fourth immeasurable, is the quality of mind that is completely without bias and equally responsive to all situations, without the usual prejudices of attachment, aversion, and ignorance to which we are so often subject.

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All these qualities can be considered from two points of view, a more mundane or worldly context, and a transcendent context that goes beyond what is simply of this world. From the perspective of the buddhas, these two possibilities or viewpoints exist based upon the kind of attitude or scope with which we feel these responses of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity towards others.When speaking about love, we are not referring to something foreign to any of us. We all know what it is like to love, even though we tend to reserve that love for those close to us-for example, those we find attractive or those with whom we have an emotional connection, such as parent or child. In this manner we tailor the way in which we feel our love. The same holds true for the other three qualities of compassion, joy, and equanimity.

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As we apply the four qualities of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity on the purely mundane level to this life, and this world, without any thought or scope beyond that, the rewards they bring are something we ourselves also experience within our present lives and within this world. In this way, these four attitudes definitely do lead us to the experience of greater peace, contentment, and satisfaction.When as individuals we feel any kind of altruism, any sense of concern for the well-being of another, however limited or biased it may be, there is benefit, both in the short term and in the long term. For the short term, the benefit of altruism is the greater individual degree of satisfaction these limited or measurable qualities bring to our own lives. For the long term, the benefit these qualities lead us to is a greater sense of happiness and the achievement of a higher state of rebirth.

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However, it is important to make the distinction between the limited and the immeasurable aspects of these attitudes. If we experience love towards one or two individuals, or a group of individuals, or perhaps a whole nation of individuals, then as valid as that love is, it has definite limits and boundaries, and is measurable.This more limited sense of love is not wrong or something to be avoided or discouraged; it is quite the opposite. Although such love may be biased because it is felt only towards some individuals and groups and not others, that in no way robs it of its value. Whether these feelings of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity are felt between husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, members of a community, or members of a whole nation, they nevertheless contribute enormously to our happiness and well-being. So by calling this sense of love limited, I am not meaning to downplay or discount it at all. Again, we must come to understand the distinction between the two ways of perceiving these qualities.
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