Achieving A Sublime State of Mind Through Buddhist Meditation

The Buddha was a human being who was born into privilege and made a conscious decision to remove himself from comfort and prosperity when he became aware of the deep sorrow his life of worldly pleasures brought to him. Trading in his expensive clothing for simple garb, he left his home and went out into the world seeking the truth and peace of enlightenment. The Buddha was not an immortal being nor a savior who saved others by his own personal salvation, and he stressed that throughout his life and teachings. He was, however, an extraordinary teacher who exhorted his disciples to find deliverance for themselves by seeking to understand the truths of life.

Man is born to suffering, and the purpose of life is to suffer, the Buddha taught. That is the first of the Four Noble Truths enunciated by the Buddha, that there is suffering. The Second Truth spells out the fact that all suffering has origins that we must learn to understand for ourselves. By doing so we can arrive at the Third Truth, which is that all suffering can be stopped, and the Fourth Truth leads the way to sending suffering. To fully comprehend the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha, one must understand and achieve the four sublime states of mind:

• Love or loving kindness (metta)
  
• Compassion (karuna)
  
• Sympathetic joy (mudita)
  
• Equanimity (upekkha)

In the language of Buddhist scriptures, Pali, these four states of mind are referred to as Brahma-vihara, which means lofty or sublime states of mind. The attitudes are said to be sublime because they are the most ideal way for a person to conduct themselves toward others, and they remove tension, encourage peace in social conflict, and heal the wounds brought upon by the daily struggles of life. They work to level social barriers, build communities in harmony, revive abandoned joy and hope, and promote brotherhood among people of the Earth. But in order to achieve such limitless applications, the four qualities must be used not only as principles of conduct and reflection, but more importantly as subjects of methodical meditation.

Buddhist meditation is called Brahma-vihara-bhavana, which is the meditative development of the four sublime states. By achieving these four states, one can attain the high state of mental concentration called jhana, or "meditative absorption." While the meditations on the first three states can achieve the attainment of those states, the meditation on equanimity, the fourth state, will lead to the complete meditative absorption of jhana. By practicing persistent meditation, the four qualities will sink deep into the heart so they become spontaneous, and their embrace upon life will break down all restrictive barriers to particular individuals, places, or circumstances. For people who seek to attain love, compassion or sympathetic joy, meditation proceeds from the easier to the more difficult. For instance, when meditating on love, one begins by concentrating on personal well being and extending that understanding outward: "I wish to be happy and free from suffering, and therefore I wish for all beings to be happy and free from suffering." The extension of loving kindness is extended first from self to a person one respects, such as a teacher or leader; then to beloved people such as family members or friends; then onward to indifferent people such as strangers; and finally to enemies or unlikable people.

All of the four sublime states of mind should be pursued in this same fashion, by breaking down barriers and extend each state from self to the ultimate goal of equanimity—at which point further meditation can bring one to even higher stages of concentration. The ultimate aim of attaining the various jhanas of Buddhist meditation is to produce a state of mind that can function as a firm basis for the liberating insight into the true nature of all phenomena, which is that of being impermanent and ever-changing, and therefore liable to suffering. A mind that has achieved the level of meditative absorption induced by the sublime states will be pure, tranquil, collected, firm, and free of selfishness. As the Buddha exhorted his disciples during his lifetime on Earth, people cannot depend on the external factors that affect life and bring suffering, because both purity and defilement depend only on the individual. People must depend on themselves for their deliverance.