The Brahmaviharas: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity

The brahmaviharas are loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity: their meaning, everyday examples, how to practise them and their benefits in the suttas

The brahmaviharas are four noble attitudes of the heart towards others: loving-kindness (mettā), the wish for beings to be happy; compassion (karuṇā), the wish for them to be free of suffering; sympathetic joy (muditā), gladness at their good fortune; and equanimity (upekkhā), a balanced, impartial mind. The Pali brahmavihāra joins brahma, 'sublime' or 'divine', with vihāra, 'dwelling' or 'way of living', so the brahmaviharas are sublime dwellings, the places where a noble heart lives. They are also called the four immeasurables (appamaññā), because they can be extended to all beings without limit. This page explains what the four brahmaviharas are, how the Navakovada defines them, examples from daily life, how to practise them and what the suttas say they bring.

Where the name comes from

In the suttas the term appears clearly in the Karaṇīya Metta Sutta, a widely chanted text. After describing loving-kindness spread to every kind of being, the sutta concludes:

Tiṭṭhaṁ caraṁ nisinno va,
Sayāno yāvatāssa vitamiddho;
Etaṁ satiṁ adhiṭṭheyya,
Brahmametaṁ vihāramidhamāhu.
Standing, walking, sitting or lying down, as long as one is not drowsy, one should keep this mindfulness in place. This, they say, is the divine way of dwelling here.
Snp 1.8

Living in the divine way here does not only mean being reborn among the Brahmā gods. It means living with a wide heart, free of enmity, in this very life. Our full translation of the sutta is on the Karaniya Metta Sutta page. The brahmaviharas extend this attitude to every situation the heart meets.

An elderly hand resting gently on a younger one.

What are the four brahmaviharas? The Navakovada's wording

The Navakovada, the standard first-level Dhamma textbook in Thailand, defines the brahmaviharas in the section of fours of its list of teachings. Below is the Navakovada's wording, quoted as written, in our English translation:

Mettā: loving affection, wishing others to be happy.
Karuṇā: pity, thinking to help others out of suffering.
Muditā: sharing in gladness when others do well.
Upekkhā: looking on evenly, neither glad nor sorry when others meet misfortune.
These four are the dwelling of great people.

The Navakovada calls the brahmaviharas 'the dwelling of great people': qualities that anyone who looks after others should keep in mind, such as parents, teachers, managers and community leaders. Its definition of equanimity stresses not being shaken when others meet misfortune. That is not coldness. It is a mind steady enough to see that each person owns their actions. The same section of fours also lists the four bases of success, which are about succeeding in work; the brahmaviharas are about how we relate to others.

Each of the four in plain words

Loving-kindness (mettā), the first of the brahmaviharas, is goodwill without conditions, the wish for others to be happy. The Visuddhimagga says its characteristic is working for the welfare of others and it shows itself as the removal of resentment. Mettā does not pick only the people we like, and it does not mean agreeing to everything: we can refuse or warn someone while still wishing them well.
Compassion (karuṇā) is the wish to help others out of suffering. When we see someone ill, struggling, or in trouble through their own mistakes, the heart is moved by their pain and wants to ease it. The Visuddhimagga says its function is not being able to stand by in the face of others' suffering, and it shows itself as harmlessness. So compassion differs from pity that looks down on others.
Sympathetic joy (muditā) is gladness when others are happy or successful. The Visuddhimagga says its function is freedom from envy and it shows itself as the removal of discontent. Many people find muditā harder than loving-kindness or compassion, because when others do well the mind tends to compare. It is the direct remedy for jealousy.
Equanimity (upekkhā), the last of the brahmaviharas and the one most often misunderstood, is a balanced mind that does not lean towards attachment or aversion. The Visuddhimagga says it sees beings as equal, and its proximate cause is seeing that beings own their actions. Equanimity is not indifference. It is the mind of someone who has done all they can and accepts that the outcome is not wholly in their hands, like parents who have raised a child to adulthood and accept that the child must choose their own path.

Near and far enemies

The Visuddhimagga offers a practical tool for checking your own heart: the near enemy, a state that looks so like the brahmaviharas that it is hard to tell apart, and the far enemy, the plain opposite.

Loving-kindness: the near enemy is lust or possessive affection, which looks like goodwill but comes with the condition that the other person belongs to us. The far enemy is ill will.
Compassion: the near enemy is worldly grief, sinking into another's pain until we have no strength left. The far enemy is cruelty.
Sympathetic joy: the near enemy is worldly excitement over gains. The far enemy is discontent and resentment.
Equanimity: the near enemy is the blank indifference of not knowing and not caring. The far enemy is the liking and disliking that make the mind take sides.

For example, if we help a friend so that they will love us, that may be attachment disguised as loving-kindness. If we ignore other people's problems because we do not want to get involved, that is indifference disguised as equanimity. Knowing the near enemies keeps the practice of the brahmaviharas on the right track.

The brahmaviharas in daily life: examples

The brahmaviharas are not only for the meditation room. Every day offers chances to practise all four.

In the family: loving-kindness is speaking to the people at home with goodwill even on tiring days; compassion is caring for a sick parent without complaint; sympathetic joy is being truly glad when a brother or sister gets a better job than ours; equanimity is accepting the decisions of a grown-up child after giving our best advice.
At work: loving-kindness is not running colleagues down behind their backs; compassion is helping a new colleague who is still learning; sympathetic joy is congratulating a colleague on a promotion; equanimity is being fair, without favouring the people we like.
With strangers: loving-kindness is smiling at and thanking a shop assistant; compassion is stopping to help someone who has fallen in the street; sympathetic joy is being glad at good news about people we do not know; equanimity is not getting worked up over opinions online.
With yourself: loving-kindness towards yourself means not berating yourself over and over when you make a mistake, but admitting it and putting it right. This is also the basis of loving-kindness for others.

Put simply: loving-kindness is for everyone in ordinary times, compassion is for when others suffer, sympathetic joy is for when others are happy, and equanimity is for when we have done all we can, or when stepping in would be unfair to someone.

How to practise the brahmaviharas

In the suttas the brahmaviharas are a meditation that spreads the heart in every direction, as the Buddha told the Kālāmas in the Kalama Sutta:

Sa kho so, kālāmā, ariyasāvako evaṁ vigatābhijjho vigatabyāpādo asammūḷho sampajāno patissato
mettāsahagatena cetasā ekaṁ disaṁ pharitvā viharati,
tathā dutiyaṁ, tathā tatiyaṁ, tathā catutthaṁ,
iti uddhamadho tiriyaṁ sabbadhi sabbattatāya sabbāvantaṁ lokaṁ
mettāsahagatena cetasā vipulena mahaggatena appamāṇena averena abyāpajjhena pharitvā viharati.
Kālāmas, that noble disciple, free of covetousness, free of ill will, unconfused, clearly aware and mindful, dwells spreading a mind of loving-kindness to one direction, and likewise the second, the third and the fourth. Above, below and across, everywhere, to all as to themselves, they dwell spreading a mind of loving-kindness to the whole world, abundant, expansive, immeasurable, without enmity and without ill will.
AN 3.65

The sutta then says the same of compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. In practice, the Visuddhimagga advises developing the brahmaviharas step by step, starting with loving-kindness and moving from the people it is easy to wish well to the ones it is hard to, like this:

Yourself: sit comfortably, breathe normally, and make the wish: may I be happy, free of enmity, free of distress. You are the clearest example that every life wants happiness and fears pain.
A benefactor, such as a teacher or a parent: recall their kindness and send them your goodwill.
A dear friend: a close friend or a family member.
A neutral person: someone you see every day without knowing their name, such as a market seller.
A difficult person: start with someone who irritates you only a little. If anger comes up, go back to a dear person first, then return.
All beings: widen it to every direction without limit, as the sutta describes.

When loving-kindness is steady, develop the other brahmaviharas in the same way. For compassion, think of someone in difficulty and wish: may you be free of this suffering. For sympathetic joy, think of someone who is happy or successful and wish: may your good fortune not fade. For equanimity, reflect on the truth of kamma, as the sutta puts it:

sabbe sattā kammassakā kammadāyādā kammayoni kammabandhu kammapaṭisaraṇā,
yaṁ kammaṁ karissanti—kalyāṇaṁ vā pāpakaṁ vā—
tassa dāyādā bhavissanti.
All beings own their deeds and are heirs to their deeds; deeds are their origin, their kin and their refuge. Whatever deeds they do, good or bad, of those they will be the heirs.
AN 5.57

The key point is that equanimity does not mean giving up on helping. We help as far as we can with loving-kindness and compassion, then let go of what lies outside our hands. The Pali chant used to send the wishes of the brahmaviharas is on the chant for spreading loving-kindness page, and a step-by-step sitting practice is on the metta meditation page.

As meditation, the brahmaviharas are four of the 40 meditation subjects. The Visuddhimagga explains that loving-kindness, compassion and sympathetic joy lead up to the third absorption, and equanimity to the fourth. Once the mind is calm with the brahmaviharas, the meditator can also see that calm mind itself arising and passing, and so move on to insight.

The benefits of the brahmaviharas

In the Kalama Sutta, after describing the brahmaviharas spread in every direction, the Buddha says that a noble disciple whose mind is free of enmity and ill will, undefiled and pure, gains four assurances in this very life: whether or not there is another world, and whether or not deeds bear fruit, they lose nothing. The second says:

Sace kho pana natthi paro loko,
natthi sukatadukkaṭānaṁ kammānaṁ phalaṁ vipāko,
athāhaṁ diṭṭheva dhamme averaṁ abyāpajjhaṁ anīghaṁ sukhiṁ attānaṁ pariharāmi.
If there is no other world, and good and bad deeds have no fruit, then in this very life I keep myself free of enmity and ill will, untroubled and happy.
AN 3.65

For loving-kindness in particular, another sutta (AN 11.15) lists eleven benefits of mettā that has been developed until it is firm, among them: you sleep at ease, wake at ease, have no bad dreams, are dear to people, your mind quickly becomes collected, your face is bright, and you die unconfused. Loving-kindness is also the direct remedy for ill will, one of the five hindrances.

In daily life, people who practise the brahmaviharas often find that they get angry less, recover from conflict sooner, feel less envy and get on more easily with those around them. None of this is a promise of any particular result. It is what happens naturally when the heart stops holding grudges.

The brahmaviharas in Pali, Thai and English

Brahmavihāra: in English the brahmaviharas, the divine abidings or the sublime attitudes; as appamaññā, the four immeasurables. In Thai, พรหมวิหาร.
Mettā: loving-kindness or goodwill. In Thai, เมตตา.
Karuṇā: compassion. In Thai, กรุณา.
Muditā: sympathetic joy or appreciative joy. In Thai, มุทิตา.
Upekkhā: equanimity. In Thai, อุเบกขา.

The brahmaviharas in summary

The brahmaviharas are loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. All four are attitudes of a wide heart without enmity: a teaching for living with others day to day, and a meditation that makes the mind calm and steady. Begin with goodwill towards yourself and those close to you, then widen it little by little until it has no limit. Watch for the near enemies in disguise, and remember that the brahmaviharas do not make the heart weak. They make it strong enough to love without clinging, help without sinking, rejoice without envy and let go without abandoning anyone.

Based on: Navakovada (public domain) · Karaṇīya Metta Sutta (Snp 1.8) · Kesamutti Sutta (to the Kālāmas) (AN 3.65) · Abhiṇhapaccavekkhitabbaṭhāna Sutta (AN 5.57) · Mettā Sutta (AN 11.15) · Visuddhimagga, by Buddhaghosa