Love for all things is wonderful. Without desire to have, a selfless love towards every living thing is something to yearn for. Love knows no bounds and is always there in whatever form it's needed in. Love knows we all suffer, and that we are all on this journey together. To a buddhist, love is to want others to be content. We must understand that love should be absolute, or that is to say unconditional.
Most times we hear of love there is often some sort of self interest. Love in Buddhism I'd to be without attachment. (That would be in modern terms "No strings attached.") A selfless interest in others well being. Without love, there is much suffering. Expectations will lead you away from both actual love and enlightenment. Have you ever felt that love before, void of expectant returns? Have you loved everyone, even evil ones, who may need it the most?
Worldly people are those with attachments, who do not look inside themselves for happiness. Love that comes from desire or even desirous attachment is a distorted view. Our mind warps how we feel about that person, and we are not in the right frame of mind. Do you really believe love for someone you have an attachment to is the same as wanting others to be happy? After all, we place so much into appearance these days into physical appearance. Do we really feel actual love, or is it our eyes coveting?
Loving kindness and compassion which is what the inhabitants of this world really need. Yes, love given to only our children, spouse, or relatives is completely conditional. Why not love all, if you love your family, are not your fellow brothers and sisters amongst the lands worthy of your love too?
Your loved ones, however great in number or small, they have needs too. We must be selfless, as explained, to love. Fulfilling ones needs and not our own is love without attachment. It's also loving kindness. To savor others' happiness is to fully achieve the first of the four sublime states. We do not live for our own happiness, and there is truth in the fact that your happiness comes from others being happy. That is true unconditional love, wanting others to be happy and being content yourself. Through love and compassion we will know sympathetic joy, the third of the sublime states. Sympathetic joy, (As covered in the last post) is feeling joy in others' fortune. Finally, these three things, love, compassion, and sympathetic joy grant us equanimity, or peace of mind. Together that is the four sublime states. Each one adds and safeguards the other ones. One cannot be without the other three. Compassion protects from indifference, and equanimity keeps us leveled. Love furthers compassion, and sympathetic joy keeps us cheerful. There is so many relations for the sublimes states! See how many you can list off.
We have explored now all four of the sublime states. I hope this has been enriching for all of you. They are by far important to learn and practice. The four sublime states are also known as "The four immeasurables." This has been fascinating for me to write about. Needless to say even I feel more enlightened after writing this four part series. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. Til tomorrow I bid you farewell!
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