Cattāri Brahmavihārā

This morning as I was going through my usual rounds of metta I noticed that I was able to generate a surprising amount of metta towards myself, my benefactor and my kalyana-mitta but encountered an emotional flatness when I arrived at the neutral person. This probably shouldn’t be so surprising given that this is the neutral person we’re talking about but I guess my awareness and focus was a lot sharper today than it has been previously. I suppose that part of the reason for this is because I am developing a different understanding about practice in general.

Rather than simply counting on my ability to plow through the practice and obtain results through sheer determination and obstinacy I am beginning to see the wisdom in experimenting with different techniques. In the past I have always considered it a weakness to switch techniques whether in between formal sessions or (even worse) within a particular session.  Over five years of practicing this way has brought results but I feel that for the effort expended the yield should be much greater.  Furthermore, such rigid adherence to an ideal of practice simply doesn’t work at all (for me) when it comes to the cultivation of the brahma viharas. I have countlessly repeated the traditional phrases but it was only when I actually experimented with techniques that helped me connect to the emotional qualities of the divine abidings that I was able to understand their true utility. Which brings me back to ther point of this post: cultivating metta for the neutral person.

As I said, I met with the emotional equivalent of stale ginger ale when I arrived at my deli clerk. I soon realized that I had to try something different so I had the idea to try the variation of “Just as I want to be at ease, so too does he want to be at ease”. Visualizing him in the deli I was suddenly struck by how dangerous his job could be given that he works alone or with one other guy in a not-so-nice part of Brooklyn where robberies aren’t uncommon. Breaking the rules I suppose, I let a little karuna slip in and changed my phrase to “May he be protected from harm”. All I needed to do was reflect on the fear and pain I would experience were I to be in such a situation and, suddenly, the metta-karuna exploded in my heart. This technique, along with recollecting that he is someone’s son (I have a young son so this is especially useful for me) really helped to restore the fizz to drink.

Well, this post has been especially long and rambling but I was excited to share some ways that we might be able to add oomph to our practice when we find it lacking. I wish I were more articulate and slightly more parsimonious but, in the end, this is what I’ve got to work with. Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitattaa!