Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I have recently been asked to share links to online Dhamma resources that I have found valuable by a family member who is suffering a great deal and is looking for relief. Of course my first thought was to send them to Access to Insight but upon further consideration I began to doubt that first impulse. In a way it would be like leading someone in search of pearls to the ocean’s shore and telling them that they can be found in the water.

I think that my main problem with simply leading someone to the Dhamma is that, in our society at least, it is often thought of solely as meditation. In other words the Dhamma can all too easily be seen as a technique to help change one’s perceptions and to be more relaxed. And although these are great things I don’t know how deep they can go or how durable they are in absence of dana and sila. The gradual path is just so that one first needs to integrate the teachings into one’s daily life to a point where samma samadhi is even possible. Without samma kammanto, samma ditthi and samma vaca I just cannot imagine meditation producing truly lasting and beneficial results.

I have heard it said that Right View comes first so I think I will structure the collection I am putting together here on this blog in the following way:

-An article or two that discusses the Dhammacakkappavattana sutta
-A Dhamma talk on the same

-Articles and Dhamma talks on the importance of gratitude/appreciation.

-Articles and talks on dana.

-Articles and talks on metta as a daily life attitude (as oppolsed to a concentration practice). A copy of the karaniya metta sutta.

-Articles and talks on sila and the benefits of keeping them.

I think that in this way someone who is busy and does not yet have much time for formal meditation can lay the groundwork for such practices and significantly improve the quality of their life in the here and now. I hate to even give the appearance of being in a position to teach but perhaps I will also offer a some suggested practices that I have found useful which help me to cultivate dana, sila and metta parami. May I ever be humble and may this be of some benefit.