Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Silly title but, as I drove back from dropping the kids off at day camp, I made the aspiration that this morning’s dishes be left for me to do. Why? Well, as I deepen my brahmavihara practice and focus on tonglen meditation I find myself thinking about all of the little sufferings and annoyances that make up our day and discover that I want to remove them if possible. While formal tonglen meditation is about imagining the suffering of others being taken into oneself and exchanging the pain for the light of our merit and well-being, it seems to me that another great way to practice is to take away the pain of the dishes, the laundry and whatever other domestic chores come up in the course of the day.

Naturally, the practice doesn’t have to be limited to these things and there is a lot of great opportunity to practice in the wider world but, while at home it seems to me that one can transform even the most mundane things into little acts of compassion, generosity and loving-kindness.