自在聆听|晨读原著：T34:Cultivating the Four Limitless Qualities-Comfortable with

34 Cultivating the Four Limitless Qualities A TEACHER ONCE told me that if I wanted lasting happiness the only way to get it was to step out of my cocoon. When I asked her how to bring happiness to others she said, “Same instruction.” This is the reason that I work with the aspiration practices of the four limitless qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity: the best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others. These are powerful tools for dissolving the barriers that perpetuate the suffering of all beings. It is best to do sitting meditation before and after these practices. To begin, we start just where we are. We connect with the place where we currently feel loving-kindness, compassion, joy, or equanimity, however limited it may be. (You can even make a list of people or animals who inspire these feelings in you.) We aspire that ourselves and our loved ones could enjoy the quality we are practicing. Then we gradually extend that aspiration to a widening circle of relationships. We can do these practices in three simple steps, using the words from the traditional Four Limitless Ones chant (see book epilogue) or whatever words make sense to us. First, we wish for ourselves one of the four limitless qualities. “May I enjoy loving-kindness.” Then we include a loved one in the aspiration: “May you enjoy loving-kindness.” We then extend our wish to all sentient beings: “May all beings enjoy loving-kindness.” Or for compassion: “May I be free from suffering and the root of suffering. May you be free of suffering and the root of suffering. May all beings be free of suffering and the root of suffering.” For a more elaborate aspiration practice, we can use seven stages (see teaching 35). The aspiration practices of the four limitless qualities train us in not holding back, in seeing our biases and not feeding them. Gradually we will get the hang of going beyond our fear of feeling pain. This is what it takes to become involved with the sorrows of the world, to extend loving-kindness and compassion, joy and equanimity to everyone—no exceptions.