This episode is called Open Hearted Joy the Four Immeasurables and it's part of the Buddha Dharma series.
In this episode there'll be a guided meditation practice.
The fourth quality of the Four Immeasurables is Open Hearted Joy.
What does someone else is experiencing?
With this quality we feel real joy at their happiness.
The operative word here is real.
It shouldn't be forced or faked but real heartfelt joy.
This is a perfect antidote for envy which is a feeling of grudging admiration and a desire to have happiness.
Sometimes we begrudge people their happiness and feel resentment at seeing their success.
This feeling of appreciation deals a killer blow to your envy,
Selfishness and pride.
Happiness is fleeting so to begrudge what little joy people can find in their lives is a very important part of the happiness.
The second thing you need to do is rejoice when happiness comes another's way.
When I was at school I never did very well in exams.
When my friends pass their exams with flying colors I used to feel real resentment but by doing that who was I harming?
The answer to that is myself.
I used to pollute one's own mind and if your mind is polluted your actions will follow in the same vein.
Later in life when I was still very poor at passing exams I used to think how happy my friends would feel by passing,
How their parents are going to be proud and what a good future my friends were going to have.
These thoughts of happiness are very sensitive and this is what we're looking for here.
So we're going to be doing a practice called open-hearted joy.
So sit comfortably and lightly close your eyes.
We'll start by taking three slow deep breaths in and deeply through your nose.
Hold the breath and now push all the air out through your mouth.
Again breathe in,
Hold,
And breathe all the air out through your mouth.
One last time,
Breathe in through your nose,
Hold,
And breathe out through your mouth.
Now just breathe normally and don't force the breath in any way,
Just allow it to find its own natural rhythm.
I want to talk about a life that falls under the category of good friend.
This can be a loved one,
A family member,
A friend or maybe even a teacher.
The point is to find someone who is naturally easy to listen to.
When a person comes to mind,
See if you can picture them experiencing happiness.
Picture the person smiling with contentment.
With the intention of caring for their happiness,
Begin offering some phrases of open hearted joy.
Repeat each phrase three times.
May you be happy and have peace of mind.
May your happiness flourish.
May you appreciate your feelings of joy.
I am truly happy for you.
Now sit for a moment with these feelings of joy.
Now bring to mind a neutral person,
A stranger,
Someone you see on a regular basis.
As this person comes to mind,
See if you can picture them experiencing happiness.
Picture this person smiling with contentment.
Now,
With the intention of caring for their happiness,
Begin offering some phrases of open hearted joy to them and repeat each phrase three times.
May you be happy and have peace of mind.
May your happiness flourish.
May you appreciate your feelings of joy.
I'm truly happy for you.
Now sit for a moment with these feelings of joy.
Now bring to mind someone you're having difficulty with.
And as this person comes to mind,
See if you can picture them experiencing happiness.
Even though you're having difficulty smiling with contentment.
Now with the intention of caring for their happiness,
Begin offering these phrases of open hearted joy to them and repeat each phrase three times.
May you be happy and have peace of mind.
May your happiness flourish.
May you appreciate your feelings of joy.
I am truly happy for you.
Now sit for a moment with these feelings of joy that you have difficulty with.
And now slowly start to open your eyes to these feelings of joy for these three different types of people for as long as you can.
And keep returning to this meditation so you're able to build joy for the three different types of people.
So in the previous three immeasurables,
We have been talking about the possibility instead of having a set phrase as we did,
You should think of the joy and happiness that other person is feeling and rejoice in that.
By thinking this way,
A warm feeling grows in your own heart that leaves no room for envy and jealousy and the happiness of mind.
We'll have thoughts of goodwill,
Gain compassion and appreciate the happiness others are experiencing.
So this brings us to the end of the four immeasurables.
They're called immeasurable because we're cultivating them.
We're here helping to reduce the immeasurable number of people.
We have to persevere with these immeasurables so they become a natural way for us to think about them.
