I taught a class at the Rime Center called “Boundless Heart”

This was an exploration of the teaching of the Four Immeasurables.

If we can learn how to cultivate Lovingkindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity then we will develop what the Buddha called “The most noble way of living in this world.”

This set of virtues is called “immeasurable” because it’s said to be a list of things that you can never have too much of. They are: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

I wrote a series of articles and recorded a series of podcasts based on the teachings we talked about in the class. I’m linking this series for you below.

Training in Kindness

“Each moment of cultivating the psychological gesture of kindness rather than the impulse of abandonment is learning to inhabit our life in a fearless way.” -Christina Feldman Kindness is fundamental to living an ethical life, with positive thoughts, words, and actions. It’s hard to imagine living a life of virtue that isn’t predominately focused on kindness. I’m using the word ‘kindness’ because that’s easier to use and understand, but what we’re really talking about is ‘Metta’. Sometimes this word is… Read more

Training in Compassion

“Compassion has the power to bring harshness and cruelty to an end; compassion heals our hearts even when pain cannot be fixed; compassion is the root of forgiveness, patience, and tolerance. The seed of profound and immeasurable compassion lies in each of our hearts.” -Christina Feldman Compassion is fundamental to living an ethical and fulfilled life. The original term that we’re translating as ‘compassion’ is ‘karuna’. It’s an attitude we can cultivate in our lives. Compassion is the wish for… Read more

Training in Joy

“Joy has its roots in mindfulness, which sensitizes us to our world of the moment. Mindfulness brings intimacy with all things. With mindfulness we simply learn to make room for joy; learning to see, listen, and attend to all things with a spacious heart.” -Christina Feldman Joy makes us feel alive. It’s part of our innate potential. We can have joyous lives. With mindfulness we can learn to see the roots of our joy and to have some understanding of… Read more

Training in Equanimity

“Equanimity is understanding what it means to stand in the midst of all experience with unshakeable balance, to be responsive yet unbroken.” -Christina Feldman Equanimity is that quality of mind that helps us keep us together when things get hard, our ability to weather the storms of life and to not fall apart. It’s that quality that stops you from freaking out and falling to the floor when there are setbacks in life. We’ve all been kicked in the heart… Read more