Called the Four Immeasurables, the practice cultivates four intentions or states of mind that are integral to the Buddhist path: loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. While this basic transmission is common to all forms Buddhismdifferent schools offer different ways of dealing with it. Whatever the approach, developing these four qualities is a very effective way to overcome distressing states of mind. The four immeasurables are the cure or antidote for mental agitation which five poisons: the pangs of pride, jealousy, attachment to desire, ignorance and aversion.
When the mind has conquered the five poisons, the deepest, most liberating forms of tranquility—Shamatha in Sanskrit – can be reached. This explains why these four qualities are called a brahmaviharasor sublime abodes, this term describes the state of being at peace associated with perfect meditative stability, free from attachment and restlessness.
The four immeasurable qualities are expressed in the familiar wishing prayer: “All beings find happiness and the cause of happiness.loving-kindness); Be free from suffering and its cause suffering (sympathy); Be not separated from perfect happiness, which is free from suffering (joy); Remain in great equanimity, free from attachment and aversion to those near and far (equilibrium). Although they are usually listed as above, starting with loving-kindness, they are not necessarily practiced in that order. The illustrious 14th century Tibetan master Longchenpa wrote an important treatise on it the four are immeasurable in which he first encouraged the students to cultivate balance. The goal, he explained, is to develop an unbiased state of mind and ultimately to get rid of discrimination manifested as attachment and aversion.
We will focus on balance. Balance is not indifference. Nor is it that we make a difference, which makes us try to do more for others and less for ourselves. What is positive for us is also useful for others; what we do for others benefits us: they benefit equally. A very important aspect that is often overlooked that I would like to highlight is that we must involve ourselves in our practice; we must extend love, compassion and joy to ourselves and others.
I have noticed that many people in the West are burdened with guilt and shame. Feelings of inadequacy and a lot of judgment about how good or bad someone is. It seems to come from what I would call the ego imperative. Self-esteem comes with a certain ego-based obligation to be good, to be better, and our spiritual aspirations often fall into the same routine. By strengthening our spiritual, wise, and kind sense of self, they submit to the imperative of the ego. We don’t really embody kindness; we try to convince ourselves that the ego is nice, so that we feel good. The ego is very insidious. We may not always notice it, but it is always lurking in the background.
When we look at how the ego works, we realize that we are full of biases. We counteract this tendency by including all beings in our practice and desire: those we love or love, those we actively dislike, and those we feel neutral toward. We recognize that all sentient beings want the same thing: we all strive to avoid pain and ensure well-being. The little worm squirming in the mud seeks comfort and tries to avoid danger. We all want happiness, but we don’t know how to achieve it. Our wish for others is the same as for ourselves: to be freed from the painful states of mind that trap us in the experience of suffering.
We all want happiness, but we don’t know how to achieve it. Our wish for others is the same as for ourselves: to be freed from the painful states of mind that trap us in the experience of suffering.
It is important to be aware of the toxicity of anxious states of mind, otherwise we easily fall back into them. Of course, we are not perfect, but the awareness of how deeply and negatively the five poisons affect our lives and disrupt our peace of mind is already a great achievement.
How can we eliminate painful states of mind? We begin by cultivating equanimity, starting with examining how we categorize others as friend or foe, and doing everything we can to change this discriminatory habit. “Friend” and “enemy” do not exist in any substantial, objective way. Those that seem to be beneficial can be harmful, those that seem harmful can be useful. Old friends become new enemies, old enemies become new friends. The difference between the two is a fiction; in this sense, it is an expression of ignorance. We do everything we can to eliminate the ignorance that results in partiality, because we understand that partiality is the source of harmful states of mind for all of us. We wish from the bottom of our hearts that all beings (including ourselves) be freed from the shackles of attachment and aversion.
Making a wish isn’t simply hoping something will happen – it’s about making a commitment making let it happen as we know it. This is why we train, and Longchenpa’s practical advice includes training in neutrality. For example, he thinks that all sentient beings were our mothers in one life or another, so that we naturally developed love and compassion for them, and then he changes our perspective by pointing out that we also had enemies. Given that we have had friends, loved ones, and enemies not just once, but endlessly, we cannot objectively justify loving or hating some more than others. According to Longchenpa, when we think like this, we begin to realize equanimity.
At this point we are ready to recognize that essentiallyall sentient beings are exactly alike, even outwardly different. Take people: some are nice, some are cruel, some are smart, some are boring, and so on. And usually our attitude is to focus on the outside and think that a particular person is just what they appear to be. But organisms are complex phenomena; how we perceive others depends on ever-changing causes and conditions, so their true nature cannot be how they once appear.
What is their true nature? This question and the answer to it is a very important part of the practice of equanimity. Beyond appearances is what every sentient being is endowed with: the knowing, empty mind. The mind is intangible, yet it is able to know, act, and interact with objects. All sentient beings have a mind whose nature is essentially luminous, knowing, and empty. There is absolutely no difference between the mind of a worm and a human. We call this luminous awareness buddha naturethe seed of enlightenment.
When I fail to recognize the empty, luminous nature of the mind, I enter a self-other duality: perceiving the world as “other” and separate and distinct from the “I” who perceives. This is our fundamental flaw; it is what blinds us on a very, very subtle level and creates all sorts of other distortions, starting with self-indulgence that leads to miserable states of mind and volitional actions centered on satisfying the imputed self. These actions rooted in trials perpetuate karma, and karma determines our experience of a life characterized by suffering.
Buddha tells us that by discovering the reality of the mind, we can achieve complete liberation from all suffering, all ill-feeling. Achievable eternal prosperity is not something that needs to be rebuilt or given to us by someone else. When we recognize the innate qualities of mind, wisdom is perfected and freedom is realized—the freedom that has always been there and always will be there—because it is connected to the essential reality of mind that we are now able to recognize.
In practicing equanimity, our wish is that all beings—ourselves, friends, enemies, loved ones, those we know exist and those we don’t know exist—are freed from the very root that keeps us stuck in ignorance and suffering: discrimination and self-attachment. And since wisdom banishes ignorance, we actually wish for wisdom to blossom in all of us and enable us to actualize and awaken the innate qualities of the mind. This is the true meaning of balance.
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Pamela Gayle White distilled this article from a series of three two-hour teachings and a question-and-answer session on the importance of the four immeasurable balances given by Karma Trinlay Rinpoche in the summer of 2025 at the Bodhi Path Natural Bridge.
