Mudita/Sympathetic Joy: Uncovering the Natural Qualities of the Awakened Heart
“To come directly into harmony with
reality.
Just simply say when doubts arise, not two.”
In this “not two” nothing is separate, nothing excluded.
No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth.”
Zen poem ‘Faith/Mind’ Hsin Hsin Ming (4th Century)
In meditation practice, we may often begin from the idea that we are trying to make something happen or to shape ourselves into some kind of ideal that we believe we are not. We tend to assume that there is an inherent taintedness to our being that needs to be improved or purified and that there is an inherent separateness with all other beings. Do you sometimes find you relate towards life this way?
Rather than seeing in this limited way, traditional insight meditation it is a process of seeing through, letting go or leaving down ways of interpreting life that emphasise separateness and to see for ourselves the ways of relating to experience that are the underlying causes of mental suffering. When we start from the assumption that we are a separate and inadequate being, disconnected from nature and life and in need of reconnection, improvement or purification it means that we assume there is something special or unnatural about the awakened mind and that happiness is something that we must earn. Then we assume that this state is something we must attain, but how could we possibly, when we see that we are so messed up and full of faults?
When we are engaged with thinking about happiness, peacefulness and awakening as that which is outside of ourselves and unattainable for an impure being such as us, we are operating from a conditioned way of viewing the world that is a cause and not a solution to the predicament of mental suffering we find ourselves in. Therefore, rather than using this as the unquestioned operating system in meditation, this is the very assumption that we are learning to question, see beyond and ultimately let go of.
When we conceive of ourselves as separate, impure and inadequate personalities, then a range of follow-on experiences emerge from this way of looking that cause us immense suffering in life, including fear, greed, and hatred. So instead of using meditation to reinforce this sense of inadequacy, how do we go beyond this way of seeing the world to a way that is more in alignment with reality? How do we practice with insight and stillness to gain a penetrating wisdom into our own true nature?
These are the kinds of questions that are at the heart of contemplative practice. In essence we are learning to question the assumptions that we are beginning with rather than see them as unquestionable realities, and then we can learn to work with these ways of looking and see how we can align our perspective more with reality.
The Brahmaviharas or ‘Divine Abodes’
With this objective in mind, in mindfulness, there are strategies of practice that are more than just ‘being in the moment’. Sometimes when we are practicing ‘being present’ we are simply noticing what is happening from the perspective of the separate and inadequate me who needs to practice mindfulness to become someone better in the future. Instead of using this limited operating system, the Bramhviharas, each in their different way, encourage us to connect with an expanded sense of ourselves. More than that they encourage a proactive approach of uncovering the inherent loving, ever-present, and directly accessible qualities of the awakened heart that are already at the core of present moment experience. So that it’s no longer about inadequate me trying to get somewhere but a realisation of what is already here.
Therefore the ‘Brahmaviharas’ or ‘Divine Abodes’ are practices that are not so much about what we try to do or become, but ways of orientating the heart/mind that help us to recognise, uncover and live in alignment with the awakened heart that is already here and now. They are ‘Divine Abodes’ also because they are ways for the mind to abide and be peaceful with the turmoil and upheaval of life.
While loving kindness tends to be the most well-known and most widely emphasised, there are four Brahmaviharas that are complementary and interdependent on each other and each appropriate for different circumstances we encounter in life—these are loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. In this article we will focus on sympathetic joy.
Sympathetic Joy or 'Mudita'
While the other qualities include words that we sometimes hear in common conversation, the same probably isn’t true for ‘sympathetic joy.’ Yet it is a heart quality that we undoubtedly recognise, and it is that sense of “I’m happy for you.” The joy that we feel when we reflect on the beautiful and good qualities of others and especially the joy that we feel when others achieve their goals or experience happiness. Take a moment to remember when someone dear to you, got something that they really wanted and that you so hoped they would be able to get. Can you sense into that feeling in the heart? The sense of joy that you felt. How does it feel physically?
Because there are so many qualities in humanity that are shared, we recognise immediately in others that sense of hopefulness, the wish that they have to be joyful and the joy that they experience when things happen the way that they wanted. Like the other Bramhaviharas it is a way for the discriminating mind to go beyond the sense of separation and connect with the ways that we are one.
