[Buddha-l] FW: beauty--or art-- (?) and the restraint of thesenses (Jayarava)

[Mitchell Ginsberg]

Hello Jayarava and Joanna and all, 
You (two) speak of the sublime (not the glamorous or sexy or ....) and then you (Jayarava)
write in particular at one point: 

Well the Buddha does recommend dwelling in a state that he calls
brahmavihara... it doesn't get very detailed descriptions in Pali, 
but it doesn't seem to be analytical or discursive but more like 
an infinite sense of identification with living things: the mind 
becomes infinite, and one treats all beings as a mother protects 
her only child. (Taken from buddha-l Digest, Vol 51, Issue 11)
In Pali Buddhism (Theravada), there are four distinct brahmaviharas, each described or defined in somewhat familiar terms, metta, karuna, mudita, and upekkha (often rendered lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity). They are also called the infinite or boundless states (appamañña). I noticed in Jack Kornfield's newest book that he speaks of the (four) radiant abodes. That's in The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology (2008, 429 pp.) I don't know if "radiant abode" is a Canonical term. I didn't have a chance to ask Jack when I saw him a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if it would be an important question for him. 

Mitchell G.
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