The four Pali Brahmaviharas
81 Following in the Buddha's Footsteps
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Volume 4 Following in the Buddha's Footsteps 
Jan 23, 2026 Part of an ongoing series of teachings based on the book Following in the Buddha's Footsteps, the fourth volume in The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron.
- Letting go of anger, hatred and resentment
- Happiness and causes of happiness
- Developing first dhyana based on generating love towards five groups
- Five hindrances
- Five factors
- Three kinds of duhkha
- Empathic joy, contemplating the goodness others have
- Equanimity, accepting what is possible and what is not possible
- First dhyana through love, second through compassion, third through empathic joy and fourth through equanimity
81 The Four Pali Brahamaviharas (download)
Contemplation points
- Why is it so important to work with feelings of animosity, anger, hatred, and resentment before cultivating the four brahmaviharas and samadhi? What antidotes can we use as we work with these thoughts and feelings?
- What are the four immeasurables or brahmaviharas and their definitions in a Buddhist context? How do we cultivate each in our minds?
- Contemplate happiness, using the reflection points from the text:
- Reflect on the various types of happiness – physical, mental, spiritual – and their external and internal causes, and generate love, the wish that all beings have these.
- Releasing all thoughts of unworthiness, respectfully wish yourself to have happiness and its causes. Imagine your healthy needs being fulfilled.
- Spread this love to those you respect.
- When this is stable, gradually spread love to friends, strangers, and people you don’t get along with.
- Then extend love to all beings in all realism of existence. Focusing on that experience of love, develop compassion.
- Follow the steps above to also reflect on compassion, joy, and equanimity.
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
