An Ethical Samādhi: Brahma-vihāra Meditation and the Flexible Early Buddhist Path

Brahma-vihāra meditation in early Buddhism functions both as ethical cultivation and as a form of meditative concentration (samādhi), allowing the mind to reach a state of totality through love, compassion, empathic joy, and equanimity. These radically ethical states can perfect ethical practice and, at their best, be liberating. The early Buddhist path is flexible, not a single fixed route; practitioners can use Brahma-vihāra meditation in various ways according to their inclinations, sometimes as part of the path to liberation and sometimes not. This interpretation shows that samādhi can be ethical and ethics can be liberating.

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Abstract

Abstract This article offers a new interpretation of Brahma-vihāra meditation (BVM) in early Buddhism, positioning it between ethical cultivation and development of samādhi ; BVM can thereby perfect ethical practice by creating a comprehensive meditative state that is thoroughly ethical. The fact that the radically ethical states of mind of BVM are sometimes included in the path to liberation, while more commonly they are not, further affords an important understanding regarding the flexible nature of the early Buddhist path. This is not one path, two paths, or any other number of paths, but a flexible method that different practitioners can use in various ways, evoking its diverse potentials according to their personal inclinations and contexts. Within this dynamic structure, Brahma-vihāra meditations play two main roles: first, they allow a completion of ethical practice, bringing it to perfection through the divine attitudes of love ( mettā ), compassion ( karuṇā ), empathic joy ( muditā ), and equanimity ( upekkhā ). Second, these states of mind, in which the mind reaches a state of totality, serve as a form of samādhi , which can replace other types of meditative concentration, such as jhāna . At their best, these states can be liberating. This interpretation of BVM’s role improves our understanding of the early Buddhist path, and specifically of the manner in which it combines ethical cultivation with advanced meditation. Here, samādhi proves to be ethical, and ethics liberating.