Loving-kindness · mettā
Fronsdal describes mettā as goodwill that wishes wellbeing for others.
Four immeasurables
Loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity: four qualities of the heart, traditionally called the brahmavihāras or four immeasurables.
Four faces of love
Brahmavihāra is commonly translated as “divine abiding” or “sublime dwelling.” Gil Fronsdal uses the image of four faces of love to describe these connected capacities. Their names are mettā, karuṇā, muditā and upekkhā.
The early discourse AN 4.125 describes extending each quality in every direction, without hostility or ill will. This boundless scope gives the practices their name “immeasurables.” The discourse places their cultivation within a religious path that also concerns rebirth and liberation.
The four qualities
Compassion · karuṇā
He describes karuṇā as the wish for suffering to end.
Appreciative joy · muditā
Muditā rejoices in another’s happiness and wishes that joy to continue.
Equanimity · upekkhā
Upekkhā keeps the heart open and responsive without becoming agitated when we cannot change another’s circumstances.
Cultivating a responsive heart
These qualities can be developed in meditation and in relationships. Fronsdal describes beginning with a person or being who readily evokes the quality, becoming familiar with it, and gradually widening its scope. Each quality brings a different response to the circumstances we encounter.
The immeasurables and awakening · SN 46.54
SN 46.54 asks what distinguishes the Buddha’s teaching when other contemplatives also cultivate boundless goodwill, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. His answer brings each quality together with the seven awakening factors.
Mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture, tranquility, concentration and equanimity are developed with each immeasurable, dependent on seclusion, dispassion and cessation, and resulting in letting go. The discourse connects these qualities with meditative attainments while retaining a distinction between those attainments and a higher release.
Four faces of compassion
Rebecca Bradshaw uses this title for talks exploring four compassionate archetypes. Her March 2018 talk names Mary, Tārā, Kwan Yin and Tinker Bell; the July talk describes the theme as developing a balanced, engaged heart.
Bradshaw’s four images belong to her teaching on compassion. Gil Fronsdal’s “four faces of love” names the four brahmavihāras.