تأمل ميتا

تأمل ميتا maitrī ((بالسنسكريتية: मैत्री)‏) هي الحنان الناشئ عن الحب^[1]^[2] والمودة ^[3]^[4]^[5] والنزعة إلى الخير ^[2]^[4] والوئام ^[3] والصداقة^[4] وحسن النية^[4] والطيبة^[3]^[6] والوحدة الذهنية الوثيقة (نفس الموجة الذهنية)^[4] والاهتمام الفعال بالآخرين.^[3] وهي واحدة من سمات الكمال (pāramī) العشر في مدارس ثيرافادا من المدارس البوذية، وأولى الحالات السامية الأربع (Brahmavihāras). هذا هو الحب دون تشبث (upādāna).

وزراعة الحنان الناشئ عن الحب (mettā bhāvanā) هو شكل شائع من أشكال التأمل في البوذية. وفي تقاليد الثيرافادا البوذية، تبدأ هذه الممارسة بقيام المتأمل بزراعة الحنان الناشئ عن الحب تجاه أنفسهم،^[7] ثم أحباب المرء وأصدقائه ومعلميه والأشخاص الغرباء والأعداء، وفي النهاية تجاه جميع الكائنات الحساسة. وفي تقاليد بوذية منطقة التبت، ترتبط هذه الممارسة بالعطاء والأخذ (منح)، والتي بموجبها يُخرج («يرسل») السعادة ويأخذ («يتلقى») المعاناة.^[8] كما يمارس البوذيون في منطقة التبت التأمل الخاص بـ Brahmavihāras، والذي يُسمى أيضًا الفضائل الأربع غير القابلة للقياس، التي تُسمى في بعض الأحيان «التأمل العاطفي»^[9]

إن «التأمل العاطفي» هو مجال علمي معاصر يبين فاعلية ميتا والممارسات التأملية ذات الصلة.

الأساليب الأساسية

عادة ما تتم التوصية بممارسة تأمل ميتا لأتباع بوذا في شريعة بالي التي يبلغ عمرها 2500 عام. وهذه الشريعة تنصح بشكل عام بنشر تأمل ميتا في كل اتجاه من الاتجاهات الستة، إلى كل الكائنات كائنة ما كانت.^[10] وتوجد مجموعة مختلفة من الإرشادات العملية، التي لا تزال تُستخدم على نطاق واسع اليوم، في مذهب مسار الكمال (Visuddhimagga). علاوة على ذلك، تم تعميم الاختلافات في هذه الممارسة التقليدية بواسطة المعلمين المعاصرين وتطبيقها في البيئات البحثية الحديثة.

إرشادات مذهب مسار الكمال

إن الإرشادات المعاصرة لترسيخ الحنان الناشئ عن الحب - مثل تلك الموجودة في أعمال شارون سالزبيرغ^[11] ووكامالاشيلا الخاص بمجتمع تريراتنا البوذي^[5] وماتيو ريكارد^[12] - عادة ما تقوم جزئيًا على طريقة توجد في النص التفسيري الخاص بـ بودهغوسا (Buddhaghosa) في القرن الخامس الخاص في بالي، المسار إلى الكمال (Pali:Visuddhimagga)، الفصل التاسع.^[13]^[14] ويُعرف هذا النهج التقليدي على نطاق واسع بتحديد المراحل المتعاقبة من التأمل التي يقوم خلالها المرء بترسيخ الحنان الناشئ عن الحب بشكل تدريجي نحو:

النفس^[15]
صديق جيد^[16]
شخص «محايد»
شخص صعب المراس^[17]
كل الشخصيات الأربع السابقة متساوون^[18]^[19]
وبالتالي تدريجيًا كل الكون^[20]

انظر أيضًا

Agape، مصطلح توراتي يوناني مقابل للمصطلح العبري chesed
Ahimsa، عقيدة عدم الضرر ولا سيما عدم العنف
Brahmavihara
Chesed، «الحنان الناشئ عن الحب» أو الإحسان أو الحب الوجداني؛ مفهوم ذو صلة في الأخلاقيات اليهودية المسيحية
Kammaṭṭhāna الحب
حنان ناشئ عن الحب
ميتا سوتا
Theoria، ممارسة «تأمل المحبة» في المسيحية الشرقية

ملاحظات

^ Bodhi (2005), pp. 90, 131, 134, passim; Gethin (1998), pp. 26, 30, passim [spelled as two words: "loving kindness"]; Harvey (2007), pp. 247-8 [spelled without a hyphen: "lovingkindness"]; Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi (2001), pp. 120, 374, 474, passim; Salzberg (1995), passim [without a hyphen]; Walshe (1995), p. 194.
^ ^ا ^ب Warder (2004), pp. 63, 94.
^ ^ا ^ب ^ج ^د Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 540, entry for "Mettā," retrieved 2008-04-29 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.3:1:177.pali نسخة محفوظة 2012-07-07 في archive.today.
^ ^ا ^ب ^ج ^د ^ه Monier Williams, 1964, p. 834, entry for "Maitrī," retrieved 2008-04-29 from "U. Cologne" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw0834-meSUraNa.jpg. نسخة محفوظة 2021-01-25 في Wayback Machine
^ ^ا ^ب Kamalashila (1996).
^ Richard Gombrich (1988, reprinted 2002), Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. Routledge: London. ISBN 0-415-07585-8.
^ Regarding the cultivation of loving kindness towards oneself, this is not specifically recommended by غوتاما بودا in the pertinent canonical discourses but is inferred in the commentarial literature from other discourses.
^ Trungpa (1993), p. 220, "Glossary" entry: "maitri bhavana: The practice of maitri, or loving-kindness. Tonglen practice is also referred to as maitri practice, or maitri bhavana...."
^ Matthieu Ricard's 2cd set "Happiness"
^ See, e.g. MN 7.12, Snp 1.8/Khp 9: [1], [2]. نسخة محفوظة 2017-05-13 في Wayback Machine
^ Salzberg (1995).
^ Ricard, a Tibetan Buddhist monk who has spent thousands of hours cultivating loving-kindness and compassion, has advised that a person has unconditional love and care for someone that he or she has no trouble at all doing this for, such as, perhaps, a child, and then that he or she cultivates, encourages that feeling of unconditional well-wishing and happiness. Ricard gives a talk on his practice, available on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwnXj0Ck1k. نسخة محفوظة 2020-05-25 في Wayback Machine
^ Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli (trans.) (1999), pp. 288-306.
^ Centuries before the Visuddhimagga's famous instructions for the practice of loving-kindness, Upatissa's Vimuttimagga provided a similar though less detailed framework:
Thus after the yogin has clearly understood the way of destroying hatred, has identified friends, indifferent ones and enemies with himself, and acquired facility in the practice, he (or she) should gradually arouse the thought of loving-kindness and develop it for various bhikkhus in (his) dwelling-place.... After that he (or she) should develop (loving-kindness for beings) in one direction.... Thus he spreads loving-kindness towards all beings of the four directions, above, below.... (Upatissa et al., 1995, p. 187.)
Interestingly, however, the aforementioned method is not the first one described by Upatissa. Instead, in a manner reminiscent of the Karaniya Metta Sutta (see below), Upatissa starts his description of the practice of loving-kindness with the following:
Q. What is loving-kindness? What is the practising of it?...

A. As parents, on seeing their dear and only child, so one arouses thoughts of loving-kindness and benevolence towards that child, so one arouses thoughts of loving-kindness and benevolence towards all beings. Thus is loving-kindness to be known. The undisturbed dwelling of the mind in this practice is called the practising of it.... (Upatissa et al., 1995, p. 181.)
^ In the Visuddhimagga, Ch. IX, vv. 8-10 (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli (1999), pp. 289-90), Buddhaghoṣa identifies three sources in the Tipiṭaka for the practice of loving-kindness (the 'Khuddaka Nikāya's Sutta Nipata 145, the Khuddaka Nikāya's Paṭisambhidā-magga ii.30, and the Abhidhamma's Vibhaṇga 272). In none of these texts is cultivating loving-kindness towards oneself mentioned. However, Buddhaghoṣa states that the Tipiṭaka references to loving-kindness are for the purpose of meditative absorption (such as jhāna practices); whereas cultivating loving-kindness towards oneself is instead practiced as "an example" for cultivating loving-kindness towards another. That is, one first cultivates loving-kindness towards oneself in order to seed loving-kindness that is subsequently extended towards others. Buddhaghoṣa bases this latter approach on the following statement by the Buddha in the canonical Samyutta Nikāya i.75 (also in the Khuddaka Nikāya's Udāna 47):
Searching all directions

with one's awareness,

one finds no one dearer

than oneself.

In the same way, others

are fiercely dear to themselves.

So one should not hurt others

if one loves oneself. (Thanissaro, 1994)
^ Vsm. IX.11, clearly identifies that after developing lovingkindness towards one's self, one should cultivate it towards a "benefactor" (to use Sharon Salzberg's term), that is, one who "inspire[s] love and endearment, ... respect and reverence." Only after such a benefactor should one cultivate lovingkindness towards a "very dearly loved friend" (Vsm. IX.12). However, in Vsm. IX.40, the benefactor and dear friend appears to be combined when it states:
... [One] should break down the barriers by practicing lovingkindness over and over again, accomplishing mental impartiality towards the four persons, that is to say, himself, the dear person, the neutral person and the hostile person. (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, p. 299.)
^ In the Pāli canon, a classic example of extending loving-kindness and compassion (Pāli: karuṇā) to "difficult persons" can be found in the Parable of the Saw sutta (MN 21), where the Buddha provides the following instruction:
Monks, even if bandits were to sever you savagely limb by limb with a two-handled saw, he who gave rise to a mind of hate toward them would not be carrying out my teaching. Herein, monks, one should train thus that the mind "will remain unaffected, and we shall utter no bitter words; (one) shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, never in a mood of hate. (One) shall abide pervading them with a mind imbued with loving-kindness; and starting with them, (one) shall abide pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility, and without ill will." This is how (one) should train, monks. (Bodhi, 2005, pp. 278-79.)
(Excerpts from this sutta are also available on-line at Buddharakkhita, 2006, and Thanissaro, 1997a.) نسخة محفوظة 2017-08-10 في Wayback Machine
^ Vsm. IX.40-43. According to the Visuddhimagga, after one is able to generate lovingkindness towards each of these persons with equal concern for each person's welfare, one is said to have "broken down the barriers" and is capable of entering deep absorptive states.
^ As Matthieu Ricard has said someone who escapes from prison but who's friends are left behind is not happy, and one who has food while his friends have none is not happy, and as for the happiness of oneself and others, "Well, they're the same."
^ Vsm. IX.44. See, also, e.g., Kamalashila (1996), p. 25-26.