Awareness in Buddhist Meditation

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yond thought and reason in various degrees of mental absorption
(jhāna). There they replace the desires of the senses by abstract
thoughts of good-will, beauty and truth in the spheres of form (rūpaloka)
where sense-pleasures have lost their importance and meaning.
They too have to be transcended, not in an effort of striving for attainment
which is concentrated effort, but in the removal for the
obstacles which limit the view of contemplation which is insight and
understanding of the mind its mental states as they arise and appear.
Then those ‘sacred abodes of Brahma’ will be truly immeasurable.
Loving Kindness
Where all religions speak of love and then criticize one another that
their own brand of love is quite superior to the other, it is not easy
to find a common base of understanding. To say that God is Love
(both with capital letters!) is not very helpful when one does not
know what is god and what is love. At best they are concepts,
that is, they are ideas of a mind with desires for attainment, with
thoughts of escape from the profane, with hopes of achievement in
the future and fears of failure in the present. They are ideas of
self-projection, which find their supreme expression in ‘I am That’
(both with capitals letters!).
It is not only hate which restricts both heart and mind; but also
love which is affection and attachment. In these meditations, to
be truly sublime, and divine, there must be a transcendence, which
is not by one ‘self’, but in which the very thought of ‘self’ will be
transcended. That alone is sublime; and that is the love of a compassionate
heart, the sympathy and equanimity of an understanding
mind.
The following thoughts, therefore, will not throw new light on
the ancient lore of love, but there will be a new approach to the
problem of hate which has divided mankind for millions of years
notwithstanding the exhortations of so many religious leaders. We