Friends:
The 4
Brahmaviharas delivers mind into a Higher State!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
The Noble Disciple, Bhikkhus & friends, freed from greed and grudge,
unconfused, alert, attentive and clearly comprehending, with mind full
of kind friendliness ... of compassionate pity ... of altruistic joy ...
and of imperturbable equanimity, pervades first one direction, then the
second, then a third one, then the fourth one, just so above, below, &
all around.
Thus sympathetic with all, embracing all, he pervades the whole world,
the entire universe with a vast mind, refined, infinite, freed from all
hate and any ill-will. And he understands: Formerly my mind was limited
and undeveloped. Now, however, is my mind unlimited and developed, and
no limited deed based on a narrow intention will here remain & persist!
What do you think, Bhikkhus & friends: If a boy from his early childhood
develops kind friendliness, compassionate pity, altruistic joy, and
quite imperturbable equanimity, will he then still be able to do bad
deeds?
No, Venerable One...
But, if he no longer does bad deeds, will suffering then still attack
him?
Certainly not. Venerable One.
How should anyone, doing no evil deeds, still be attacked by suffering!
Therefore should kind friendliness .. compassionate pity .. altruistic
joy and imperturbable equanimity be developed, by all men and
women. No man or woman, on leaving this life, can keep this body. Any
mortal has only his mind as base, mediator, creator, controller and
protector.
The Bhikkhu, however, knows: Whatever formerly I have done of bad deeds
with this material body, all that I still have to atone for here, and
after that, then nothing of it will follow me. So developed, the release
of the mind by kind friendliness .. compassionate pity .. altruistic
joy, and
imperturbable equanimity leads to
Never-Return , unless the wise monk already during this life
penetrates to a higher deliverance than that.
Source: The
Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Anguttara Nikāya AN10:208
http://what-buddha-said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/Index.Numerical.htm
More on the
3rd Noble State: Non-Return (Anāgāmi)
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/anagami.htm