Mudita
{{short description|Sympathetic or vicarious joy in Sanskrit and Pali}}
{{italic title}}
{{Cetasika|beautiful}}
{{buddhism|collapsed=1}}
{{Infobox Buddhist term
| title = Mudita
| en = Sympathetic joy
| pi = मुदिता
| sa = मुदिता
| bn =
| my = မုဒိတာ
| my-Latn = mṵdḭtà
| zh = 喜
| zh-Latn = xǐ
| ja = 喜
| ja-Latn = ki
| km = មុទិតា
| km-Latn = mŭtĭta
| ko =
| ko-Latn =
| lo =
| mnw =
| mnw-Latn =
| shn =
| shn-Latn =
| si = මුදිතා
| si-Latn =
| ta =
| tl = Mudita
| th = มุทิตา
| th-Latn = muthitaa
| bo =
| bo-Latn =
| vi = hỷ
| id =
}}
Muditā (Pāli and Sanskrit: मुदिता) is a dharmic concept of joy, particularly an especially sympathetic or vicarious joy—the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being.{{cite book|last=Salzberg|first=Sharon|author-link=Sharon Salzberg|year=1995|title=Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness|page=[https://archive.org/details/lovingkindnessre00salz_0/page/119 119]|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=9781570629037|url=https://archive.org/details/lovingkindnessre00salz_0}}
The traditional paradigmatic example of this mind-state is the attitude of a parent observing a growing child's accomplishments and successes.{{cite book|last=U Pandita|first=Sayadaw|author-link=U Pandita|title=The State of Mind Called Beautiful|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2006|page=51|isbn=9780861713455}}
Application
Mudita meditation cultivates appreciative joy at the success and good fortune of others. The Buddha described this variety of meditation in this way:
{{blockquote|Here, O, Monks, a disciple lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of unselfish joy, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, everywhere and equally, he continues to pervade with a heart of unselfish joy, abundant, grown great, measureless, without hostility or ill-will. (DN 13) {{cite book|url=https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh170_Nyanaponika-Etal_Mudita--Four-Essays.pdf|first1=Thera|last1=Nyanaponika|first2=Natasha|last2=Jackson|first3=C.F.|last3=Knight|first4=L.R.|last4=Oates|title=Muditā: The Buddha's Teaching on Unselfish Joy|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|location=Kandy, Sri Lanka|series=The Wheel|volume=170|year=1983}}}}
Buddhist teachers compare mudita to an inner spring of infinite joy that is available to everyone at all times, regardless of circumstances.
{{poemquote|text=
The more deeply one drinks of this spring,
the more securely one becomes in one's own abundant happiness,
the more bountiful it becomes to relish the joy of other people.{{cite web|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/harris/bl134.html|first=Elizabeth J.|last=Harris|title=A Journey into Buddhism|website=Access to Insight|date=June 1994}}}}
Joy is also traditionally regarded as the most difficult to cultivate of the four immeasurables ({{transliteration|pi|brahmavihārā}}: also "four sublime attitudes"). To show joy is to celebrate happiness and achievement in others even when we are facing tragedy ourselves.{{cite web|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/harris/bl134.html|first=Elizabeth J.|last=Harris|title=A Journey into Buddhism|website=Access to Insight|date=June 1994}}
According to Buddhist teacher Ayya Khema showing joy towards {{clarify|reason=whose? one's own, or someone else's?|text=sadistic pleasure|date=August 2023}} is wrong. Here there should instead be compassion ({{transliteration|sa|karuṇā}}).
The "far enemies" of joy are jealousy (envy) and greed, mind-states in obvious opposition. Joy's "near enemy", the quality which superficially resembles joy but is in fact more subtly in opposition to it, is exhilaration, described as a grasping at pleasant experience out of a sense of insufficiency or lack.{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|title=Visuddhimagga: The Path of Purification|last=Buddhaghosa|first=Bhadantãcariya|year=2010|orig-year=1956|translator-first=Bhikkhu|translator-last=Ñãṇamoli|edition=4th|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf|at=2.100}}
|2={{cite web|url=http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/dhamma-lists/|title=Dhamma Lists|website=Insight Meditation Center|location=Redwood City, Calif.|access-date=27 March 2018}} }}{{Verify source|reason="Dhamma Lists" identifies the "near enemy" as "comparison, hypocrisy, insincerity, joy for others but tinged with identification" not as "exhilaration"|date=August 2023}}
See also
- {{transliteration|pi|Brahmavihara}}
- {{transliteration|sa|Karuṇā}} (compassion)
- {{transliteration|pi|Metta}} (loving-kindness)
- Mindstream
- {{transliteration|pi|Pīti}} (joy)
- {{transliteration|sa|Sukha}} (happiness)
- {{transliteration|pi|Upekkha}} (equanimity)
- Similar concepts in other cultures:
- Compersion—in polyamory, positive feelings experienced by an individual when their intimate partner is enjoying another relationship
- {{transliteration|he|Firgun}}—A Hebrew term with a similar meaning
- {{transliteration|yi|Naches}}—A Yiddish term with a very similar meaning
- {{transliteration|de|Schadenfreude}}—A German word meaning to take joy in another's misfortune
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite book|url=https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh006_Nyanaponika_The-Four-Sublime-States.pdf|title=Four Sublime States, and, The Practice of Loving Kindness|translator-link1=Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu|translator-link2=Nyanaponika Thera|translator-first1=Bhikkhu|translator-last1=Ñāṇamoli|translator-first2=Thera|translator-last2=Nyanaponika|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|location=Kandy, Sri Lanka|series=The Wheel|volume=6/7|year=2008|orig-year=1958|isbn=978-955-24-0170-1}}
- {{cite web|url=https://amaravati.org/dhamma-books/just-one-more/|title=Just One More…|author-link=Ajahn Amaro|first=Ajahn|last=Amaro|website=Amaravati|date=2016-07-29}}{{Promotion inline|date=August 2023}}
- {{cite web|url=https://daejanapier.com/mudita/|title=Mudita: Appreciative Joy|first=DaeJa|last=Napier}}
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