Have you ever watched "Antiques Roadshow?" Its a show where people go to a public event with one of their treasures that they usually had handed down to them by their family. They present these artifacts to experts who have specialized knowledge in that type of artifact. Like a painting or an old vase. The expert usually gives a brief history of those kinds of artifacts or antiques and maybe the maker of that particular piece, then they give an estimate of how much the item would likely sell for at auction.
I recently saw a short you tube clip of a woman getting information about a painting that her grandmother had given her. She originaly thought it was a print of an A.H. Farny painting from the late 1800's. When she realized it was a real painting, she took it to the antiques roadshow event and sat down with an art historian. The history of the artist and painting was fascinating but the really powerful part came right at the end when the historian said that the painting would probably be worth $200,000 to $300,000 at auction. The woman who had inherited the painting started crying. The emotions were intense and palpable.
When I saw her joy and shock, I couldn't help but cry too. I imagined that this woman had had many financial hardships in her life and probably felt financially trapped as so many of us do in our debt riddled economy. Her release of emotions which she couldn't contain, was a release of all that anxiety and fear which I could tell had plaqued her for so many years. I too felt that rush of joy for her and the relief of fear she was feeling. I felt that even though I wasn't going to benefit from the windfall of an auction, like she was, it didn't matter because she deserved that win just as much as anyone does. I felt as happy as I would have if the same thing had happened to a very good friend or a relative.
I realized afterward that what I was experiencing is called "Sympatheic joy" by Buddhist masters. It is one of the four doorways into Bodhichitta.
Bodhichitta is roughly translated as open hearted love and the selfless connection of that love. It is a transcendence of our self; which is one of the best and most powerfful forms of realization in our self oriented life.
We all live most of our lives lost in the self. We see the world though the lense of the self, and we live our lives with the self as the primary focus of our motivations and efforts. This is just a part of what it means to be alive. It is just an aspect of being human, but it is also the source of all suffering.
Buddhists have discovered, however that there is a way to break out of the underlying programming or conditioning of the self view, and that is to cultivate bodhichitta. They also found that there are four main doorways into the heart-mind of bodhichitta. Compassion, Loving kindness, Equanimity, and Sympatheic joy. These four doorways into the selfless mind of Bodhichitta are called the Four Immeasuables.
Each of the Four Immeasurables has what are called a near enemy and a far enemy. I've talked about this in previous blog posts so I will only mention the near and far enemy of Sympatheic Joy. The near enemy of Sympathetic Joy is jealousy. If I had felt jealous of the woman who had the Farny painting I would not have been so moved by the experience. I would have, instead, been hardened in thoughts of impoverishment and selfishness. In other words, I would have suffered more as a result of the self being hardened. I'm thankful that that didn't happen.
The far enemy of Sympatheic Joy is apathy. If I had not really cared that she had discovered her financial salvation in an antique she had had for so many years without even nowing it, I would not have been moved by the experience. I would have seen it all with unastonished eyes. Living life with unastonished eyes, is seeing the world from a depressing, joyless viewpoint. It is the basis of depression in many people, and is a long slow form of suffering because it cuts us off from the joy of living. This is yet another way the self cuts us off from the joy and peace which is our birthright.
Seeing others as equals and automatic friends, is a good way to overcome jealousy and apathy. Feeling the joy of a win that someone else on your team has, is similar to feeling the joy that we have when a really good thing happens to us. This heart-mind view is something that all of us have experienced at times, and there is no reason why we can't experience it again, even though we are not the focal point of the good luck.
Realizing that we are all so much similar to each other is a great way to open ourselves up to Sympatheic Joy and the selfless mind of Bodhichitta. Why should we see others as equals? Well, simply put, they are. Minor differences are just that: minor. The real core of what it means to be alive and to be human, is the same for all of us. We all want to be happy and to be free of suffering. We all want to love and to be loved. We all fear the end in very similar ways. This is what it means to be human and knowing that first and formost is a much clearer way of seeing life than thinking that we are better, or more deserving, or more important than others.
This is why I recommend watching antiques roadshow and imagining that the person who experiences joy is just a good friend which you just haven't had the opportunity to meet yet. Feeling their joy as if it were yours is a great way to transcend some of the suffering of the self and to realize at least, in a little way, your connectedness to all life and the underlying love which is the glue of all life.
