Love and Sympathy in Theravāda Buddhism

The book opens with a Preface explaining the author’s intellectual background, including his engagement with religious love, Asian traditions, Theravāda meditation, and Pāli Buddhist sources, followed by an Introduction that frames the central issue: in the Theravāda discourses, Gotama Buddha instructs monks to cultivate love (mettā) and to act out of sympathy (anukampā), not as mere social kindness but as part of the path leading beyond suffering and rebirth. Chapter One, “Buddha’s Sympathy,” studies Gotama’s compassionate motivation, the timeliness of his speech, and his acceptance of gifts as an opportunity for others to generate wholesome results. Chapter Two, “Disciples’ Sympathy,” examines how disciples express sympathy through teaching, practice, moral example, and compassion as an antidote to unwholesome states. Chapter Three, “Loving,” analyzes the loving mind, its development in meditative absorption, the Bodhisattva’s loving mind, and practical loving activities by disciples. Chapter Four, “Love,” discusses acts of love toward the teacher, the relationship between love and anger, the transformative power of love, and its benefits. Chapter Five, “The Sublime Attitudes,” presents the four brahma-vihāras—love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—including their order of development, possible faults, their presence in Gotama’s own conduct, and their relation to insight. Chapter Six, “Equanimity,” gives a detailed discussion of the fully liberated being, separate meanings of equanimity, and the crucial question of whether Theravāda detachment implies indifference or a refined form of concern.