The Divine Abodes

This is a series of talks and guided meditations by Tara Brach, the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, on the Brahma Viharas or the Four Divine Abodes. The Insight Meditation Community of Washington is a spiritual community that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation.

These four attitudes are said to be excellent or sublime because they are the right or ideal way of conduct towards living beings (sattesu samma patipatti). They provide, in fact, the answer to all situations arising from social contact. They are the great removers of tension, the great peace-makers in social conflict, and the great healers of wounds suffered in the struggle of existence. They level social barriers, build harmonious communities, awaken slumbering magnanimity long forgotten, revive joy and hope long abandoned, and promote human brotherhood against the forces of egotism.