I found an article recently based on the four aspects of love
according to Buddha. They are: Loving Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Freedom.
This article defines love with great depth and understanding. We can think, act
and talk of love, but without understanding its many aspects, we can become
lost in its highest application. We can place limits on love with our
definitions. We very often see love as finite, conditional and codependent.
Buddha was most certainly talking about ‘unconditional love’ in his assessments.
1. Loving-kindness.
Loving-kindness is not only the desire to make someone happy, to bring joy to a
beloved person, it is the ability to bring joy and happiness to the person you
love, because even if your intention is to love this person, your love might
make him or her suffer. To be able to give happiness and joy, you must practice
deep looking toward the person you love. Because if you do not understand this
person, you cannot love properly.
2. Compassion. This is not only
the desire to ease the pain of another person, but the ability to do so. You
must practice deep looking in order to gain a good understanding of the nature
of the suffering of this person, in order to be able to help him or her to
change.
3. Joy If there is no joy in love, it is not
true love. If you are suffering all the time, if you cry all the time, and if
you make the person you love cry, this is not really love–it is even the
opposite. If there is no joy in your love, you can be sure that it is not true
love.
4. Freedom. In true love, you
attain freedom. When you love, you bring freedom to the person you love. If the
opposite is true, it is not true love. You must love in such a way that the
person you love feels free, not only outside but also inside. “Dear one, do you
have enough space in your heart and all around you?” This is an intelligent
question for testing whether your love is something real.
Unconditional love is eternal: never ending, boundless: in giving & receiving, all encompassing: excluding no one and generous: wanting to care & share.
Cathy
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