Mettā and karuṇā are two of the four sublime states* or Brahmaviharas in Buddhism. Mettā roughly translates to loving-kindness or benevolence, active goodwill towards all. Karuṇā translates to compassion and naturally follows from mettā, as one identifies the suffering of others as one’s own. The two are linked within Buddhist tradition, but Jiaya goes a step further, combining the two as the prime virtue that underlies the Ten Virtues. In Jiayan teaching, mettā-karuṇā is understood as “unselfish love,” “universal love,” or “compassionate love.”

Both mettā and karuṇā recognize and affirm the interconnectedness of all things and all beings in the radiating of universal love and the will to act on that love. Together, they ensure that the Ten Virtues are more than a structure of discipline. They are the “heart” to the Virtues’ “mind.” Through them, they become a practice of care, motivated by the resolve to relieve the pain of others and the joy of seeing them flourish and achieve eudaimonia.

Without mettā-karuṇā, the Virtues risk becoming cold, rigid, or indifferent; perhaps a way to wield one’s purported moral superiority over others who have yet to walk or who occupy a lesser stage on the path of epektasis. Wisdom can harden into arrogant cleverness, justice into punishment, and moderation into asceticism. However, with mettā-karuṇā, each Virtue is balanced and guided by the desire to nurture and protect life, ensuring the Middle Way is adhered to. Right Action becomes service; Courage, protection; Equanimity, steadiness rather than aloofness.

Mettā-karuṇā serves as a constant reminder of Ji, for as Ji is the force that permeates and gives life to all existence, mettā-karuṇā is the current that runs through all Jiayan practice. It binds the progress of the self to the progress of all beings, reinforcing that inner peace is inseparable from the wider goal of world peace. Every step toward personal equanimity is also a step toward universal equanimity, and every act of care for another nourishes one’s heart-mind (citta) on its own path to stillness.

* the fourth sublime state, equanimity, is one of the Ten Virtues