Aversion: the far enemy of joyful appreciation

I've been referring to from time to time to a first century meditation manual called the Path of Liberation (the Vimuttimagga) as we explore lovingkindness (metta), compassion (karuna), and joyful appreciation (mudita) — the first three of the so-called "immeasurables" or "divine abodes" (the fourth being equanimity, which we haven't reached yet).

The Path of Liberation, which may be Buddhism's most ancient meditation manual, says that the manifestation of joyful appreciation is "destruction of dislike."

A later commentarial text, the Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) says something similar with regard to joyful appreciation, namely "Aversion … is its far enemy." The "far enemy" is a term meaning "the quality that is the direct opposite of the quality being considered." Aversion is an enemy in that it destroys joyful appreciation.

Aversion and dislike are the same thing, called arati in Pāli. Arati is a Pāli word with a gramatically negative construction: it combines the negative prefix a- (not, or un-) with the word "rati" which means love, attachment, pleasure, liking for, fondness, or even delight. (The Pāli expression "ratiṃ karoti" means "to make love"!) So we're talking about the lack of all those qualities.

The far enemy of joyful appreciation isn't as strong an emotion as ill will or hatred, which is the far enemy of lovingkindness. Arati is milder. It's more like discontent, or even just a lack of engagement. It's an inability to take pleasure in something wholesome, a lack of interest in it, or a turning away from it.

This becomes clear in a comment that the Path of Purification makes about arati:

So gladness should be practiced free from fear of [aversion]; for it is not possible to practice gladness [joyful appreciation] and be discontented with remote abodes and things connected with the higher profitableness simultaneously.

What the Path of Purification is getting at here is that we can't have joyful appreciation if we can't enjoy simple things ("remote abodes") and if we don't value and appreciate the good ("things connected with the higher profitableness").

I'm sure you can think of days when you've been driven crazy by someone else's good mood. They're happy, and smiling, and bopping around with a spring in their step, and you're inwardly grumbling; "What's he so happy about!"

Sometimes we're resentful of others' good fortune. I remember to my shame being with some friends when I was in my twenties, when they won the main prize in a raffle — a flight to Paris for the weekend, with accommodation in a hotel. Susie, who was one of the people who won the prize, came dancing up to me with her eyes sparkling and a huge smile on her face. "I won a weekend in Paris!" she said, almost exploding with joy. I was so jealous and resentful I couldn't even smile back.

And there's the old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished." It seems there's always someone willing to criticize when you volunteer to do something that benefits others.

But arati can be more subtle than this. It can be any kind of resistance or aversion to beneficial things. When you can't be bothered meditating, even though you know it's good for you and makes your life better, that's arati.

When we're in a state of arati beneficial things are perceived as dull, or as an annoyance, or as a source of painful boredom. The Path of Purification talks of an inability to enjoy "remote abodes"; our modern-day equivalent might be a day retreat at our local Dharma center, which seems like a great idea when you reserve your place in advance, but as the day approaches your heart sinks. Going on retreat now seems like a dull chore. And yet, if you overcome your resistance and go to the event, you find that a day hanging out with cool, interesting, emotionally positive people is a delight. You find that practicing and talking about the Dharma is engaging and inspiring.

One thing you can do to overcome aversion is simply experience the resistance with mindfulness, letting go of and choosing not to believe all the stories you generate about why you're tired, and it's going to be boring, and you really need to catch up on your laundry, and you just do the good thing you know is best for you; feel the aversion and do it anyway!

Or you can reconnect with gratitude and appreciation in order to counteract your disengagment. You can consciously call to mind the positive. I've talked of various ways we can do this. We can name the positive qualities of other people and wish that those qualities, and the happiness that comes from them, grow and develop. We can count our blessings, saying an inward "Thank you" for all the things we normally take for granted, ignore, or even grumble about. We can bear in mind people with positive qualities and allow ourselves to be inspired by their example. Even just wishing ourselves well, reminding ourselves that we want to be happy and want to avoid suffering can help.

This is all work that we need to do to overcome the mind's negativity bias. But it's noble work. And it's necessary if we're to live joyfully.

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