from Wikipedia:
Mudita is a Buddhist (Pali and Sanskrit) word meaning rejoicing in others’ good fortune. Mudita is sometimes considered to be the opposite of schadenfreude.
The term mudita is usually translated as “sympathetic” or “altruistic” joy, the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being rather than begrudging it. Many Buddhist teachers interpret mudita more broadly as referring to an inner spring of infinite joy that is available to everyone at all times, regardless of circumstances. The more deeply one drinks of this spring, the more secure one becomes in one’s own abundant happiness, and the easier it then becomes to relish the joy of other people as well.
The traditional example of the mind-state of mudita is the attitude of a parent observing a growing child’s accomplishments and successes.
Mudita is also traditionally regarded as the most difficult of the brahmaviharas to cultivate. To show mudita is to celebrate happiness and achievement in others even when we are facing tragedy ourselves.
The “far enemies” of mudita are jealousy and envy, two mind-states in obvious opposition. Mudita’s “near enemy,” or quality which superficially resembles mudita but is in fact more subtly in opposition to it, is exhilaration, perceived as a grasping at pleasant experience out of a sense of insufficiency or lack.
8 Responses
BTW, I’ve been meaning to ask you… do you meditate? I have fallen out of practice and I notice how more combative it’s made me…not meditating. I was much happier although can’t say the challenges of life were any less…challenging.
There was a period where I meditated daily for nearly two years. Whoa. I became extremely intuitive, almost scary psychic, and highly, highly creative, a good thing for an artist. And I had more of a magnetic personality. I was at a gathering where a women, a Wiccan, came up to me asked me if I was a white witch. Guess I was putting off some powerful vibes.
Need to get back to meditating.
And if you would rather talk about meditation offline, you’ve got my email.
Peace!
Meditating is definitely good for the spirit. I don’t often get to practice what others might consider meditation, in terms of the sitting down and letting all my thoughts go kind of way. I tend to practice sort of a moving meditation these days, particularly if I’m gardening or doing other physical activity where I just sort of go into flow.
With the dogs around, particularly a young dog like Darwin, it’s tough to find time where they or something else around me just doesn’t need attention and I can just be still. If I’m in the garden or moving around, they seem to respect that. If I just sit still, they’re all over me. ;^) There’s usually at least two and sometimes all three under my feet.
Come to think it, when I was meditating daily, I lived alone. Not the case now.
Mudita.
Sounds like this term would accompany a feeling I have a lot (a feeling which probably makes it good I’m not involved directly in anything competitive). I tend to be sort of “non-competitive.” So, in terms of games, either board games or things like tennis, I’ve always been fine with the other person prevailing, because it seems to make them happy and, frankly, such minor “victories” mean nothing to me.
I know I sort of bragged about “winning” ribbons with my photos in a recent post, but that was a simple feeling of being glad somebody liked what I did. Somebody outside my family who had never met me, and so had a certain objectivity. It may be hard to believe, but the prizes won by a couple of women who work part-time for my sweetie gave me just as much, if not more joy. I was truly happy for them.
Yes, I was feeling mudita reading your post, gerry! And your pictures really deserved the prizes, that’s for sure!
Not much mudita in my response to Pearl yesterday, I’m afraid.
Pearl was a moron. No mudita needed. ;^)
But then I suppose I really need to develop some compassion for stupidity, since it seems so common in our country!
Nah. Ignorance, lack of knowledge, those I can deal with. Willful stupidity, not so much.