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What is this text called Path to Freedom? Is it the Visuddhimagga? What does it really say about mudita?

What is real definition of mudita according to the Pali Canon and its traditional commentaries?

From the essay Mudita is not “sympathetic joy”, authored by Bodhipaksa:

The third of the Brahmaviharas, after lovingkindness and compassion, is mudita. Mudita is usually translated as sympathetic or empathetic joy, and is described as “feeling happy because others are happy.”

This is an interpretation I profoundly disagree with.

A first century text called the Path to Freedom describes the cultivation of mudita like this:

When one sees or hears that some person’s qualities are esteemed by others, and that he is at peace and is joyful, one thinks thus: “Sadhu! Sadhu! May he continue joyful for a long time!”

(Sādhu, by the way, means something like “Yay!” or “Alright!” or “Great!”)

The records we have of the Buddha’s teachings don’t define mudita, and the text above is the earliest I know of that gives us an indication of what mudita is and how it’s to be cultivated. There are several things that are significant here.

  • We’re asked to call to mind someone whose skillful qualities are developed to the point where others esteem them. Having mudita involves recognizing what’s skillful.
  • We’re not just being asked to call to mind someone who is happy, but someone who is happy (and at peace) as a result of having those skillful qualities. So when we have mudita we see the connection between skillful actions and their beneficial results.
  • Appreciation is involved. We appreciate skillful qualities, and the peace and joy they bring, as being good things.
  • Love is involved. Because we want what is good for them, we encourage this person’s future joy and happiness, by supporting, rejoicing in, and encouraging their skillfulness.
  • By valuing this other person’s skillfulness, and the peace and joy that come from it, we ourselves become joyful. So we’re cultivating a state of appreciation that’s joyful.

This all goes far, far beyond “being happy because someone is happy.” That much more mundane experience is actually fraught with spiritual difficulties, because a lot of the apparent happiness we see around us arises on the basis of unskillful actions. We shouldn’t be glad that someone is happy because they’ve just defrauded an old lady of her life savings, for example.

In summary, when we practice mudita we appreciate skillful attributes, speech, and actions, and this brings joy. And so mudita is “joyful appreciation.”

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What is real definition of mudita

I'm not sure words have "a real definition" -- instead they have a "context in which they're used" from which a language learner generalizes a "meaning" or "appropriate use". And IMO Bodhipakṣa is not wrong -- i.e. what you quoted accords with how I understand it, based e.g. on my reading of how people have used it or referred to it on this site (and essays on Access to Insight).

I'd add that my understanding of the Brahmaviharas is that at least one or other of them is always appropriate, and e.g. mudita may be appropriate when someone else has been skillful enough that they don't need compassion ... this answer (from outside the strictly Pali tradition) paraphrased that loosely as

If someone really has no problems ... then our jobs as Buddhists is to rejoice in their success (mudita).

Another aspect might be that it's an antithesis of envy (or "resentment" as quoted below).

What is this text called Path to Freedom

The Vissudhimagga is 5th century -- the Vimuttimagga is 1st century.

I think that the Vissudhimagga describes mudita and the Brahmaviharas more generally, especially in the context of their being objects of meditation.

So does the latter but I haven't read it.

They can both be found translated into English-language PDFs.

If you care to ask it, AI can offer a comparison -- which I won't reproduce here ...

If you want, I can also outline how the Vimuttimagga’s treatment of muditā differs from the Visuddhimagga — the contrast is fascinating and reveals a lot about early meditation traditions.

... I read the AI's answer to that -- its take was that the Visuddhimagga is more scholarly or like an Abhidhamma, the Vimuttimagga is more like a practical meditation instruction from a teacher.

Here is a copy-and-paste of the section from one edition of the Vimuttimagga -- translated, The immeasurable thought of appreciative joy:

The immeasurable though of appreciative joy

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If you are so concerned with "real definitions" "according to the Pali Canon and its traditional commentaries", then learn to read Pāli and go look for yourself.

If you only read translations, you will never fully understand what the Pāli literature says. When you do learn Pāli, you will realise how untrustworthy translations are generally. At best they are a blunt instrument, at worst entirely misleading.

Otherwise, what you are getting is someone's interpretation of what the Pāli says, usually deprived of all nuance.

If Pāli is your idea of a "real definition" and you refuse to learn Pāli then you put yourself in the dilemma of being wholly reliant on other people for access to the source of authority. At best you are always dealing with second and third hand presentations.

Keep in mind that what gets translated are editions. Editions are based on manuscripts, in the case of Pāli the manuscripts used are seldom copied earlier than the 18th century. Manuscripts all contain numerous variations and errors. The methods used to reconstruct the "original" reading are controversial, especially in a Buddhist context.

In short, if you insist that Pāli is the sole reliable source of authority about Buddhist ideas, and you are not reading the actual manuscripts, then you are forever cut off from that authority by numerous layers of intermediaries. You will never know for yourself what the manuscripts actually say.

Don't be like those silly Americans who think that the Bible was composed in English, eh?

Bodhipakṣa is a reliable source of information on effective meditation practice in the present. He has successfully taught meditation online for decades. And he's right about the connotations of mudita.

If you prefer to get your info on how to meditate from Iron Age texts, haphazardly preserved and copied over many generations, then you must learn Pāli.

Honestly, Pāli is not that hard to learn. I don't understand why so few Pāli fundamentalists make the effort.

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