Limb 2 - Right or Perfect Emotion

The Buddhist path begins with a vision of existence, and within that, a vision of how individuals can grow and transform. However, to bring about a positive change there needs to be more than just a vision, an intellectual idea or picture in our minds. One has to put one's heart as well as one's head into changing. You have to go beyond simply an intellectual understanding of something, merely understanding the concept. To know and understand is not enough, the Buddhist has to DO something about it. If the first limb represents intellectual understanding, then the second limb represents our emotional state. If you like, you could use psychological language and say that the first limb is the cognitive aspect, the second limb is the affective.

Perfect Emotion therefore considers one's emotional development, what might even be called our "emotional intelligence". The Buddhist needs to develop emotional positivity. This is summed up as the Four Brahma Viharas or The Sublime States (or abodes), which are:

Maitri (Metta) or Love
Karuna or Compassion
Mudita or Sympathetic joy
Upeksa or Tranquility

In this respect Buddhsits also talk in terms of developing:

Sraddha or Devotion
Dana or Giving

The Buddhist should practice non-attachment, non-hate and non-harm or non-cruelty.

The key meditation practice to develop this is the Mettabhavana meditation or the "Development of Universal Loving Kindness". Some Buddhists also practice what they call Puja, or Buddhist Ritual Services °© the word "Puja" literally means "Worship". This word can be a little confusing, as Buddhists don't believe in a creator God, and so, whom are they worshiping? A better way to understand it is by realising that the term worship comes from the old English for "worth-ship", which is an honouring of what you think is worthy. A Puja is a way of reverencing and emotionally engaging with beliefs, ideals and ways of living that they think are important.

A key idea of this Limb is the importance of what you put at the heart of your life. This could be money, fame, freedom, power, sex, material goods, relationships, God, family, the environment, having a good time. These could be good things or inappropriate things. What you put at the centre of your life, or the centre of your Mandala, is of vital importance. For the Christian and Muslim, placing an inappropriate thing at the heart of your life is idolatry; you make of it a "God"

For the Buddhist, what you should put at the heart of your life, as the motivating factors, are the Three Jewels, this would be the Buddha (the ideal of human growth), Dharma (all those things which help you to grow), Sangha (all those beings which are trying to grow). For the Buddhist, on "Goes for Refuge" to these Three Jewels or Tiratna. For the Buddhist the Dharma is not just an idea, it is a movement of the heart towards truth.