The Four Boundless States (also called the four Brahma-viharas or the Four Boundless Abodes) are considered friends on the way to Nirvana. They help to dissolve the idea of a separate self. They are:
- Loving-kindness
- Compassion
- Sympathetic Joy
- Equanimity
The ‘near enemy’ is a quality that can masquerade as the original, but is not the original. The ‘far enemy’ is the clearly opposite quality. The boundless state serves as an antidote for the quality mentioned as the far enemy.
| Pali | English | Description | Near Enemy | Far Enemy |
| metta | loving- kindness | good-will, friendship, unconditional love for all beings | selfish love, love with attachment |
hatred |
| karuna | compassion | empathy, to feel with someone instead of for someone | pity | cruelty |
| mudita | sympathetic joy | spontaneous joy in response to another’s success | hypocrisy | envy |
| upekkha | equanimity | even-mindedness based on insight into the nature of things | indifference | anxiety |