Beginning with “The Four Noble Truths”¹, “The Noble Eightfold Path”², and so on, the Buddha was a list-maker. I recently found a wonderful book, now out of print but freely available as a pdf. By David Snyder, Ph.D., it is called “The Complete Book of Buddha’s Lists - Explained”

Snyder does a brilliant job of reinterpreting these lists and framing them in the context of what the social sciences say about how we function individually and in groups.

I was particularly struck by his treatment of The Four Brahmavihārās, along with their near and far enemies.

Brahmavihārās	Meaning	Near enemy	Far enemy
metta	loving-kindness	self-affection	painful ill-will
karuna	compassion	pity	cruelty
mudita	sympathetic joy	exuberance	resentment
upekkha	equanimity	indifference	craving, clinging

Whether the book is a useful introduction to Buddhist philosophy and practice would be a matter of debate; but for someone who understands its basic tenets, the book is outstanding.

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1. 1. It is in the nature of life to suffer. 2. Suffering is caused by desire. 3. Suffering ceases when we let go of desires. 4. There is a process for letting go of desires. Sometimes I think that the word “desire” is too loaded in English. I like David Snyder’s interpretation; he reframes it as “unreasonable expectations.” ↩︎

2. As the name implies, eight practices of mind and being in the world that yield liberation from the suffering caused by desires. An article on the Noble Eightfold Path. ↩︎