法界次第初門 1.258

1.258

As for expounding the four immeasurable minds after the four dhyānas: the four dhyānas are merely the virtues of self-realized meditative absorption and do not yet possess the merit of benefiting others. Therefore, those who delight in great virtue should pity all sentient beings and cultivate the four immeasurable meditative absorptions of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. That these four are collectively called 'immeasurable minds' is derived from their objects: because the sentient beings that are taken as objects are immeasurable, the minds that take them as objects likewise become immeasurable in accordance with the objects; hence they all receive the name 'immeasurable minds'.