Living the Compassionate Life

 

08.13.2021 LIVING THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE “For true happiness to come about, we need a calm mind,” says His Holiness the Dalai Lama in “Only Genuine Compassion Will Do.” “Such peace of mind is brought about only by a compassionate attitude.” “How can we develop this attitude?” he asks. “Obviously, it is not enough for us simply to believe that compassion is important and to think about how nice it is! We need to make a concerted effort to develop it; we must use all the events of our daily life to transform our thoughts and behavior.” In our brand new special edition, The Vision Of The Dalai Lama: Wisdom For A Compassionate World, we share a curated collection of the teachings and practices by the Dalai Lama and other spiritual leaders that embody His Holiness’s vision for a more compassionate world. This special collection allows you to explore the practice of compassion as a source of happiness and transformation through the lens of the Dalai Lama’s inspiring vision. Below, you’ll find three teachings on compassion from His Holiness, Mark Unno, and Ayya Khema that invite you to live a compassionate life. —Lilly Greenblatt, Digital Editor, Lion’s Roar

Only Genuine Compassion Will Do It’s not sufficient, says the Dalai Lama, to simply think that compassion is important. We must transform our thoughts and behavior on a daily basis to cultivate compassion without attachment. Before we can generate compassion and love, it is important to have a clear understanding of what we understand compassion and love to be. In simple terms, compassion and love can be defined as positive thoughts and feelings that give rise to such essential things in life as hope, courage, determination, and inner strength. In the Buddhist tradition, compassion and love are seen as two aspects of the same thing: Compassion is the wish for another being to be free from suffering; love is wanting them to have happiness.

Touching the Ocean of Boundless Compassion Mark Unno reflects on compassion as immersion into the sufferings of samsara, like a raindrop falling into the ocean.  Each of us rises up with life, like water seeking to escape the salty seas of samsara, forgetting that liberation rests not in escape but in immersing ourselves in the very depths of suffering. Illuminated by the limitless warmth of the sun, we are reminded to return to our own true nature, in the ocean of samsara. The clouds of ignorance release the sweet rain that descends, filling the ocean. The salty seas of samsara are transformed into the warm waters of boundless compassion.

The Four Highest Emotions  Ayya Khema on cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.  The second of the four divine abodes — the highest emotions — is compassion, whose far enemy is cruelty and whose near enemy is pity. Pity can’t give others any help. If someone pours out her heart to us and we pity her, then two people are suffering instead of one. If by contrast we give her our compassion, we help her through her trouble. It’s very important to develop compassion for oneself, because it’s the precondition for being able to do so for others. If someone doesn’t meet us lovingly, it will be easier for us to give this person compassion instead of love.

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