Any Ideas?Compassion
can be roughly defined in terms of a state of mind that is non-violent and non-harming,
or non- aggressive. Because of this there is a danger of confusing compassion
with attachment and intimacy.
So we find that there are two types of love
or compassion. On the one hand is compassion or love which is based on attachment
or which is tinged with attachment. That type of love or compassion and feeling
of intimacy is quite partial and biased, and it is based very much on the consideration
that the object of one's affection or attachment is someone who is dear or close
to one. On the other hand, genuine compassion is free from such attachment. There
the motivation is not so much that this person is my friend, is dear to me or
related to me. Rather, genuine compassion is based on the rationale that just
as I do, others also have this innate desire to be happy and overcome suffering;
just as I do, they have the natural right to fulfil this fundamental aspiration.
Based on that recognition of this fundamental equality and commonality, one develops
a sense of affinity and closeness, and based on that, one will generate love and
compassion. That is genuine compassion.
It is also very clear that one's
level of intelligence or wisdom is a complementary factor that will determine
the intensity and the depth of one's compassion. In Buddhism, there are discussions
of three principal types of compassion. One is a compassion that is not complemented
by any wisdom factors. A second level of compassion is complemented by insight
into the transient nature of sentient beings, their impermanent nature. At the
third level of compassion, called non-objectified compassion, the complementary
factor is wisdom or insight into the ultimate nature of reality. At this level
one sees the empty nature of sentient beings, and that insight reinforces one's
compassionate attitude towards sentient beings. Even though this type of genuine
compassion and infinite altruism is something that needs to be consciously cultivated
and developed, we all possess the basis or potential for such enhancement and
such development.
One of my fundamental beliefs is that not only do we inherently
possess this potential or basis for compassion, but also the basic or fundamental
human nature is gentleness. Not only human beings but all sentient beings have
gentleness as their fundamental nature. There are other grounds on which I base
this belief, without having to resort to the doctrine of Buddha-nature. For example,
if we look at the pattern of our existence from an early age until our death,
we see the way in which we are so fundamentally nurtured by affection, each other's
affection, and how we feel when we are exposed to others' affection. In addition,
when we ourselves have affectionate feelings we see how it naturally affects us
from within. Not only that, but also being affectionate and being more wholesome
in our behaviour and thought seems to be much more suited to the physical structure
of our body in terms of its effect on our health and physical well-being, and
so on. It must also be noted how the contrary seems to be destructive to health.
For these reasons I think that we can infer that our fundamental human nature
is one of gentleness. Now if this is the case, then it makes all the more sense
to try to live a way of life which would be more in accordance with this basic
gentle nature of our being.
However, we do find a lot of conflict and tension
not only within our individual mind but also within the family, when we interact
with other people, and also at the social level, the national level, the global
level, and so on. How do we account for that?
One of the factors, I think,
that contributes to this conflict is our imaginative faculty, or in other words,
intelligence. It is also our intelligence that can find ways and means to overcome
this conflict. So in using human intelligence to overcome this conflict which
is created by human intelligence, the important factor is human compassion. I
think if we look at the reality, it is quite clear that the best way to overcome
conflict is the spirit of reconciliation, even within oneself. That spirit has
very much to do with compassion.
One aspect of compassion is to respect others'
rights and to respect others' views. That is the basis of reconciliation. I think
the rule of the human spirit of reconciliation that is based on compassion is
working deep down, whether the person really knows it or not. Therefore, because
our basic human nature is gentleness, no matter how much we go through violence
and many bad things, ultimately the proper solution is to return to the basic
human feeling, that is, human affection. So human affection or compassion is not
only a religious matter, but in our day-to-day life it is quite indispensable.