Author Topic: What according to Buddhism is compassion?  (Read 10508 times)

maricisun

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Re: What according to Buddhism is compassion?
« Reply #15 on: March 30, 2014, 02:54:24 PM »
Compassion. It is just a word people offer misunderstood the real meaning of it. When we help someone we think we have compassion. When we do something great for someone willingly we think it is compassion.
According to Buddhism, compassion should be an act of selflessness. Helping people without any condition
Without expecting anything back from others.
But most people think kindness is compassion.

Matibhadra

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Re: What according to Buddhism is compassion?
« Reply #16 on: April 05, 2014, 06:27:27 AM »
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When we help someone we think we have compassion.

Which is a correct thought. Merely wishing to help others is already compassion, let alone actually helping others.

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When we do something great for someone willingly we think it is compassion.

Even if we do something small, and even if we merely wish doing something small for the benefit of others, it is already compassion, and such compassion is the very root of the path. One should not despise it.

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But most people think kindness is compassion.

Kindness and compassion share the same nature, which is the wish to benefit others. If you despise kindness, you despise compassion, and despise the very root of the path.

buddhalovely

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Re: What according to Buddhism is compassion?
« Reply #17 on: April 05, 2014, 03:55:17 PM »
A quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from The Compassionate Life"

"Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Because of this firm foundation, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for their problem. This is genuine compassion.
For a Buddhist practitioner, the goal is to develop this genuine compassion, this genuine wish for the well-being of another, in fact for every living being throughout the universe."

The way I see it to put it very very brief it's unconditional kindness to all sentient beings

Matibhadra

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Re: What according to Buddhism is compassion?
« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2014, 06:52:02 PM »
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A quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from The Compassionate Life"

The evil dalai, having broken his relationship with his own root gurus, lacks any authoritativeness on Buddhist subjects, and anyway Buddhist subjects are not supposed to be approached on the basis of mere authority, but rather on the basis of direct perception and inference.

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"Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason.

There is no such thing as ”true compassion”. Every compassion, being a deceptive truth, is necessarily a falsity. Besides, even animals do have compassion, although they do lack ”a firm commitment based on reason”, which shows that the thoughtless statement of the evil dalai is just un-Buddhistic mumbo-jumbo.

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Because of this firm foundation, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively.

Even if someone's compassion seems to be flickering, it is always there, otherwise one would lack the buddha potential. And, although there are degrees of compassion, there is no such thing as ”true” and ”untrue” compassionate attitude. For any sentient beings, compassion is always a reality, and always untrue.

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Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for their problem. This is genuine compassion.

Compassion, or the wish to alleviate the suffering of others, even if mixed with lack of equanimity, and even if mixed with projections and expectations, is still compassion. It may not be infinite compassion, or great compassion, but it is still compassion, and never ”genuine”, but always false, anyway.

The evil dalai is obviously trying to imply that people whose compassion is mixed, which applies to almost everyone, lack the buddha potential, and thus should be dependent on him, the evil dalai, just as Christians are induced to feel guilty and incapable, and thus to rely on a ”savior”.

Therefore, one should be wary of misguided, un-Buddhistic teachings passed on by charlatans such as the evil dalai, lacking any Buddhist lineage, and aimed at inducing people into the belief that we lack the buddha-potential, and into the evil belief in ”true”, ”genuine”, or intrinsic existence.

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For a Buddhist practitioner, the goal is to develop this genuine compassion, this genuine wish for the well-being of another, in fact for every living being throughout the universe."

The evil dalai proposes that people develop what does not and cannot exist, such as a ”true” or ”genuine” compassion. As above, there is no such distinction between ”true” and ”false” compassion, because compassion, being a deceptive reality, is necessarily false.

And such compassion, false as it is, and whether or not it extends to ”every living being throughout the universe”, is always compassion, and is always present in sentient beings, even hell beings, hungry ghosts, or animals, because it is the sign of the very buddha potential the evil dalai wants to deny.

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The way I see it to put it very very brief it's unconditional kindness to all sentient beings

Maybe in dalaite, non-Buddhistic, evil teachings, not according to Buddhadharma.

”Unconditional kindneess to all sentient beings” is great compassion, but infinite compassion and mere compassion are compassion too, which the evil dalai wants to devaluate, in order to promote himself as the new ”savior” of his own devious personality cult.

Matibhadra

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Re: What according to Buddhism is compassion?
« Reply #19 on: April 05, 2014, 07:04:16 PM »
Where it reads

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Every compassion, being a deceptive truth, is necessarily a falsity.

Please read, ”Every compassion, being a deceptive reality, is necessarily a falsity”.

brian

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Re: What according to Buddhism is compassion?
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2014, 06:19:31 AM »
HH Dalai Lama long being regarded as the Chenrizig, Buddha of Compassion. Why is he still not lifting the banning of Dorje Shugden practitioners? It bothers me quite a lot seeing a lot of the practitioners suffering from the discrimination and hardships from HH Dalai Lama's banning of Dorje Shugden. So tell me what is compassion...