What is compassion? It is not simply a
sense of sympathy or caring for the person suffering, not simply a warmth of
heart toward the person before you, or a sharp clarity of recognition of their
needs and pain, it is also a sustained determination to do whatever is possible
and necessary to help alleviate their suffering.
Glimpse After
Glimpse
Sogyal
Rinpoche
&
Clearly, these are
times in which compassion isn't a luxury of the idle… if it ever has been. I
have a hard time with it because there is so much to despise going on in the
world. It takes a constant monitoring of, and balancing of, emotions with
reason to be able to sort things out. The immediate temptation is to go to the
defaults; accusation, blame, resentment and anger. Tyranny reigns over one venue
of oppression or another; whether it is political, religious or in plain and simple
interpersonal relationships. I can’t imagine managing these feelings without
pausing and relying on a Power greater than myself. I prefer to call God in
specific terms, the Heart of Compassion, because in calling God that I define
who and what it is I am relying upon. If I rely on an abstract and vague concept
for God, I can color it any way I wish… and history has shown that corruption
and every sort of religious dementia, inquisition and fatwa’s, over how God is
defined, or demands, arises out of what mad men have called God.
As
I meditate on the Heart of Compassion, something miraculous happens: my heart
opens up and, beyond emotion and reason, a clarity of mind sees through to its
dominion. A rhythm resonates deep within… I breathe… becoming grateful for my
breath my heart beats. The universe takes on a fresh perspective and I see you
in a new light… heart to heart. Leaders of the world of commerce and industry… nations
and armies… the grey-back gorillas among us become equals… don’t have to sucked-up
to or feared. We see each other at ground level… the attitude is infectious. In
Aikido they call it melding… turning negative energy around… around but not
against itself… for itself… ourselves. No longer fighting anyone or anything,
there is peace… there are solutions, not problems. The means become commiserate
with the ends instead of justifying them. Yielding to the Heart of Compassion
my heart becomes compassionate.
geo, 5,370
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