Training the Mind in Compassion
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An explanation by Ven Sangye Khadro
When you think of the Buddha, his life and deeds, what comes to your mind? Which among his many qualities do you find most inspiring and worthy of respect? I asked this question recently to a group of Polytechnic students who I have been teaching in Singapore, and nearly every one of them answered, "Compassion." They were inspired by the way the Buddha treated everyone with gentle, kind-hearted compassion; even his rivals and detractors; even his cousin Devadatta who was fiercely jealous of the Buddha and tried on several occasions to kill him. Moreover, the Buddha's compassion extended beyond the human realm to include animals and all other beings, and he taught his followers to practice likewise. The first and most important precept in Buddhism is to try as much as possible to refrain from killing or harming any living being, even the tiniest of insects
Compassion is a quality desperately needed in the world today. If there could be more compassion in people's hearts and lives, if more people could develop the awareness that: "Just as I do not like being hurt, others also do not like being hurt, so we should stop hurting each other," then there would be far fewer stories in the news about war, terrorism and violent crimes. All the cruel things human beings do to one another are due to a lack of compassion. It is compassion that keeps us from harming others. My teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, has pointed out that if we can develop compassion for all beings, then all beings are safe from being harmed by us. All beings, especially those around us, have nothing to fear from us, so indirectly our development of compassion brings peace to everyone. Imagine what the world would be like if we were all to develop such compassion! -
So now the question is, how do we develop and practice compassion? Actually, compassion is something that already exists in each and every one of us. It is just a matter of learning how to get in touch with it and how to expand it so that we can feel it more often and for more people. There are many Buddhist texts teaching methods for cultivating compassion. The one explained here, the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, was written by a Tibetan meditator and teacher, Geshe Langri Tangpa, nearly one thousand years ago.
The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation
by Geshe Langri Tangpa
1
With the thought of attaining enlightenment
For the welfare of all beings,
Who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel,
I will constantly practice holding them dear.
2
Whenever I am with others
I will practice seeing myself as the lowest of all,
And from the very depth of my heart
I will respectfully hold others as supreme.
3
In all actions I will examine my mind
And the moment a disturbing attitude arises,
Endangering myself and others,
I will firmly confront and avert it.
4
Whenever I meet a person of bad nature
Who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering,
I will hold such a rare one dear,
As if I had found a precious treasure.
5
When others, out of jealousy,
Mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on,
I will practice accepting defeat
And offer the victory to them.
6
When someone I have benefited
And in whom I have placed great trust
Hurts me very badly,
I will practice seeing that person as my supreme teacher.
7
In short, I will offer directly and indirectly
Every benefit and happiness to all beings, my mothers.
I will practice in secret taking upon myself
All their harmful actions and sufferings.
8
Without these practices being defiled by the stains of the eight worldly concerns,
By perceiving all phenomena as illusory,
I will practice without grasping to release all beings
From the bondage of the disturbing unsubdued mind and karma. -
COMPASSION AND WISDOM
Compassion is deep empathy for another being's suffering and misfortune. When fully realized, it is accompanied by a desire to alleviate the suffering, or remove its cause. Wisdom is deep understanding. When fully realized, the true nature of the universe and of human life is fully understood. Wisdom and compassion are both essential to realizing the Buddha-way. Without one or the other, the way is only half-realized, and we who practice it are not yet complete.
Wisdom without compassion is cold and unfeeling. Compassion without wisdom is directionless pity. Wisdom with compassion manifests as understanding the causes of suffering, deeply feeling our own and another's pain, and knowing what to do about both.
Wisdom and compassion come together like our right and left hands when we put them together palm-to-palm in the Oriental gesture of respect and devotion called gassho in Japanese. The right hand is wisdom; the left, compassion. When they come together, they make Buddha, the completely realized awakened one.
Nonin Chowaney
Abbot, Heartland Temple -
Originally posted by path_seeker:
Very well said!
[b]COMPASSION AND WISDOM
Compassion is deep empathy for another being's suffering and misfortune. When fully realized, it is accompanied by a desire to alleviate the suffering, or remove its cause. Wisdom is deep understanding. When fully realized, the true nature of the universe and of human life is fully understood. Wisdom and compassion are both essential to realizing the Buddha-way. Without one or the other, the way is only half-realized, and we who practice it are not yet complete.
Wisdom without compassion is cold and unfeeling. Compassion without wisdom is directionless pity. Wisdom with compassion manifests as understanding the causes of suffering, deeply feeling our own and another's pain, and knowing what to do about both.
Wisdom and compassion come together like our right and left hands when we put them together palm-to-palm in the Oriental gesture of respect and devotion called gassho in Japanese. The right hand is wisdom; the left, compassion. When they come together, they make Buddha, the completely realized awakened one.
Nonin Chowaney
Abbot, Heartland Temple[/b]
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Each of the eight verses of this thought-transformation text highlights a different way in which we can transform our thoughts from being uncompassionate and self-centered, to being more compassionate and concerned about others. This is because the main obstacle to developing compassion is self-centeredness, also called "the self-cherishing attitude". It is the self-cherishing attitude that makes us think: "me first; my needs and wishes are more important than those of others." Cherishing ourselves more than others we behave uncompassionately. For example, there may be an elderly woman who lives alone in your neighborhood. You are aware that she is lonely, has few visitors and finds it difficult to get around or do things for herself because of poor health. You may think about visiting her and offering your help, but you never actually get around to doing that because you think: "Oh, if I spend time talking with her or doing things for her, I'll have less time to do the things I want to do." Sounds familiar? If so, it is not surprising, because the self-cherishing attitude is something that each of us has.
We can overcome selfishness and become more caring and compassionate. It is just a question of gradually training our mind, learning to transform our thoughts so that we are less concerned with me -- what I want, what I need, what makes me happy -- and more concerned about others -- what they want and need, what makes them happy. The Eight Verses explains how to do this.
There are several ways of using this text. You could simply read through it from time to time, pausing to reflect on the meaning of each verse and how it could apply to your life. Better still, you could memorize it, so that the verses become part of your mindstream. This way, when you find yourself in a difficult situation, the verses may suddenly come to mind, as if giving you advice on how to handle the situation.
There is also a way of using the Eight Verses as part of a daily meditation practice. To do this, think of, or visualize, the Buddha or Avalokitesvara (Kuan Yin) in front of you, and read or recite the verses while praying for blessings and inspiration to be able to put the meaning of each verse into practice in your daily life. The practice of thought transformation, and of compassion itself, is truly challenging. Initially we may feel incapable of practicing the Eight Verses. But do not be discouraged! Merely reading through them can give us inspiration, and if we are willing to invest time and energy in the practice of training our mind, we will definitely experience a transformation. -
The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation
An explanation by Ven Sangye Khadro
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~chungsa/d-8v.html