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Why strong focus on compassion in Buddhism?
emergingThought
New
Compassion, according to dictionary.com, is "a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering".
It is, to my knowledge, one of the central themes and practices of Buddhism.
I wonder why this SPECIFIC feeling towards other beings has such a dominant role in Buddhism and not a more GENERAL feeling such as affection, from which more specific feelings such as compassion and sympathetic joy would follow naturally.
My personal answer so far is as follows: Compassion has such a central role in Buddhism because the religion and/or philosophy aims to alleviate suffering, so one's feeling to the suffering of beings (others and oneself) is heavily emphasised.
Please share your thoughts with me. I will be grateful for your replies :-)
It is, to my knowledge, one of the central themes and practices of Buddhism.
I wonder why this SPECIFIC feeling towards other beings has such a dominant role in Buddhism and not a more GENERAL feeling such as affection, from which more specific feelings such as compassion and sympathetic joy would follow naturally.
My personal answer so far is as follows: Compassion has such a central role in Buddhism because the religion and/or philosophy aims to alleviate suffering, so one's feeling to the suffering of beings (others and oneself) is heavily emphasised.
Please share your thoughts with me. I will be grateful for your replies :-)
0
Comments
For briefness I personally treat them as the same thing, I call compassion.
Compassion – in my book – is what we feel about someone else’s fate when there is no selfish interest involved, or this selfish interest is disregarded. We share the joy and we share the pain other people feel.
(That’s maybe what separates it form affection, which is more about me and what I love.)
Given there is only one “me” and there are billions of “others”, the number of emotions for us to experience explodes, due to compassion. Our emotional lives would be miserably poor without other people’s emotions to share.
Our brains do the trick with mirror neurons. They produce pain and comfort in our minds when we see it in other people. In fact - I understood - the mind needs to be corrected by other brain cells. The brain checks if anything is wrong with our skin and sends the message that everything is fine. Without this message the mirror neurons would actually produce physical pain if we see someone else is hurting. Pain in a phantom limb apparently can be reduced by watching how someone else’s corresponding (and real) limb is getting a massage.
Compassion is in our system. It is part of our brain.
We don’t need too much moral reasoning, because compassionate actions come naturally from our hearts. When we practice mindfulness - giving all our attention to what is happening here and now without adding words, concepts and preferences – we don’t become monsters.
Mindfulness includes compassion.
What is here and now is naturally pure, and also deeply connects all sentient beings.
“How can a drop of water avoid drying up?
- By throwing itself into the ocean.”
(That’s from the movie Samsara.)
We can avoid drying up emotionally by throwing ourselves into the ocean of mindfulness and compassion.
Is it okay if I mention the “source” of this?
http://www.zenforfree.nl/texts.htm#compassion
immeasurable equanimty. This is technically not one of the seven parts but is more general and comes before. (1) understanding all sentient beings to be your mother; (2) remembering their kindness; (3) repaying their kindness; (4) love through the force of attraction; (5) compassion; (6)altruism; (7) bodhicitta
So in this method affection comes before compassion. My personal view in general is close to zenff's. That the seed of compassion is biologically hardwired into us and all we need to do is grab onto that to increase the intensity and increase the size of our "in group" by reflecting on how other people have an impact on our lives.
As for the central role compassion plays. One of my favorites quotes from the buddha is "I teach one thing and one only: that is, suffering and the end of suffering". The easing and removal of suffering is basically the definition of compassion and its at the heart of buddhism.
If compassion is simply a feeling -- however benevolent -- it would send a man like Ta Hui straight to hell. And yet he too spoke up for compassion.
Perhaps compassion has a meaning that lies outside a kind of uber-niceness in which self and other are paramount?
Always when the wisdom of non-grasping occurs we see more lovingly. And when we practice love it helps us to grasp less! For example if you love your wife and you have had an argument you will later apologize and try to work through the difficulty.
We are just beginning to understand the concept of empathy and consequences of it to ‘our self’’.
Most of us are involved with our own ego.
Even feeling and understanding emotion and motivation of others – is too difficult.
Acting on it is even further.
The Buddha taught from loving-kindness or friendliness (metta), mature emotions such as compassion and sympathetic joy follow naturally.
However, returning to the original quuestion, the Buddha taught compassion ends suffering where as "affection" creates suffering.
With metta!
DD
1. Metta overcomes hatred
2. Compassion overcomes cruelty
3. Appreciative joy overcomes jealousy
4. The perception of impermanence overcomes the egoistic thought
Good comments above. I will add/simplify these:
- it helps weaken the ego
- it facilitates concentration and meditation