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Is compassion an attachment?
Here is something I've been toiling around for a while...
Is compassion an emotional attachment? I know the answer of the enlightened goes something like....It's acting without being attached to the fruits of ones actions. But I am talking about normal practitioners and their desire to be compassionate.
I guess I am asking:
1) How does one progress oneself without the internal desire to be or to achieve something?
2) If all things are inherently Empty, is compassion is a construct of Samsara?
Thoughts?
Is compassion an emotional attachment? I know the answer of the enlightened goes something like....It's acting without being attached to the fruits of ones actions. But I am talking about normal practitioners and their desire to be compassionate.
I guess I am asking:
1) How does one progress oneself without the internal desire to be or to achieve something?
2) If all things are inherently Empty, is compassion is a construct of Samsara?
Thoughts?
0
Comments
Spiritual practice is fundamentally a process of demolition. Just rest, and everything will fall apart by itself. Striving for some kind of progress is moving in the opposite direction.
On the other hand, I just reached the practices described in the last chapter of the book I've been working from for the last 9 years! Yay! Enlightenment is just around the corner!
This reads like a non sequitur. What do you mean?
awaken mind sees how absurd those who are not awakened work hard to achieve unfruitful goals in their lives
so it is inevitable that awaken mind have compassion for those who are not awakened
that is why it says that Lord Buddha had/have/will have the greatest compassion for all
I just heard HHDL say that some desires are good. Like the desire to be more still, the desire to become enlightened and so forth. I think even those desires fall away at some point, but they are useful to get someone to the level of focus where they naturally fade.
Compassion is not a construction, rather it is (sometimes described as a) resonance that occurs in the absence of constructions. Striving for compassion could prevent it, sure, depending on how intense you were on compassion. Usually (at least in a few cases I've seen) shifting that intense striving into a meditative focus becomes one of the tasks of the teacher. If focused on the moment, compassion arises naturally. If focused on compassion, you might lose focus on where you are, making striving for compassion just another clinging.
In my experience at least
With warmth,
Matt
M
I'm feeling fivebells' reasoning though:
A compassionate act may not always be manifestly kind or compassionate. Compassion might entail witholding, or denial of something.
Compassion is not always about giving and enabling.
Compassion is about doing whatever is best and kindest for the receiver. Even if it's not perceived that way.
An enlightened Mind would know what that would be.
Yes, absolutely - and I think when we're still on the path we can get rather dewy eyed and romantic about what we imagine compassion to be. When I was younger I got myself into all sorts of silly situations with a kind of 'love and peace' mentality that I imagined to be spontaneous compassion - but which was seriously lacking in any wisdom and common sense!
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