Compassion towards even this?

megahuman

There are some people who commit crimes, and they are remorseful for them, but what about some people who rape children or women and murder, but feel no regret? I feel terrible that they do such things, but how do you have forgiveness to them, and especially if it's happened to someone you know or yourself even? I imagine it would be terrible if you or someone you knew was raped/murdered but how would you forgive them, when they feel no remorse?

Cloud

Only when you understand that there is no difference, no separate nature or essence from your own. All are conditioned, caught in a cycle of suffering based on ignorance of the way things truly are. Those who are so lost as these deserve our compassion the most; not to condone or accept their behavior, but to understand how they are just as caught in this cycle as we are, their ignorance giving rise to unskillful and unwholesome actions. The end of their suffering would mean the end of the suffering of other beings as well. We should wish them the conditions to awaken from their ignorance; whatsoever society does to restrain them from harming others, still we should have compassion that their suffering ends.

It takes a while; practice. That's why it's called such.

johnathan

Well put Cloud...

megahuman

Well put indeed, thank you both!

pegembara

True compassion is choiceless.

Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?" Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.

de Mello

Fran45

Cloud's answer is excellent. Thank you.

Theswingisyellow

With the thought of attaining Enlightenment
for the welfare of all beings
who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel
I will constantly practise holding them dear.
Whenever I am with others, I will practise
seeing myself as the lowest of all
and from the very depths of my heart
I will respectfully hold others as supreme.
In all actions I will examine my mind
and the moment a disturbing attitude arises,
endangering myself or others,
I will firmly confront and avert it.
Whenever I meet a person of bad nature,
overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering
I will hold such a rare one dear
as if I’ve found a precious treasure.
When others out of jealousy
mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on
I will practise accepting defeat
and offering the victory to them.
When someone I have benefited and in whom
I have placed great trust, hurts me very badly
I will practise seeing that person
as my supreme teacher.
In short, I will offer directly and indirectly
every benefit and happiness to all beings, my mothers.
I will practise in secret taking upon myself
all their harmful actions and sufferings.
Without these practices being defiled
by the eight worldly concerns,
by perceiving all phenomena as illusory
I will practise without grasping to release all beings
from the bondage of the disturbing unsubdued mind and karma.
by Geshe Langri Tangpa
http://tsemtulku.com/teachings/heart-advice/
Yours in the Dhamma/Dharma,
Todd

megahuman

Again, thanks for the posts.
More input is always appreciated.

Anupassī

I recall one simile from the suttas where cruel and vicious people are compared to wanderers lost in the desert. The worse they are, the more heat-stricken and dehydrated they are in that desert. It ought to be shown to them how to get to water (virtue) so that they can recover (become happier and less harmful to others and themselves). And some people are so addled and stricken by the heat and the dry air that they cannot move to a place of water. Those people need your compassion the most, because the physical anguish they are suffering from lack of water and from hyperthermia is some of the worst possible. Try at least to give them water directly (break through their vicious habits forcefully), but if even that will not help them, give them mercy. These people that cannot move and cannot be revived are those who are so wrapped up in the momentum of their cruelty and their avarice that they cannot be taught of virtue. They are the ones that need compassion the most, because everything they do is reinforcing their suffering.

megahuman

That's an understandable simile, thank you for that.

caz

People are constantly battered by their delusions time after time, From small actions of self-cherishing, To heavy Deluded ones that make them think the happiness they are looking for lays maiming and murdering a sentient being or much worse, Lamrim training is very good here remembering Birth after Birth I have take and at some stage even the person who has committed the most foul and horrendous actions has been my mother who has cared for me and cherished me, It is only out of Delusion that they act in a way that causes them to be a great harm. All blame lays at the feet of Delusion!


Would one become angry with the stick because it beat you ? The answer people would give would be no because the stick was weilded by the person. In the same way The person who commits such negativity is being weilded by delusion, They have little or no control over their actions.

Is anger against such people justified ? Im sure some would say yes. But from a Buddhist perspective anger only ever results in suffering. The actions they have committed cannot be undone If we hold onto our anger it is like holding on to a white hot metal rod, It burns away at us and only increases our suffering the longer we hold it, Would we really wish to hold onto a mind that was a similar cause to such people committing these henious actions in the first place ? Gather all blame into one !

megahuman

"All blame lays at the feet of Delusion!


Would one become angry with the stick because it beat you ? The answer people would give would be no because the stick was weilded by the person. In the same way The person who commits such negativity is being weilded by delusion, They have little or no control over their actions."

How would they be weilded by delusion- in thinking that harming this person would make them feel better? If so, then that I understand.