QUESTION: What, according to Buddhism, is compassion?
ANSWER: Just as wisdom covers the intellectual or comprehending side of our nature, compassion covers the emotional or feeling side. Like wisdom, compassion is a uniquely human quality. Compassion is made up of two words, Co meaning ‘together’ and passion meaning ‘a strong feeling.’ And this is what compassion is. When we see someone in distress and we feel their pain as if it were our own, and strive to eliminate or lessen their pain, then that is compassion. All the best in human beings, all the Buddha—like qualities like sharing, readiness to give comfort, sympathy, concern and caring — all these things arc manifestations of compassion. You will notice also that in the compassionate person, care and love towards others has its origins in care and love for oneself. We can best understand others when we really understand ourselves. We will know what’s best for others when we know what’s best for ourselves. We can feel for others when we feel for ourselves. So in Buddhism, one’s spiritual development blossoms quite naturally into concern for the welfare of others. The Buddha’s life illustrates this principle very well. He spent six years struggling for his own welfare after which he was able to be of benefit to the whole of humankind.
ANSWER: Just as wisdom covers the intellectual or comprehending side of our nature, compassion covers the emotional or feeling side. Like wisdom, compassion is a uniquely human quality. Compassion is made up of two words, Co meaning ‘together’ and passion meaning ‘a strong feeling.’ And this is what compassion is. When we see someone in distress and we feel their pain as if it were our own, and strive to eliminate or lessen their pain, then that is compassion. All the best in human beings, all the Buddha—like qualities like sharing, readiness to give comfort, sympathy, concern and caring — all these things arc manifestations of compassion. You will notice also that in the compassionate person, care and love towards others has its origins in care and love for oneself. We can best understand others when we really understand ourselves. We will know what’s best for others when we know what’s best for ourselves. We can feel for others when we feel for ourselves. So in Buddhism, one’s spiritual development blossoms quite naturally into concern for the welfare of others. The Buddha’s life illustrates this principle very well. He spent six years struggling for his own welfare after which he was able to be of benefit to the whole of humankind.
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