Best Way To Show Compassion?
QUESTION: "What is the best way for people of faith to show compassion?"ANSWER: Developing compassion for others is one of the highest ideals in all of Buddhism. Compassion is one of the outstanding qualities of enlightened beings. From the Buddhist perspective, compassion is the desire to alleviate the suffering of all beings without any distinction or discrimination. We exclude no one. We include even those who are mean and nasty to us, who we might label as "enemy."
Genuine compassion entails first recognizing the suffering in the world and then opening our heart to this suffering. Our natural tendency is to want to avoid suffering whether it is our own or someone else's. Wanting to alleviate the suffering of all beings may be a bit overwhelming. It is like being asked to swallow the entire ocean. It is important that we don't let this overwhelm or depress us, but instead use it to develop a tenderness of heart.
It is important that we combine our compassion with wisdom. For example, we of course would not want to give alcohol to the alcoholic or drugs to the drug addict. This would only keep them stuck in suffering. This is what one of my teachers refers to as 'idiot compassion" or psychologists refer to as codependency.
Once our heart opens to the suffering of others it becomes easier to respond to every situation with compassion and kindness.
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