The heart of compassion can be expressed in these lines of aspiration:
“May I be free from suffering and its causes. May all beings be free from suffering and its causes.”
Compassion is felt as a quivering commiseration in the heart. The compassionate heart is softer than the petals of a flower. Compassion lives in a wise resonance with the tender and painful aspects of life.
As the heart opens with acceptance, it becomes large enough to hold our existential suffering with increasing truth and respect. With growing compassion there is less shame associated with the truth of suffering. The belief that we are somehow being punished dissolves away into an oceanic experience of sympathy and forgiveness.
The compassion exemplar is the same mother-child relationship that remains undisturbed by fear and aversion when the child is suffering. The practice of compassion allows for sustained and unobstructed presence of mind as the darker side of life is lifted into the light of awareness.
Pity is the near enemy to compassion, for it has a hidden quality of aversion. The delusion of pity comes, in part, from the belief that if we hold ourselves as separate, we are protecting ourselves in some way. Compassion dissolves the boundaries dividing our hearts in two. With growing compassion, we are less apt to look away, to withdraw our attention, to abandon or be abandoned.
(Source: Based on https://www.brahmaviharas.org/karuna/)
As we develop the mind of compassion, from the very depths of our heart, we radiate in all directions the sincere wish for all living beings to be free from suffering and the causes that bring suffering. The immeasurable quality of compassion (or mercy) is a wise heartfelt motivation to relieve the pain, sorrow, and suffering of others.
This sublime compassion arises from our genuine concern for others and manifests as selfless acts of physical and spiritual charity. With true compassion we have deep insight into the causes of human suffering. Therefore, we are able to serve others in wise, loving, calm, and skilful ways without being overwhelmed by our feelings of pity, grief, or sadness.
In this way, compassion opens the heart and dissolves cruelty, selfishness, and narrow-mindedness. Our compassion – our sincere wish that all beings be free from suffering – must extend even further than those to whom we feel close. Our compassion must extend to and embrace all living beings throughout all realms of existence for it to become sublime, limitless, and immeasurable.
(Source: Based on http://sourcepointglobaloutreach.org/what-we-offer/ The Heart of Dharma Collection)
Three Elements of Compassion
Compassion is inherent in our very nature as human beings. It is natural to us. We do not need to create it. Cultivating compassion does not mean injecting some new, improved element into ourselves so that we can work more effectively. Instead, we simply uncover the compassion that is already there. How do we begin? We begin by examining the ways in which we mask this fundamental human quality.
Compassion has three major components: awareness, friendliness, and openness.
We begin with awareness because it is important at the start to be clear about who we are – not who we wish to be, not who we hope we are, and not what others have told us we are or should be. When we are not constantly struggling to be something or somebody, we are not so hampered by our preconceptions, and we can see more clearly.
Friendliness is an extension of awareness because, as we become more honest with ourselves, more willing to drop false identities, we feel a fresh sense of appreciation for who we are. It is a relief when we have nothing left to hide and nothing in particular to promote. The warmth and appreciation that we feel when we begin to accept ourselves leads, in turn, to an increased appreciation of others.
By cultivating both awareness and friendliness, we also begin to develop greater openness. As a result of greater awareness, experiences and identities that we took to be solid begin to crumble. We are less caught in fixed views and more open to new perspectives. As a result of greater friendliness, we begin to be more appreciative of ourselves and others. Not only are our views less solid, but our heart also begins to open up.
By cultivating awareness, friendliness, and openness, we are making room for compassion to peek through. We discover that if there is an opening for it, compassion is always present. Compassion arises on its own if we let it. It does not need to be forced but arises as a natural and appropriate response to the need at hand.
Compassion is based on empathy, being touched by the suffering of others. There are many levels of empathy. Someone who is greatly compassionate is so touched by the suffering of others that it cuts him deeply. He feels its sharpness as if it were a hair brushing the surface of his eye. Most of us are not that sensitive. When we notice the suffering of others, it is more like a hair brushing the palm of our hand.
Often, our sensitivity to suffering is limited. On top of that, we have learned to harden our hearts further as a way of coping with the intensity of life and death.
However, it is possible to reverse this closing-down process and reconnect with our own heart. Instead of hiding from suffering, we could let ourselves feel its sharpness. Then our awareness, friendliness, and openness can blossom into true compassion, which is the will and commitment to help all beings and to relieve suffering whenever we encounter it.
(Source: Based on Shambhala Publications Authors. Radical Compassion. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2014.)
In summary, we need to cultivate and practice compassion for both the present, and future suffering, of people near and far – who are, or will be, reaping what either they themselves or others have unfortunately sown.
Since all humans and the earth are interconnected, the effects of our virtuous and non-virtuous actions also interconnect and affect both ourselves and other people.
In the context of the suffering brought about by scams, our compassionate hearts should especially extend to:
(1) Other victims of scam theft and loss – and the numbers are increasing – of which some may have been financially devastated and are now grievously suffering.
(2) Perpetrators of scam and fraud who, while they may be presently living scot-free, will reap suffering and misery in their lives in due time. This, of course, is due to the unfailing universal law of cause and effect (the law of compensation) – and which will continue to operate in their next life, based on their actions in this life. With our compassionate hearts, may we pray that those involved in perpetrating scams will quickly awaken to and recognize how their actions have brought untold misery and grief to others – and swiftly turn from their ways, before having to reap tremendous suffering in their own lives!
(3) Finally, may our compassion also embrace those who have lost homes, savings, family members, health, and other precious possessions through such ways as crime, malpractices, war, persecution, genocide, famine, disease, earthquakes, and weather disasters.
Alexander and Eva Peck