Compassion (Four Immeasurables)
Photo by Denny Ryanto
Compassion, or karuna, is the second of the Four Immeasurables, and it’s described as the wish that all beings experience happiness and well being. Yet this wish is not a passive hope but a deep recognition that our suffering is bound inextricably to the suffering of others. Compassion calls us to love, not from a place of charity, but from the realization of our shared humanity.
Zuisei says: “Buddhism says all beings are interdependent, which means we’re more than equal. We are one and the same. Great beings with many hands and eyes. We are Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, the one who hears the cries of the world. The one who responds to that which needs to be taken care of, that which needs to be healed.”
This talk was given by Zuisei Goddard.
Explore further
01 : Four Immeasurables
02 : I’m Black. Does America Have a Plan for My Life? by Chris Lebron
03 : The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva, translated by Padmakara Translation Group