Awakening the Bodhi heart

Starts 11 May 2018

Opening to self and others with empathy and compassion

Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good, move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is called compassion. It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed. - The Buddha.

Genuine compassion arises as the ability to go beyond self. This requires that we transcend our preoccupation with our own happiness and suffering. This does not happen overnight. This happens through training the heart/mind (chitta). This happens by regular meditation where we see our self-cherishing for what it is and set about to consciously expand our awareness of others and learn to understand and love them.

Our starting point is openness to self and others. As meditators, one of the first things we can do is to look honestly at the world from behind another's eyes. Experience that person's craving for happiness and fear of suffering with the same immediacy that we would if their heart and mind were ours. We may see that this individual's immense hope and fear are even greater than our own. See the similarities we all share. We cannot even begin to commit ourselves to the path of selfless compassion if our mind is unable to sense the sameness of the ground we all stand upon.

Open to those familiar with the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana and practicing within the Triratna tradition.

Having empathy for others
One sees that all beings love life and fear death.
Knowing this, one does not attack or cause attack.
The Dhammapada