Anthony,
My responses are embedded below: From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Anthony Wu Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2010 4:28 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Zen] Re: Compassion Bill, Welcome back from KL. What kind of reward did you bring from Mahathir Mohamad? [Bill!] I brought back a very precious gift from the land of Mahathir Mohamad. I learned that even there sugar is sweet and lemons are sour. Reward and punishment are part and parcel of our life. [Bill!] Reward and punishment are illusory; and yes, illusions are part and parcel of our life. When you design a software system, don't you intend to be rewarded? [Bill!] When I design a software system, I design a software system. When I am rewarded, I am rewarded. I don’t intend anything. …Bill! Anthony --- On Sat, 31/7/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [Zen] Re: Compassion To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, 31 July, 2010, 12:12 PM Maitreya003, My comments are embedded below: From: zen_fo...@yahoogrou ps.com [mailto:Zen_ fo...@yahoogroup s.com] On Behalf Of maitreya003 Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2010 10:35 AM To: zen_fo...@yahoogrou ps.com Subject: [Zen] Re: Compassion [Bill!...from a previous post] "The point for this thread is that this thinking of, and perhaps acting for yourself or others is spontenous and not a result of any hope for reward or fear of punishment " This is so. There should be no expectation or fear as the cause of compassionate actions, but there is a state of being to which compassion arises naturally. [Bill!] Agreed, but then it is not called compassion. [Bill!...from a previous post] "like satisfying an internal goal or external rule to be compassionate." Correct also no need to follow an external goal, however there are acts of compassion and ones that are not of compassion. [Bill!] There are no acts of compassion done. There are acts of compassion observed by others. Acts of compassion are not a rule but they are identifiable. [Bill!] Acts of Compassion may be identifiable by others, but if you are not applying judgment there are no different qualities in one act as opposed to another act to identify. Much like gravity functions, and the laws of physics function and are able to be measured and validated, so too compassion is a functioning thing. [Bill!] …and Compassion can probably be measured by an observer just as gravity can be measured: ‘a little compassion’, ‘a lot of compassion’, ‘don’t give a shit’? How would you measure it? Perhaps ‘normal’ compassion could be referred to as just ‘C’, and then twice as much compassion could be referred to as ‘2-C’s’. Maybe you could tear compassion apart and find out how it works. Then you could quantify it better by measuring it’s parts – like gravity: 32ft/sec/sec? Compassion is not a ‘functioning thing’. It’s just a label/name we put on one of our many illusory discriminations. Not all actions are compassion, not all liberated actions are compassion. [Bill!] If you’re ‘picking and choosing’ among illusions of the quality of actions, then yes – some are compassionate and some are not. If you are ‘liberated’, are not ‘picking and choosing’, then actions are just actions. It’s up to someone else to decide whether they fit their own particular definition of ‘compassionate’ or not – and maybe even to measure it. I’m now back from Kuala Lumpur…Bill! __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5328 (20100731) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset. com <http://www.eset.com/> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5328 (20100731) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset. com <http://www.eset.com/> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5329 (20100731) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5329 (20100731) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com
