Hi, Edgar
Thanks a lot for inviting me!
A pleasure to join, although I fear that I would be more a lurker and learner
than a relevant poster.
Need to learn so much!
With best wishes
Lluís
----- Original Message -----
From: Edgar Owen
To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 12:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Zen] Re: FW: Quote from St. Thomas Aquinas
Hi Lluis, glad you could join the group!
Edgar
On Nov 2, 2010, at 5:24 PM, Lluís Mendieta wrote:
Good evening to all
Just a new member, that feels buddhist, albeit in Mahayana or Tantrayana,
not exactly Zen
In Buddhism, as I understand, nothing is "ones personal".
All is for all sentient beings.
Compassion is not a badge.
Is what we should feel, as we need as a whole
We all should reach nirvana. And no one will be free when still any
sentient being has not reached nirvana. Or so I have understood. And I know
that is hard, specially for me that I am not native english speaker, to
verbalize such concepts
Boddhishatva will explain...
Anyway, my best wihes to all and my special wishes to the moderator who
invited me (sorry, still tied to mundane things)
And,as I learned in other forum, peace
With best wishes
Lluís
----- Original Message -----
From: ED
To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 3:20 PM
Subject: [Zen] Re: FW: Quote from St. Thomas Aquinas
Bill wrote:
> [Bill!] I understand 'compassion' to mean 'to be aware of the feelings
of
> others'. Merriam-Webster Online defines it as "sympathetic
consciousness of
> others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it". That
definition
> satisfies me.
Bill, Bill, Bill,
The definition is consonant with ones I have seen in Buddhist texts.
However, questions come to mind (as usual):
o Is possessing 'compassion' a badge of merit, or is it a normal and
natural aspect of human nature?
o Is not "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with
a desire to alleviate it" none other than a stipulation that a person not
possess genes for autism?
o And when we do experience compassion, is it not usually selectively
directed toward persons we feel connected to in some way?
o For instance, do we feel compassion for the million-plus war-widows
caused by the US/UK/Australian invasion of Iraq?
--ED
--- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, <billsm...@...> wrote:
>
> Ed, Ed, Ed…
>
> I posted a quote attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas:
>
> "I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it."
>
> You then asked:
>
> [Ed] Wherein do you perceive any intelligence or wisdom in St.
> Augustine's preference?
> [Bill!] I don't perceive any intelligence in St. Aquinas' statement
above.
> I do however perceive a lot of wisdom. I perceive the wisdom in his
stated
> preference for experience over knowledge.
>
> [Ed] What does St. Augustine mean by 'compassion'?
> [Bill!] I don't know and I don't care. The meaning of compassion is not
> important in the quote, in fact the quote itself says that. You can
> substitute any word you want for 'compassion' in his quote and the
wisdom
> will still be there.
> [Ed] What do you understand 'compassion' to be?
> [Bill!] I understand 'compassion' to mean 'to be aware of the feelings
of
> others'. Merriam-Webster Online defines it as "sympathetic
consciousness of
> others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it". That
definition
> satisfies me.
> ...Bill!
