ED, Maybe everyone on this forum intuitively understands what compassion is, but I would argue that it is still something that can be cultivated. When we begin practicing metta meditation, we usually start with those closest to us and then work towards people we don't know and then even include our enemies. Doesn't this indicate the difficulty of having compassion for all sentient beings? It's easy to say that we do, but much more difficult in practice. Feeling compassion for orphans in a war is a lot easier than feeling compassion for a serial rapist. I agree with Bill that tabeling it as such isn't necessary, but I'd argue further that compassion is cultivated thru practice.
Mike --- On Thu, 14/6/12, ED <[email protected]> wrote: From: ED <[email protected]> Subject: [Zen] Re: The Self Illusion To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, 14 June, 2012, 1:34 Mike - I do - as does everyone else in this forum, IMO. I think that Bill in his message below has answered the question as to what a zenist should 'do' about compassion. --ED --- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote: > > ED, > Again, if you don't intuitively understand what compassion is then asking isn't going to get you closer to it. . > > Mike --- In [email protected], "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote: > > ED, > > 'Compassion' is not something you need to think about, much less strive to cultivate - any more than you have to strive to be hungry. > > ...Bill!
