This argument you make, is it your own or one someone else once made to
you you have adopted? Is this teaching simply a prescription for action
from some respected dharma doctor, or a description of the nature of
such action - an expression of dharma?
In other words:
Do you cultivate compassion through your actions, or is the cultivation
itself compassion in action? Compassionately waiting for you to
effortlessly realize this was never not so....
K
On 6/13/2012 11:52 AM, mike brown wrote:
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]
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/post?postID=sfslbhEk49qPa2Kczups9HUnAa-3VYdpOEcB_7hHVObxzM1nLFXVFKz5Nc4dKencAmiFeiiohPJm7wGMZcS1cT8>,
"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!
