Bill!,<br/><br/>As I see it, you are correct but only from one side of the coin
(the Absolute). But this denies what it is to be human. We also operate from
the relative, even those of us who are awake to the illusion of a self. Can you
honestly say that you wouldn't suffer in the event of a personal tragedy
involving a loved one (God forbid)? Does knowing that suffering is an illusion
do anything other than slightly ameliorate the suffering (by not wallowing in
the hurt, perhaps)? Imagine saying to a mother who has list a child that the
suffering she feels is an just an illusion. Is that compassionate, even though
it is true in the absolute sense? That pain is very much "real" because it *is*
experienced in the relative. Time and again Zen masters have warned against
operating from the absolute only (Hyakujo's Fox). I sometimes feel you display
a kind of unbalanced, macho realist/absolutism that misses the mark of what
Compassion truly is.
<br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone
