Dear Ryunen-san, I think you have hit a nail on the head here.
Needless to say the Japanese have quite a different idea of compassion than we in the west do. They have the kind of compassion that allows one to make an intervention with a drunk who is killing themselves, and allows one to be quite forceful in order to do so. They have been known to hit a Monk, who is drunk on his or her own delusion, with a stick, and consider it a compassionate act. It is true that one can run around willy nilly hitting every one with a stick just because you have one, and this is not compassion, yet to not save a life because you are unwilling to even hold a stick, is not the vow of compassion Kwan Yin (the bodhisattva of compassion) made. She vowed in her compassion to take on any form needed in order to help. (even that of a woman....Avolokiteshvara was a male). This vow included becoming a spider to scare children away from a dangerous place, becoming anything the situation required to break through delusion and denial. It even meant taking the form of a woman at a time when it was considered impossible for a woman to enter nirvana. (in some places to this very day this is the position of some Buddhists) It is quite possible that our friend Al is being compassionate when he uses a verbal stick to help a "Puss filled boil" to awaken to the nature of what position they are taking in the forum. Be Well Fudo jayryunen wrote: > Hey AC, > > I may be mistaken, but I think what you are getting at is just what is compassion? > > It seems to me, coming from a rural background, that too often compassion is > equated with "niceness" and avoidance of people and situations that jar our little > island of calm. At the moment, this tendency reminds me of still trying to get > things > right, so the "Judgement" doesn't make us hurt. That's avoiding suffering, not > ending > it. > > I have too often seen an action judged as not compassionate just because it makes > me or others uncomfortable. Because it trampled our nice little ideas of how things > should be. Or how we wanted them to be. > > Perhaps your harsh words are compassionate action. Perhaps they are the result of > poor practice or needing your medication adjusted. For you I cannot say. I can only > begin to know how I receive it. > > Blessings, > Ryunen = ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
