Abiding in Compassion
by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
 Generally
speaking, all religions consider compassion to be important. Buddhists consider
compassion to be important; similarly, all other religions also consider
compassion to be important. Moreover, it is not just the religions of the world
that consider compassion to be important. Ordinary, worldly people think so too.
In fact, everybody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has
compassion.
Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In what
way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human beings but
not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel compassion for
animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for humans. Others, who
feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the human beings of their
own country but not for the human beings of other countries. Then, some feel
compassion for their friends but not for anyone else. Thus, it seems that we
draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for those on one side of the line but
not for those on the other side of the line. We feel compassion for one group
but not for another. That is where our compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha
say about that? It is not necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable.
Everyone wants compassion, and we can extend our compassion to everyone.
What fault comes from partial compassion? The story is told of catching a
fish and giving it to a dog. Feeling compassion for the dog, we think,
"This dog is my dog. I want to give things to it. I have to give a lot of
food to this dog." To feed the dog, we catch a fish and give it to the dog.
When we give the fish to the dog, our compassion helps the dog but hurts the
fish. We do feel compassion for the dog but not for the fish, and because of
landing outside the circle of our compassion, the fish suffers harm. When we
have compassion for some but not for others, there is always the danger of the
others being harmed by our efforts on behalf of those for whom we do feel
concern. Similarly, we may feel compassion for the people of our own country but
not for the people of another country. We feel that they deserve to be
comfortable and well. However, that entails harming anyone who threatens them.
To protect the people of our own country, we fashion weapons of war. Why do we
manufacture weapons? Out of compassion for the people of our own land, we make
weapons that we will use to keep them safe by killing and destroying other
people. Our compassion is partial. We protect our own people and we harm people
who do not belong to our group.
These days, we issue visas to control the flow of people into our countries.
Why? We feel that the people of our own land deserve to be comfortable and well.
Were people to arrive from some other land, they would make trouble for us.
Therefore, we do not permit them to come to our country. We turn them back. If
they have no place to live, that's their problem. Let them suffer. The harsh
treatment of others comes from restricting our compassion to some and
withholding it from others.
When compassion is partial, then all that trouble will arise. For that
reason, the Buddha taught that an uncommon variety of compassion is required.
What is the nature of that uncommon compassion? It has two aspects. First, the
compassion taught by the Buddha has no measure. That is to say, the Buddha
taught that compassion is to be extended to all sentient beings. Second,
compassion is a wish to free sentient beings from suffering. However, it is not
possible to free others from suffering immediately. Initially, it is necessary
to free others from the causes of suffering.
For example, I have diabetes. My doctor tells me that I must do something
about this. What must I do? First of all, I have to avoid eating the things that
cause me to feel sick: sugar and other sweet things. Why? They are the causes of
my suffering. If I continue to eat sweet things, I will continue to suffer from
this illness. Similarly, to overcome other types of suffering, it is necessary
to stop engaging in their causes.
Given that we would like to generate a compassion that is both immeasurable
and intelligent, how shall we proceed? It may surprise you to hear that we do
not begin by attempting to increase compassion. Rather, we begin by cultivating
equanimity. To cultivate equanimity means to consider the ways in which all
sentient beings are the same. That will allow us to erase the line dividing
those for whom we feel compassion from those for whom we do not feel compassion.
To whatever extent we are able to see all sentient beings as similar, to that
same extent we will be able gradually to generate compassion that is
immeasurable. Upon what method shall we rely in order to generate compassion
that excludes no one? Consider one hundred human beings.
They do not differ in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering. If ninety
of them wanted happiness and the other ten wanted suffering, they would differ.
In fact, all one hundred want happiness and do not want suffering. In that
respect, they are the same. What need is there to feel compassion for some but
not for others? If you think about it that way, you will begin to feel a little
bit of compassion for everyone. Gradually, that will increase.
If we begin in this way, our compassion will increase and eventually we will
be able to feel compassion even for our enemies. In the Buddhist religion, we
speak of many types of sentient beings scattered throughout the Three Realms --
hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, and so on -- many of whom undergo
excruciating torment. In time, you will want to free all of them from suffering.
Similarly, human beings suffer in various ways, and all human beings without
exception suffer in many ways the pains of birth, aging, sickness, and death. It
is necessary to cultivate the compassion of wanting to free all human beings
from the suffering that besets them. Whether they are presently faring well or
badly, all sentient beings deserve our compassion.
This infant compassion must grow until it extends to all sentient beings. As
it grows, it will serve as the root of all other good qualities. For instance,
from the compassion that wishes to free all sentient beings from suffering, the
love that wishes all sentient beings to enjoy happiness will arise.
Love too must become immeasurable, and love must be intelligent. Merely
thinking that sentient beings deserve to be comfortable and well will not make
it so. What else will they need in addition to our good wishes? They will need
the causes of happiness.
Results cannot come about in the absence of their causes. Suppose I were to
want a flower to grow on this wooden table in front of me. I might pray for a
flower to grow -- "May a flower grow on this table" -- but that will
not make a flower appear on this table. Even if I were to pray for a month or a
year, prayers alone will not cause flowers to grow on this table. What other
methods will I have to employ to make that flower grow? The causes of a flower
will do the trick. First, I will need to buy a flower pot. Then I will need to
fill it with earth. Then I will have to plant a seed in the earth, water it, add
fertilizer, and so on. If I do all those things correctly, a flower will grow
here. Similarly, I may want all sentient beings to enjoy happiness, but I am not
able to give that to them straightaway. They will need the causes of happiness
in order to achieve it.
At its root, compassion means separating others from the causes of suffering.
Similarly, at the root, love means joining others to the causes of happiness.
What are the causes of suffering? Mental afflictions and bad actions. Stop
accumulating those. What are the causes of happiness? Love, compassion,
accumulation of virtue, and so on. Living that way, we separate from the causes
of suffering and come to possess the causes of happiness. Then, in the future,
sentient beings will naturally become free from suffering and will enjoy comfort
and well-being.
The compassion taught by the Buddha is unusual. First we cultivate
immeasurable equanimity. Then we cultivate immeasurable compassion, and
following that we cultivate immeasurable love. From these three, immeasurable
joy develops. Thus, the uncommon way of cultivating compassion taught by the
Buddha follows the pattern of the four immeasurables.
If we do not develop ourselves in this way, compassion will become another
way to suffer. For instance, suppose that someone is sick with a terrible
illness. If I see this person and cannot cure the illness, then I will become
discouraged. Because I lack recourse to other methods, my compassion will have
become nothing more than another way to suffer. Because compassion considers not
only suffering but also its causes, and because love considers not only
happiness but also its causes, there is always something that I can do to help
others. Something will come of my efforts. Because my efforts will yield
results, my compassion for others does not add pain to pain. Rather, it brings
pleasure and joy. Therefore, in the end, immeasurable compassion leads to
immeasurable joy. If I help one person, then I have helped one person. If I help
two people, then I have helped two people. If I help many people, then I have
helped many people. This brings joy, and the joy increases as I am able to help
more people.
The roots of our suffering grow within our own minds, rather than externally.
How so? For instance, when strong desire arises and we are able neither to quell
it nor to fulfill it, we suffer. At other times, hatred arises in us. Hatred
leads us to harm others, and then they will harm us in return. Sometimes we feel
proud or jealous, and those afflictions bring us suffering too. Sometimes
suffering comes to us because of our ignorance, which is to say, because we do
not understand something. Therefore, the roots of our suffering grow within us,
not outside of us. In the language of the Buddhist tradition, we say that
suffering arises in dependence upon afflictions, such as desire and hatred. To
put it simply and in colloquial language, we can say that our suffering comes
from how we think about things. In that case, what shall we do? If we correct
our mistaken way of thinking, our suffering will end.
 This
article is excerpted from Essential Practice, ?2002, by Khenchen Thrangu
Rinpoche, translated by Jules B. Levinson. Reprinted with permission of the
publisher, Snow Lion Publication. http://www.snowlionpub.com
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About the Author
Khenchen
Thrangu Rinpoche is an eminent teacher of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
who travels and teaches extensively in Asia, Europe, and North America. He is
currently tutor to H.H. the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa.
Jules B. Levinson earned a doctoral degree in Buddhist studies at the
University of Virginia. He lives in Boulder, CO, where he works for the Light of
Berotsana Translation Group and teaches at Naropa University.
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