Compassion is Liberating
A person who suffers with the world is a compassionate person.
Surely, it is more common that we suffer in our own minds, and maybe we share that suffering with the people we trust.
However, it occurred to me at some point that compassion comes from interbeing, a connection between ourselves and all else.
Without regard for how others suffer, we may not even be able to heal our own suffering, since we would be too closed-hearted to do so.
A compassionate person understands that all suffering is meaningful, and they will tend to the world with much greater respect.
I don’t think that “being in the moment” makes us compassionate, since the moment is often cruel and uncontrollable.
True compassion is the realization that suffering is an inherent part of the human experience, and that all suffering is meaningful.
For, if we pick and choose suffering, we create mental hierarchies that solve no problems and bring us back to ‘fair’ and ‘unfair’.
And surely, we must be graceful in our suffering.
A compassionate person is gracefully kind.
They heal the hearts of those who have been hurt.
There is so much pain in the world, and compassion shines a light right through it, like the sun when it touches the earth.
As a student of Buddhism, I see it like this:
All suffering is suffering.
All compassion acknowledges suffering.
All compassionate paths lead to non-suffering.
Since we have the Buddha-nature, we know that we must stop suffering.
How can a person be compassionate if they are still suffering?
Our own liberation from suffering is true compassion.
Thank you.
