buddhism

Compassion grows in us when we know how the energy of love is available all around us.

For a practitioner of love and compassion, an enemy is one of the most important teachers. Without an enemy you cannot practice tolerance, and without tolerance you cannon build a sound basis of compassion. So in order to practice compassion, you should have an enemy.When you face your enemy who is going to hurt you, that is the real time to practice tolerance. Therefore, an enemy is the cause of the practice of tolerance; tolerance is the effect or result of an enemy. So those are cause and effect. As is said, "Once something has the relationship of arising from that thing, one cannot consider that thing from which it arises as a harmer; rather it assists the production of the effect.

Thinking we are only supposed to have loving & compassionate feelings can be a terrible obstacle to spiritual practice.

Sometimes kindness is stepping aside, letting go of our need to be right & just being happy for someone.

Mindfulness is the agent of our freedom. Through mindfulness we arrive at faith we grow in wisdom & we attain equanimity.

We can discover the capacity of the mind to be aware, to love, to begin again

Forgiveness that is insincere, forced or premature can be more psychologically damaging than authentic bitterness & rage.

If a person shows anger to you, and you show anger in return, the result is disaster. If you nurse hatred, you will never be happy, even in the lap of luxury. By contrast, if you control your anger and show its opposite - love, compassion, tolerance, and patience - then not only do you remain in peace, but gradually the anger of others also will diminish.

It seems that, without clarity and honesty, we don't progress. We just stay stuck in the same vicious cycle. But honesty without kindness makes us feel grim and mean, and pretty soon we start looking like we've been sucking on lemons. We become so caught up in introspection that we lose any contentment or gratitude we might have had. The sense of being irritated by ourselves and our lives and other people's idiosyncrasies becomes overwhelming. That's why there's so much emphasis on kindness.

I asked the Dalai Lama what it was like to wake up with joy, and he shared his experience each morning. 'I think if you are an intensely religious believer, as soon as you wake up, you thank God for another day. And you try to do God__ will. For a nontheist like myself, but who is a Buddhist, as soon as I wake up, I remember Buddha__ teaching: the importance of kindness and compassion, wishing something good for others, or at least to reduce their suffering. Then I remember that everything is interrelated, the teaching of interdependence. So then I set my intention for the day: that this day should be meaningful. Meaningful means, if possible, serve and help others. If not possible, then at least not to harm others. That__ a meaningful day.

The essence of the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) is about identifying the cause of our suffering & alleviating it.

Compassion is not complete if it does not include oneself.

Technology offers us a unique opportunity, though rarely welcome, to practice patience.

Patience requires a slowing down, a spaciousness, a sense of ease.

With mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion, we can begin to let go of our expectations about how life and those we love should be.

The embodiment of kindness is often made difficult by our long ingrained patternsof fear & jealousy.

Once someone appears to us primarily as an object, kindness has no place to root.

Ultimately humanity is one, and this small planet is our only home. If we're to protect this home of ours, each of us needs to experience a vivid sense of universal altruism and compassion.