“Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one’s own. Now, when you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire for happiness and their right to obtain it, you automatically feel empathy and closeness for them. Through accustoming your mind to this sense of universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others: the wish to help them actively overcome their problems. Nor is this wish selective; it applies equally to all. As long as they are human beings experiencing pleasure and pain just as you do, there is no logical basis to discriminate between them or to alter your concern for them if they behave negatively.” HH The 14th Dalai Lama
well…when i first started to watch videos of H.H. The Dalai Lama’ teaching i could not help noticing that he was always talking about this unbiased compassion or true compassion that which is not based on whether the person you are directing it to is a friend or not, if the person is kind to you or not, but it is based on the simple fact that that person is a human being and as such has the right to overcome suffering just like any other no matter how he/she behaves.
interesting concept, right? yes, first it is an interesting concept…or, it could be that it is a little outrageous also, ’cause, how would you be compassionate towards somebody that hurts or offends you in any way? i mean…the person cheated on you, lied to you, was disrespectful towards you, humiliated you and any other emotional or physical harm that you can think of or relate to. ‘how can i be compassionate after what he/she did to ME?!” this is more how it sounds like at first…and maybe a bunch of other harsh words and bursts of ager. let me pause here and just say that by no means do i intend to mock or diminish the pain you must have felt, because we do get hurt and i can’t even begin to relate to all the ways in wich a person can get hurt and that is absolutely heartbreaking, but what i am trying to make you see is that we need to get past the part where we are stuck in the I GOT HURT BY you. the ego is so laud that you might hardly be able to hear anything but that for a loong time.
but if you are able to get passed that and my God, i pray that we are all, each and every person on this Earth, able to get passed it and just for one second to glimpse at the other person that is doing this hurtful things to us and see this person’s hurt and pain then we would begin to grasp this ‘absurd’ concept of true compassion. if just for one second you could feel the other person’s pain you could start to understand what this kind of compassion is and how to develop it. because, dear ones, no one in this World that is well and happy would ever cause any harm to anybody, animal or human, not a soul. it is simply impossible. the more hurt and fearful you are, the more aggressive, mean and hurtful you behave.
some time ago, maybe when i was i highschool i heard a saying that goes something like this: be kind to the people that are mean to you, because they are the ones that need it the most. yes, start by acknowledging this truth, then by being kind and if you can try being loving that is the absolute best thing you can ever do for any soul. well…and you might just want to start all that by practicing it on yourself. start easy, anyway you can, but do it- it brings immense benefit to everybody involved.
you know, we just hear wise or sometimes not so wise words every day, everybody is talking, giving lesson, writing, making movies about them and so on, but the truth is that you will only learn on your own when you are ready and, what is most important, from you own experiencing. this is one other very valid reason to, instead of being angry or hurt, you could try to say THANK YOU. what, say THANK YOU?! to whom?! to the person that hurt YOU?! YESSSSSSS! say THANK YOU in your heart or laud in their face or to the wind or write it down or just feel it, because each person that has come into your life was there for a reason and that reason was to teach you something and, dear ones, if you got passed the I GOT HURT BY YOU, then i must, from the bottom of my heart congratulate you, because you also were able to learned from it.
life will always bring about a new challenge…always, if it doesn’t…well….prepare to leave this life, because you did/learned all you came here for… so, when the next challenge arises, just be opened for the lessons and let go of everything else.
i hope and pray that you are all well, healthy, happy and that life treats you gently and that you do not need no harshness to learn…and i also take this time to say thank you to all of my beloved teachers and to Life for all that has given me, is giving me and will give me. THANK YOU!
God bless you!
~*~
