Compassion is love meeting pain. It is not pity, and it is not sorrow for its own sake. It is the heart’s natural response when it lets another’s suffering land, and it carries within it the wish for that suffering to end.
OriginsThe Root of the Practice
Karuna is one of the four boundless states taught by the Buddha, and the Tibetan masters of the Mahayana made compassion the root of the entire path. The Dalai Lama calls it his simple religion. In the Gospels the word that describes Jesus is that he was moved with compassion, a feeling of the gut, a stirring of the deepest part of the self, and the parable of the Good Samaritan shows what it does. East and West recognize the same fire.
The WayWhat the Practice Teaches
You bring to mind someone who is hurting, and you let the weight of their pain be real, without turning away. You feel the tenderness that rises, and you wish for them: may you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. The practice then expands to those you find hard to love, and finally to all beings. Compassion is strong, not fragile. It is the courage to stay near the wound with warmth.
BeginHow to Practice
- Settle and breathe, and let the heart become soft.
- Picture someone who is struggling, and let their situation be vivid.
- Feel the tenderness that rises, and rest in it.
- Offer silently: “May you be free from suffering. May you be held in love.”
- Extend the wish to someone you find difficult, and then to all who suffer.
- End by turning compassion toward yourself, and rest in the warmth.
HarvestThe Fruit
The heart grows both gentler and braver. You become someone people can come to in trouble. Burnout recedes because compassion, practiced rightly, renews itself.
May you be free from suffering, and may your own heart be a refuge for the world.