teaching compassion....look! no "ism...."

[dcsmart]

even though the dalai lama is quoted this is a straight foreword everyone welcome practice. no "ism" necessary. you just have to be a human being. maybe this is what we should teach in schools.

The key to developing compassion in your life is to make it a daily practice.

Meditate upon it in the morning (you can do it while checking email), think about it when you interact with others, and reflect on it at night. In this way, it becomes a part of your life. Or as the Dalai Lama also said, “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”



A Guide to Cultivating Compassion in Your Life, With 7 Practices

3. Commonalities practice. Instead of recognizing the differences between yourself and others, try to recognize what you have in common. At the root of it all, we are all human beings. We need food, and shelter, and love. We crave attention, and recognition, and affection, and above all, happiness. Reflect on these commonalities you have with every other human being, and ignore the differences. One of my favorite exercises comes from a great article from Ode Magazine — it’s a five-step exercise to try when you meet friends and strangers. Do it discreetly and try to do all the steps with the same person. With your attention geared to the other person, tell yourself:

1. Step 1: “Just like me, this person is seeking happiness in his/her life.”
2. Step 2: “Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life.”
3. Step 3: “Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness and despair.”
4. Step 4: “Just like me, this person is seeking to fill his/her needs.”
5. Step 5: “Just like me, this person is learning about life.”

4. Relief of suffering practice. Once you can empathize with another person, and understand his humanity and suffering, the next step is to want that person to be free from suffering. This is the heart of compassion — actually the definition of it. Try this exercise: Imagine the suffering of a human being you’ve met recently. Now imagine that you are the one going through that suffering. Reflect on how much you would like that suffering to end. Reflect on how happy you would be if another human being desired your suffering to end, and acted upon it. Open your heart to that human being and if you feel even a little that you’d want their suffering to end, reflect on that feeling. That’s the feeling that you want to develop. With constant practice, that feeling can be grown and nurtured.
Text

FULL ARTICLE
http://zenhabits.net/2007/06/a-guide-to-cultivating-compassion-in-your-life-with-7-practices/
SEE THE REST OF THE PRACTICES

ALSO, HAPPY MAY DAY
please see post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367x19687

[ananda]

1. This should be posted on all freeper and beatag sites!

nt

[Why Syzygy]

3. Yeah!

No unilateral compassion! Teach them first. :sarcasm:

[onestepforward]

2. Thank you for the reminder about compassion.

Beautifully written :)

[JerseygirlCT]

4. Thank you. And I agree. Regardless of

one's religious (or not) beliefs, cultivating compassion is a needed and wonderful thing. If more people were able to think in these terms, we'd live in a much better place!

[varkam]

5. Remember that everyone you meet loves something, is afraid of something, and has lost something.

I wish I could take credit for that, but it's H Jackson Browne. It popped up in my head as I read the OP - thanks for it.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Thanks -- I liked the article. Now, here's the BIG test:

Practice those new-found Buddhist ethics toward FREEPERS.

Most people are happy to follow the Dalai Lama when it makes them feel good. But how many liberal, Western mini-Buddhists could manage it when they'd rather lash out?

Ethical development is often a slow, frustrating, and difficult process. This aspect is NEVER discussed here. But it should be.

--d!
Rant! Rant! Rant! like an Ar-a-hant! hant! hant!

[Why Syzygy]

7. It's complicated by

the human nature reflex of blaming the 'other'. Of course, that's the whole purpose of adopting compassion; to move beyond that instinct and build peaceful community. The first step of the "ethical development" (nice phrase), is to open to the possibility that 'other' may not be so different from 'me'.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. Ironic/Funny Thing #2: Christianity preaches the same behavior

At the risk of having fifty or sixty people reply chanting "No True Scotsmen! No True Scotsmen!", the ideas of compassion and equanimity have at least theoretically been part of Christianity.

So part of this is to persuade the newly-Buddhized to make the leap in their practice, but probably the bigger part for Americans is to bring their Christian brethren back to this core Christian practice. Such a movement would destroy Fundamentalism as currently and vulgarly practiced, and lead to massive reform within the rest of the conservative sects. (And probably a few liberal ones as well.)

The Atheists often claim to be ethical, but seldom specify why or how, except to say that all truly ethical behavior is reason-based. (Is that a piper I hear?) This could be a big opportunity for them (us) to strongly influence the dialog.

--d!
Sine Deus, Sine Ira

[ZombieHorde]

8. One of my buddies used to lead a meditation class at our local Tibetan Buddhist Center.

He used to instruct the class to have compassionate thoughts for GWB since most American Buddhists seem to strongly dislike the man.

[dcsmart]

10. to be honest

and i see people use it all the time, but what is a "freeper" i feel dumb asking...but i really do not know
i think you can still have compassion and be upset and disagree with people's ideas, especially if they cause suffering. i am not a Buddhist. i like what the dali lama says. i look at it from a humanist perspective. he wrote a really interesting book,
Ethics for the New Millennium
http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-New-Millennium-Dalai-Lama/dp/1573228834/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241319408&sr=1-7


thanks for your response.

[Why Syzygy]

11. The DU glossary:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=358&topic_id=190#f

Technically "freep" refers to someone who posts at free republic. I use it generically for anyone with that far right wing mindset.

I agree. One can certainly have compassion for someone with whom they disagree. Compassion just reveals a new facet to the disagreeable behavior and avoids the reflex of putting them in category 'other' and 'not as good/smart/enlightened...' as oneself. Freepers are just looking for love too :D

[dcsmart]

12. thanks for the link and response