7 Practices to cultivate Compassion - continuation
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.
5.Act of kindness practice: Now that you’ve gotten good at the 4th practice, take the exercise a step further. Imagine again the suffering of someone you know or met recently. Imagine again that you are that person, and are going through that suffering. Now imagine that another human being would like your suffering to end — perhaps your mother or another loved one. What would you like for that person to do to end your suffering? Now reverse roles: you are the person who desires for the other person’s suffering to end. Imagine that you do something to help ease the suffering, or end it completely. Once you get good at this stage, practice doing something small each day to help end the suffering of others, even in a tiny way. Even a smile, or a kind word, or doing an errand or chore, or just talking about a problem with another person. Practice doing something kind to help ease the suffering of others. When you are good at this, find a way to make it a daily practice, and eventually a throughout-the-day practice.
- to be continued
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.
5.Act of kindness practice: Now that you’ve gotten good at the 4th practice, take the exercise a step further. Imagine again the suffering of someone you know or met recently. Imagine again that you are that person, and are going through that suffering. Now imagine that another human being would like your suffering to end — perhaps your mother or another loved one. What would you like for that person to do to end your suffering? Now reverse roles: you are the person who desires for the other person’s suffering to end. Imagine that you do something to help ease the suffering, or end it completely. Once you get good at this stage, practice doing something small each day to help end the suffering of others, even in a tiny way. Even a smile, or a kind word, or doing an errand or chore, or just talking about a problem with another person. Practice doing something kind to help ease the suffering of others. When you are good at this, find a way to make it a daily practice, and eventually a throughout-the-day practice.
- to be continued
These are very good points about how one can learn to be compassionate
ReplyDeletesometimes i feel compassion is an inborn quality in a person and hard to be acquired especially in today's world where everyone is so busy that they don't have time to even think of others, let alone find the time to practice compassion
all it takes is sometimes just a fone call to ask...how are you doing....but sadly ppl are too busy to do even that or it doesn't even occur to them to. do so