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The
path of compassion leads to the development of insight. But
it
doesn't work to say, "Ready, set, go! Be
compassionate!" Beginning any practice depends on intention. Intention depends on
intuiting--at
least a little bit--the suffering inherent in the human condition
and the
pain we feel, and cause, when we act out of confusion. It
also depends
on trusting--at least a little bit--in the possibility of a contented, satisfied mind.
-Sylvia Boorstein
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Until we
extend the circle of our compassion to
all living things, we will not ourselves find peace.
-Albert Schweitzer
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Compassion
is the ultimate and most
meaningful
embodiment of
emotional maturity. It is through
compassion that a person achieves
the highest peak
and the deepest
reach in his or her
search for self-fulfillment.
-Arthur
Jersild
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Compassion
is the basis of all truthful relationship: it
means being present with love--for ourselves and for all
life, including animals, fish, birds, and trees. Compassion
is bringing our deepest truth into our actions, no matter
how much the world seems to resist, because that is ultimately
what we have to give this world and one another.
-Ram Dass
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Compassion is a foundation for sharing our
aliveness and building a more human world.
-Martin Lowenthal
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is the basis of all morality. -Arthur Schopenhauer |
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At
times I think the truest image of God today is a black inner-city
grandmother in the U.S. or a mother of the disappeared in
Argentina
or the women who wake up early to make tortillas in refugee camps.
They all weep for their children and in their compassionate tears
arises
the political action that changes the world. The mothers
show us that
it is the experience of touching the pain of others that is the
key to change. -Jim
Wallis
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Compassion for others
comes naturally as you recognize your own limitations.
-Stephen C. Paul
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As
Gandhi wisely points out, even as we serve others we are working
on ourselves; every act, every word, every gesture of genuine
compassion
naturally nourishes our own hearts as well. It is not a
question of who is
healed first. When we attend to ourselves with compassion
and mercy,
more healing is made available for others. And when we serve
others with
an open and generous heart, great healing comes to us.
-Wayne
Muller
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| Make no judgments where
you have no compassion.
-Anne McCaffrey |
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| Rest assured that, generally speaking, others are
acting in exactly the same
manner that you would under exactly the same circumstances.
Hence, be kind,
understanding, empathetic, compassionate, and loving.
-Gary W. Fenchuk |
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Compassion
and nonviolence help us to see the enemy's point of view,
to hear their questions, to know their assessment of ourselves.
For from their point of view we may indeed see the basic
weaknesses
of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow
and profit
from the wisdom of the brothers and sisters who are called the
opposition. -Martin
Luther King, Jr.
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Compassion for yourself translates into
compassion for others.
Suki Jay Munsell |
When one has compassion for others, God
has compassion for him or her.
Talmud |
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Often
the most loving
thing we can do when
a friend is in pain is
to share the pain--to be
there even when we have
nothing to offer
except
our presence and even when
being there is painful to
ourselves. -M. Scott Peck |
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The
individual is capable of both great compassion
and great indifference. We have it within our means
to nourish the former and outgrow the latter.
-Norman
Cousins
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| Spiritual
energy brings compassion into the real world. With
compassion,
we see benevolently our own human condition and the condition
of our fellow beings. We drop prejudice. We withhold
judgment. -Christina Baldwin |
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Nothing helps us build our perspective more
than developing
compassion for others. Compassion is a sympathetic
feeling. It involves the willingness to put yourself in someone
else's shoes,
to take the focus off yourself and to imagine what it's
like to be
in someone else's predicament, and simultaneously, to feel
love
for that person. It's the recognition that other
people's problems,
their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our
own--often
far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to
offer some assistance,
we open our own hearts and greatly enhance our sense of
gratitude. -Richard
Carlson |
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If
children show signs of being afraid, such as crying and hiding,
we do our best to comfort them. We hug them,
and we try to calm them down. We give them our sympathy and
our love. When an adult shows signs of fear, though, in the form of rudeness
or obnoxiousness, we respond by trying to put that person in
his or her place. We have little sympathy, and we often feel
hurt or diminished by that person's actions or words. Have you ever seen someone act in a way that was hurtful,
and then found out later that something drastic, such as
the death of a loved one, had just happened to that person? Once we have an explanation for the behavior,
it's not just acceptable, but understandable.
-Tom Walsh |
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Perhaps
we can only truly serve those we are willing to touch, not only
with our hands but with our hearts and even our souls.
Professionalism
has embedded in service a sense of difference, a certain distance.
But on the deepest level, service is an experience of belonging,
an experience
of connection to others and to the word around us. It is
this connection that
gives us the power to bless the life in others. Without it, the life in them would not respond to us.
-Rachel
Naomi Remen
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What
value has compassion that does not
take its object in its arms?
-Antoine
de Saint-Exupery
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When
we endure our own tragedies or trials, most of us
develop some empathy and compassion for others who are suffering.
The trick is to keep that sense of compassion going throughout
our daily lives, when we are likely to go on automatic pilot and
move back into being judgmental, especially when times are tough.
-Bill O’Hanlon |
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An
old Rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when
the night had ended and the day had begun.
"Could it be," asked one of the
students, "when you can see an animal in the distance
and tell whether it's a sheep or a dog?"
"No," answered the Rabbi.
Another asked, "Is it when you can look
at a tree in the distance and tell whether it's a fig tree
or a peach tree?"
"No," answered the Rabbi.
"Then what is it?" the pupils
demanded.
"It is when you can look on the face of
any man or woman and see that it is your sister or
brother. Because if you cannot see this, it is still
night."
Hasidic
Tale |
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Be
kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle.
-John Watson |
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Compassion means
that if I see my friend and my enemy
in equal need,
I shall help them both equally. Justice demands
that we seek
and find the stranger,
the broken, the prisoner
and comfort them
and offer them our help.
-Mechtild of Magdeburg |
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When we see ourselves as we truly are--divinely
perfect human beings
struggling to live out the gifts of spirituality--we have an
opportunity
to crack open the door of compassion a bit. When we can
compassionately
see that we fumble, we make mistakes, or that we are (if only
faintly and occasionally!)
aware of a goodness within us that we do not always know how to
express, we start
to be aware of feelings of compassion for ourselves. Once we
are aware of compassion
for ourselves, it is only a very short step to begin to feel
compassion for others. -Anne Wilson Schaef
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The
whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all
part
of one another, and all involved in one another.
-Thomas
Merton
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The joy that
compassion brings is one of the best-kept secrets
of humanity. It is a secret known only to a very few people,
a secret that has to be rediscovered over and over again.
-Henri J.M Nouwen |
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I
am compassionate. I allow my heart and imagination to
embrace the difficulties
and concerns of others. While maintaining my own balance, I
find it within myself
to extend sympathy, attention, and support. When they are
grieved, I listen with
openness and gentle strength. I offer loyalty, friendship,
and human understanding. Without undermining or enabling, I aid and assist others to find
their strength.
I allow the healing power of the Universe to flow through me,
soothing the hearts and feelings of those I encounter.
-Julia Cameron |
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When
you're helping, from your limited vantage point,
appreciate that person's struggles and suffering yet also
respect their privacy and boundaries. Ascertain with
delicacy and care the extent to which your friend may wish
to open up and talk. Don't take responsibility for
solving that friend's life; just be there. Let any
feelings of compassion and selflessness come
naturally. Watch your feelings so that, if you feel
superior or prideful, you can shush your mind and tell it
that it should feel grateful for the opportunity to
serve. For, in serving by doing what you can to
alleviate suffering, you are transcending boundaries and
glorifying the One Power in us all. As you
give your life to others, compassion grows; and as
compassion grows, you become worthier to receive
grace. Grace is what enables you to grow in you
divinity
and what helps you gain your true life.
-Michael
Goddart
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| Let
me explain what we mean by compassion. Usually, our
concept of compassion or love refers to the feeling of
closeness we have with our friends and loved ones.
Sometimes compassion also carries a sense of pity.
This is wrong--any love or compassion which entails
looking down on the other is not genuine compassion.
To be genuine, compassion must be based on respect for the
other, and on the realization that others have the right
to be happy and overcome suffering just as much as
you. On this basis, since you can see that others
are suffering, you develop a genuine sense of concern for
them.
As for
the closeness we feel toward our friends, this is usually
more like attachment than compassion. Genuine compassion
should be |
unbiased.
If we only feel close to
our friends, and not to our enemies, or to the countless
people who are unknown to us personally and toward whom we
are indifferent, then our compassion is only partial or
biased.
Genuine
compassion is based on the recognition that others have
the right to happiness just like yourself, and therefore
even your enemy is a human being with the same wish for
happiness as you, and the same right to happiness as
you. A sense of concern developed on this basis is
what we call compassion; it extends to everyone,
irrespective of whether the person's attitude toward you
is hostile or friendly.
the Dalai
Lama |
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If
you want others to be
happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy,
practice compassion. -the
Dalai
Lama |
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God
calls all of you to take the path of the inner truth--and that
means taking responsibility for everything that's in you:
for what
pleases you and for what you're ashamed of, for the rich person
inside you and for the poor one. Francis of Assisi called
this,
"loving the leper within us." If you learn to
love the poor one
within you, you'll discover that you have room to have
compassion
"outside" too, that there's room in you for others,
for those who are
different from you, for the least among your brothers and
sisters. -Richard
Rohr |
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One
of the ways to learn to "feel with" is to get to know
others
beyond a superficial level. When we experience another's
life the way he or she experiences it, our world expands
and we begin to develop the ability to "feel with."
We develop compassion. -Anne
Wilson Schaef |
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To
develop true compassion, first we must know that
suffering is real, and that sufferings hurt.
-Thupten
Rinpoche |
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Compassion
is not religious business, it is human business; it is not luxury, it is
essential for our own peace and mental stability; it is essential for
human survival. -the
Dalai Lama |
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The purpose
of the journey is compassion. When you have come past all the pairs of
opposites you have reached compassion.
-Joseph Campbell |
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Without an
awareness of our feelings we cannot experience compassion. How can we
share the sufferings and the joys of others if we cannot experience our
own? -Gary Zukav |
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The truth is, this quality of compassion--and
the word means "to suffer with"--has
been transforming the world. And especially in the last
century or two. It was
the force that abolished slavery and put an end to child
labor. It was the power
that sent Florence Nightingale to Crimea and Albert Schweitzer
to Africa. Mobilized
in the March of Dimes, it helped to conquer polio. Without
it there would be no
Social Security, no Medicare, no ASPCA, no Red Cross. But
the most remarkable
thing about it is what it can do to--and for--the person who
feels it deeply. -
Arthur Gordon |
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When someone accepts your help, that person is
giving you
a wonderful opportunity. You're not only helping that
person
but you also have the opportunity to grow in compassion. On seeing the suffering of another, you have the opportunity
to feel in your heart the suffering of that person. When
your
heart softens and you feel compassion for that person,
you become more selfless and rise closer to God,
your Higher Power, which is complete compassion.
-Michael Goddart |
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The
essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability
to recognize
the physical, material, and psychological suffering
of
others, to put ourselves
"inside the skin" of the
other. We "go inside"
their body, feelings, and mental
formations, and witness for
ourselves
their suffering. Shallow observation
as an outsider is not
enough
to see their suffering. We must become one with
the
subject of
our observation. When we are in contact with another's
suffering,
a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, "to suffer with."
-Thich
Nhat Hanh |
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If
we make our goal to live a life of compassion
and unconditional love, then the world
will indeed become a garden where all
kinds of flowers can bloom and grow.
-Elisabeth
Kuebler-Ross |
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The
value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone
can criticize. It takes a true believer to be
compassionate.
No greater burden can be borne by an individual than
to know no one cares or understands.
-Arthur H.
Stainback |
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When
we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient
beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning,
almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness
of each moment and each being, and from this can
grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.
-Sogyal
Rinpoche |
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A
human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a
part
limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts
and
feelings, as something separated from the rest—a kind of
optical
illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison
for us,
restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only
the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free
ourselves
from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace
all living beings and all of nature.
-Albert
Einstein |
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Next
time you encounter someone in pain, don't just wince and
pass by with a shrug. Hurting people need a bit of color
to brighten
their dark places, and they need to remember the promise that
God
is with them right where they are. Where rainbows grow,
angels sing and courage becomes contagious. You can be
a rainbow gardener by opening your heart
even if you're in pain yourself.
-Barbara
Johnson |
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When
I'm bewildered and overwhelmed, I seek the gentle
guidance of a person I know will respond with compassion.
Life is complicated enough without having to listen to
the caustic remarks of someone's misdirected strength.
-Patsy Clairmont |
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Be understanding and
compassionate,
but not responsible for others.
-Stephen C. Paul |
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Though
people may try to stop you from following the correct path
they can never divert you from correct behavior. Just make
sure
they don't force you to lose compassion toward them.
-Marcus
Aurelius |
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If your compassion does not include yourself, it
is incomplete. -the Buddha |
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True
compassion flows fast, as if we were wounded ourselves,
yet without diminishing our strength.
-Modern
Japanese inspiration |
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Compassion
springs from a mind and heart deeply rooted in
simplicity, integrity, and a profound understanding of the
interconnected nature of all life. Compassion is a
transforming
quality of heart we cultivate, nurture, and refine. It is
rediscovered
through the falling away of the layers of fear, resistance, and
anxiety
that have the power to veil the innately compassionate
heart. Our
challenge may not be so much one of becoming more compassionate,
but one of learning to let go of the clouds of confusion that
obscure the powerful compassion within us.
-Christina
Feldman |
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Anyone who does not exercise compassion is
ignorant of the reality
that everyone needs it at some time in life; or we forget that
someone
has blessed us with compassion at a time when we needed it.
-Joseph M. Marshall III |
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Compassion
is both teacher and student.
When we show it, we teach it to others.
When we feel it, we learn how it heals.
-Leslie
Levine |
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Everyone
alive has suffered. It is the wisdom gained from our
wounds
and from our own experiences of suffering that makes us able to
heal.
Becoming expert has turned out to be less important than
remembering and
trusting the wholeness in myself and everyone else.
Expertise cures,
but wounded people can best be healed by other wounded people.
Only other wounded people can understand what is needed,
for the healing of suffering is compassion, not expertise.
-Rachel Naomi Remen |
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When
you go out into this world, remember: compassion,
compassion, compassion. -
Betty Williams |
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