Compassion

by Friends of Godwin

I would like to say something about Karuna. Usually Karuna is associated with seeing other people suffering. It is extremely important to learn to do something, to have friendliness when you see such suffering. In this world, there can be more and more suffering in particular situations. So we should develop this important spiritual quality of compassion where we feel the need to do something, even small things, little things, when we see someone suffering. One spiritual teacher said that it is not so important to do big acts of loving-kindness for other people when you see suffering, but the small everyday acts, the little acts that we can do are very important.

And this reminds me of a quotation by the Buddha where he was emphasising the importance of loving-kindness when he was addressing a group of monks. He told them that if you can practise loving-kindness during the time it takes to snap your fingers you’re worthy of being monks. So it shows that even practising loving-kindness for a few minutes is really good.