Compassion

Perhaps my most cherished aspect of Buddhism that I have come across is the concept of compassion and empathy for all sentient beings embodied perhaps by Avalokiteshvara, one of the Boddhisattvas. Packing yesterday and this morning to go to Mumbai this evening, I was listening to Moby's "Everything is Wrong" CD, which is excellent packing music BTW, and on there he has several things that are "wrong" with the world, and there is a lot. I know that I will be seeing a great deal of inequity on a human level that I have never yet experienced. I will be challenged to limits I may not know I had.

However, I try to keep the image of this statue that I have in my backyard in my mind when I am confronted with such challenges in my life, being reminded that there are figures in this world who have done great things, in the face of everything being wrong.

Compassion and empathy for me are the highest forms of emotional "intelligence" in people. I admire greatly those who possess both and I try to learn from them, especially when I falter in those two areas. I have been presented with challenges in life and have presented others with challenges as well. Life does not have "bad patches," but it is just that, a challenge.

Avalokiteshvara, the so-called epitome of the Boddhisattva, and known as Kuan-Yin further to the east, is a peaceful image of compassion and empathy. I have heard that if you are having trouble praying to God, imagine your child's eyes, which works quite well for me. With those eyes, I often see Avalokateshvara. I am not saying my daughter is a Boddhisattva (not saying she is not, it is not my lot to tell if one is or if one is not), but not all of us have children, so perhaps this face in the picture above can work for you as well when you find yourself troubled.

The Boddhi-sattva literally means, "one who has awakened to the truth," but is one who still walks the Earth out of compassion for still living creatures, prolonging his/her entrance into Nirvana and Supreme Bliss, or the condition of Paramananda until others have learned this compassion. It is the ultimate act of compassion in Buddhism, to teach/guide others instead of reaping the benefits of a "good" life on Earth.

I believe that I have encountered some such people along the way in life and they have provided me with great guidance and teachings that I try to implement in my own attempts in life, and it is in their homage that I try to better myself on a daily basis, sometimes moving forward, other times stumbling out of step, but always striving. This is not to place anyone on a pedestal, as I have oft been mistakenly accused of doing (though I do not, but believe that praise is often due at times), but rather to acknowledge that indeed, there are, in my mind, truly higher virtues amongst us, and compassion and empathy I count as such.

Ava-lokita-ishvara, means, more or less, "the lord who gazes down upon us." On Moby's CD, there is a rendering of the biblical phrase "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," which a beautiful piece in his arrangement. For me, the face of Avalokiteshvara is the face of God, and when I am flying over the waters to India upon approach, I will have this face in mind.

Namaste