I don't think the Dalai Lama has ever claimed he is a God, let alone Buddha ever claimed this either, yet people always want to refer them as holy are as a God.

I truly believe that the experience Dalai Lama had to endure was a sad part of his life losing a country through force.

Many of the Buddhist who protested peacefully for Tibet are still in Chinese jails today. It is a sad part of history and I can only see that regardless of his situation using compassion is seen as a strength and not a weakness like most see it in today's society.


One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied.

I think it actually is true.

I think the problem is not that people actually desire unhappiness.

I think the problem is an inability to acurately predict what will cause happiness.

This could be thought of as "solving the wrong problem."

People who appear to be pursuing unhappiness are basically not handling what is actually there. They are trying to handle things that are elsewhere/elsewhen. This is truly "insanity" in it's purest form. For what could be more insane than a person working towards being unhappy?

The pursuit of unhappiness is not the result of a desire for unhappiness. It is the result of an inability to perceive what would actually produce happiness.

IHMO

What is compassion, really?

How do we use it?

If we are able to tell someone we love the very thing they most DON'T wish to hear (even if it hurts like Hell) because it stands in the way of real freedom and happiness, could that be considered compassion?

I feel the Dalai Lama's pain..because people always mistake me for being a God ..even though I never claimed to be one ...well to tell the truth they refer to me as being Satan

but either way if someone is going to claim that you are holy or a God they are either delusional or the person in question is in fact suggesting they are a God and the Dalai Lama does this by claiming to be reincarnated

but the Dalai Lama message of compassion is to suggest that someone has power over the other and should show pity

Jesus preached love which is also a vague concept but love doesn't suggest that one or the other practioner has power over the other

I wish you a great holiday season Funches and may you use whatever logic and understanding on the term compassion is best for you.

I don't see you as a Satan, but a intelligent human being who is willing to share his knowledge with us on the forums. I thank you for that.

For me personally compassion means a deep awareness of sympathy for another's suffering or the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it. It also can mean for some the understanding without judgment showing kindness to other human beings.

Of course I realize everyone has a different interpertation of what compassion means to them. I hope that method for the individual works best for them. Afterall, they have to live with it in the end.

it's nothing logical about it ...for the Dalai Lama to preach compassion would suggest that the human race lacked it

for someone deemed as being a Living God to preach compassion would suggest to others that he have compassion or pity for them which is a way to keep them submissive to him




how rude

What if another is suffering because they are unwilling to hear certain negative things about them selves that, if they could see how they were creating their own misery, could take responsibility and move on to freedom?

You are waiting for the world to change because you believe you are a kind and loving person?

Don't hold your breath.

I think you have a very good feeling for what compassion is smiles.

It involves understanding and divine love. It comes with a certain amount of wisdom where you realize that you may not be able to save this person (or the world) or to even help them to understand. It is unconditional love and understanding. It is unselfish love. It is detached love and kindness. It is a deep feeling of caring; together with wisdom and understanding. It is an out flowing of love and concern.

Yet at the same time it is not a bleeding heart altruistic self sacrificing thing. It is not an outcry because of some injustice, or a cause to fight some battle to right a wrong. It is not taking on the burdens of the world or every person you meet. It is not draining on your energy like common emotions of sympathy are.

It is an outpouring of divine love that is ever flowing and abundant. It is a feeling of great sadness for the pain and suffering of others and the desire to at least be kind to them. While you personally may not be able to help them or solve their problems or misery, you can at least be kind.

That is what compassion is to me.

compassion is the same as charity ..which is something people give not because it's the right thing to do but because they at that point in time may feel guilty if they don't..

compassion has nothing to do with being "just" ..it's a temporary bandage to ease one conscious

neither good nor evil be but "just" ... funches 3:16

Funches you may be thinking about an act of compassion. Not the feeling itself. Charity is an act of compassion, but charity and compassion are not the same thing. You can give to charity without feeling any compassion. Compassion is a feeling, not an act.

is a follower of Kwan Yin

Compassion is meaningness without the act

It is not meaningless to the person feeling it. The feeling is what is behind the act.

What I am saying is that compassion is not the act itself.

If you think the feeling itself does not effect the situation you are mistaken. Feeling can be felt.

How would he know the difference?

James 1:27
27 Pure and undefiled religion before Elohim and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
NKJV

"JennieBean"...feelings are irrational emotions which means your compassion may subconsciously be hate

that's why it's not the giver that decides whether they are compassionate or not...it's the receiver ..and that determination can not be made unless the person that claim to be compassionate has to act on it

Sometimes compassion doesn't look as pretty as the pictures the word "compassion" can paint. Sometimes brutal honesty is the kindest thing another can do for someone suffering. Isn't it a true friend who can be brave enough to tell the truth, regardless of how it may hurt? If it means brutal honesty could shift a loved one's understanding such that they could finally be free of an issue that has caused a lifetime of pain and suffering...

Feelings are not irrational.
Compassion is not "hate."

Compassion is felt like love is felt and it is felt by the person experiencing that feeling.

You can feel compassion without acting on it. The feeling must come before the act.

The receiver only knows that someone has done something nice. He does not always knows why and he is not the decider of whether the other person felt compassion or not. He does not know what another person feels. He can only judge the other person by the act.

Do you post for the sole purpose of argument? Because the things you post seem irrational and illogica.