Book 2 - The Four Divine Virtues - Compassion
By Ajahn Amaro
‘DON’T PUSH – Just use the weight of your own body’
Barry Kapke said:
Don’t push, just use the weight of your own body’ (just offer your presence)
Don’t diagnose, just be aware.
Don’t try to help, but also don’t turn away, just be with the person.
That is all you have to do.
The primary quality of compassion, the root of compassion,
Ajahn Amaro would suggest, is learning how to listen, to attend to what is
here, to what is present. And from that attending, a capacity to do the appropriate
thing arises.
Pay attention to where the other person is and attune to that as much as you can
and be ready to lay aside your own anxieties or concerns or agendas. Then,
mysteriously, this helps in the very best way.
When we notice some kind of difficulty or imbalance, some sort
of distortion or discord within others or ourselves, we bring the quality of
awareness to bear on it. The effort is to be aware; then things will adjust on
their own.
If action is energized and guided by mindfulness and wisdom,
rather than ‘me trying to do something for you’, lo and behold, it all lightens
up. When Right Effort is engaged, the
process of helping is stress free.
Natural Attunement
By a Taoist teaching in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the north of England.
Close your eyes and you will see clearly
Cease to listen and you will hear truth
Be silent and your heart will sing
Seek no contact and you will find union
Be still and you will move forward on the tide of the spirit
Be gentle and you will need no strength
Be patient and you will achieve all things
Be humble and you will remain entire
Compassion for Yourself
The more we are able to feel our emotions, such as the feeling of fear, anger, or
our charged thoughts, the more helpful it is to know them as physical
sensations. Where do you feel fear in
the body? Is it in the throat? Is it in the belly? When you do this, you can
consciously relax with fear. You recognize that it is only impermanent impression
– it arises, it ceases.
There is awareness. There is the flow of feeling. And it is
like this. In that way, you are learning to develop the refuge of wisdom, the
refuge of Buddha; Buddha wisdom – being that knowing. You are not suppressing the
feeling, blanking out or trying to get rid of it.
“…finally it was fully clear that fear was just a passing experience. It was a
strong habit, but it was not who and what I was...” – compassion for yourself –
why would you want to make yourself so miserable? Why would you want to harm
yourself like this? So, just let it go.
No comments:
Post a Comment