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Asked a Venerable to the question, "How to generate boundless Compassion for all beings?" His answer was to "Cultivate Equanimity." That means, to realise the ultimate equality of all beings-I'm not superior to anyone, just as no one is inferior to any other. We are all one body.
That reminds me of the simple but important parable of the two-headed bird. A bird had two heads that shared only body. One day, out of spite, one tricked the other to eating poisonous fruit, and the whole bird died as a result. Likewise, "others" and "I" share one body. Who we are and our survival depends on others-no food, no clothing, no friends, no parents, no jobs... without "others"-we are interdependent. One guy gone astray might begin the downfall of his society.
The Venerable said, "Be careful not to become a Compassion Devil." A Compassion Devil would be one who truly thinks he is compassionate when he sees himself exclusively separate from others-that "they" undeniably need help from him. This causes the ego to rise and get fat! A truly compassionate person never feels that he is being compassionate-he simply functions the way he sees as the most natural way in the world. While we should praise the kind, no big deal should be made out of being kind.
That reminds me of the simple but important parable of the two-headed bird. A bird had two heads that shared only body. One day, out of spite, one tricked the other to eating poisonous fruit, and the whole bird died as a result. Likewise, "others" and "I" share one body. Who we are and our survival depends on others-no food, no clothing, no friends, no parents, no jobs... without "others"-we are interdependent. One guy gone astray might begin the downfall of his society.
The Venerable said, "Be careful not to become a Compassion Devil." A Compassion Devil would be one who truly thinks he is compassionate when he sees himself exclusively separate from others-that "they" undeniably need help from him. This causes the ego to rise and get fat! A truly compassionate person never feels that he is being compassionate-he simply functions the way he sees as the most natural way in the world. While we should praise the kind, no big deal should be made out of being kind.
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