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Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

Compassion: Where to Begin?

How does one go about becoming more compassionate? Where do we begin building such a significant habit that our goal is to change our outlook on life? I definitely couldn't remember all that goes into it, I mean, I have trouble remembering to take a vitamin everyday.

In reality, there aren't rules to remember or guidelines to follow to become "perfectly" loving to all beings. It doesn't even take a total overhaul of your belief system to push you in the right direction.

So how do you go about it? Slowly.

One small action at a time is all it takes to become more compassionate. Stop and focus on the moment you're in right now. When you meet someone, don't look at the overall picture of compassion, simply focus on your current interaction. Say to yourself, "How can I make my interaction with this person more beneficial, substantial and positive for our combined existence?" Will telling the person that you're furious with them and that they're a terrible friend improve your relationship?

All it takes is mindfulness.

Be mindful in your interactions. Examine what you're doing and ask if it's for the best.

Task for Today

If you'd like a more concrete way to practice, begin today by complimenting 5 people that you don't know very well. It can be based on a physical observation but the preference would be a compliment based on an aspect of their personality. Find something you truly admire about the person and let them know.

Repeat this task daily and you will be on your way.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

Universal Compassion

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
-14th Dalai Lama

Recently I've been studying the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, the teachings of the Dalai Lama in particular, and I've grown to love the insight that they've provided me.

One of the core teachings that Tibetan Buddhism centers around is that of universal compassion, the wholehearted wish that all beings be freed from their suffering and be happy. It's hard for many to even fathom such a substantial demand, let alone know how to go about attaining such a mindset. The way to accomplish this: slowly, deliberately, and mindfully.

The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
-Chinese Proverb

There are several outlooks that may prove useful to anyone wishing to become a more compassionate and loving person:

• Regardless of our religious preference, we are on a journey to find true happiness, whether that happiness be Heaven, Enlightenment, or a sense of accomplishment and purpose in life. When you see another person, just think, "They are trying to find happiness like me". There's no need to group people into any categories larger than that.

• When you see another person who is not acting in a good and moral way, do not think "They're evil and I wish them the worst life has to offer". Remember that they are on the same journey that you are, they may just be in a different place. They may not have learned that certain things do not lead to long-lasting happiness. They may still be relying on the temporary pleasures of life, the thrill of playing a prank or insulting another person for humor, the happy state of intoxication. They're still learning, so do not wish them ill for that. Look at them as a teacher looks at a student, we make mistakes so we can learn.

• An antagonist in your life is what allows you to grow. Without your enemies and the people that irritate you, you would never develop patience or tolerance, you would not have the opportunity to grow as a moral individual. Value these people and look at them as you would a teacher, they're there to test you, teach you, and challenge you. But most of all, don't forget that they are looking for happiness just like you.

Slowly apply these ideas into your daily outlook. As you walk around during the day, consciously watch others and try to identify what they are doing to become happy. You'll see that everyone is doing something, whether it be telling a joke, reading, learning, exercising, talking with others, working, all in the name of it leading to their future or current happiness and experimenting to see what works effectively towards that end. See if it helps you see everyone in a more caring light.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

Karma : Logical and Universal

Karma, also known to the western world as "you reap what you sow", "what goes up must come down" or "a bitch", is one of the few concepts from eastern culture which has made its way into our repertoire of references. It will often be casually thrown into a conversation when someone finds out that, for instance, a major sports star gets caught cheating on his wife and then proceeds to lose many of his sponsorship deals (hypothetical situation, of course).

Many people understand karma through this sort of usage but very few understand exactly why and how karma works. Until I truly began studying karma, I understood very little other than the fact that if someone did something bad, something bad would happen to them, and vice versa. I couldn't tell you why, how, who/what keeps track of it, etc. as though karma were a sort of incomprehensible force that must simply be taken as is.

This is not the case.

As it turns out, karma is not only completely understandable, it's completely logical and sensible.

Where does karma come from?

Karma begins with the concept of complete interdependence, the dependence of all beings on all other beings. This is a difficult statement to swallow if you are used to the western mindset which tends to emphasize independence. Your life, your sustainability, all of your material goods lay wholly in the hands of every other being on the planet. It is because of other beings that you have everything you have:

1. The reason you're alive is because of your parents and because no one has taken it from you.
   
2. The reason you have clothes is because of the people who sold them to you, the people that made them, the people that wove the fabric, the people who picked the cotton or harvested the silk worms, and the silkworms themselves.
   
3. The reason you have food to eat is because of the farmers that grew them, the people who taught the farmers how to grow them, the indigenous people in your area who at one point learned what could be eaten and grown there, and the person who gave you money to buy it.
   
4. The reason you have a house is more than likely because someone else built it for you, and if you built it yourself, it's because someone taught you how. One can also say that you have a house because no one has burned it down.
   
5. Look around at everything else you have and think of the possible chains of people or things that have allowed you to possess it.

Your life from this point on is just as based on the actions of other people. Without the beneficial actions of others, you would not have what you have today and if others were less compassionate and acted irrationally, you would have nothing just the same. You are wholly dependent on others as they are dependent on you. This forms a vast web of dependence that spans the entire earth.

I refer to this web of dependence as karma.

When you do something harmful to someone else, you are by definition harming someone that you are dependent on. This will inevitably, in the long- or short-run, harm you in some way. Your actions towards other beings on this planet eventually determine how those beings affect you, so if you do something good, then good will follow, and if you do something harmful, then harm will follow. As such, doing significant damage to your own personal web will cause significant harm in return.

So remember to treat all others with pure compassion for they are part of your web.

I hope this was helpful.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.