Compassion of Strangers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Compassion of Strangers - Essay Example Nying Je can be paraphrased as love and respect--compassion in its purest form is ‘unconditional and universal in scope’. The Dalai Lama’s compassion is described differently and in a much wider context, encompassing a notion that some of us might describe as unconditional love: "At the heart of Buddhist philosophy is the notion of compassion for others†¦[it] is not the usual love one has for friends or family. The love[†¦]is the kind one can have even for another who has done one harm. Developing a kind heart does not always involve any †¦ sentimental religiosity [†¦] It is not just for people who believe in religions; it is for everyone who considers himself or herself to be a member of the human family, and thus sees things in accordingly large terms.† In essence, this love is for all sentient beings as an extension of oneself. The writer continues, noting that "the rationale for universal compassion is based on the same principle of spiritual democracy[†¦]the true acceptance of the principle of democracy requires that we think and act in terms of the common goo d.† Compassion, in this essay, takes on a significance slightly different than that commonly accepted by western civilization. We feel compassion as a type of absent sympathy, as something that touches us, sometimes profoundly, on the part of another; however, compassion in our society is largely a secondary emotion. According to His Holiness, however, true compassion is a selflessness that lends itself everywhere and to everything; in the moment that a compassionate human being witnesses the suffering of another, that human being is immediately moved and internally obligated to do whatever possible to alleviate said suffering. Within compassion is mentioned the concept of universal responsibility, as both an offshoot and a critical component of this emotion: "[†¦]