Compassion Prevents Our Heart to Sink or Harden | Ajahn Dhammasiha | Buddhism | Dhammagiri

As we witness so much suffering, war, calamities and atrocities due to our exposure to media, there's a danger that our heart responds by:

1. Sinking: We may become depressed, embittered, hopeless.
2. Hardening: We just close off our heart, and no longer feel any empathy. We just don't care, we don't bother anymore.

Both reponses are unskillful and unbeneficial for both ourselves and other beings. Ajahn Dhammasiha describes how compassion (karuṇā) can prevent our heart from either sinking or hardening.

Compassion is the intention for all beings to be free from suffering. We wish all beings, without distinction or discrimination, to be free from all pain, sickness and problems. This goes beyond empathy. We don't stop with feeling the suffering of others empathically, but we focus on the wish for them to be free from that dukkha. That intention is a very wholesome mindstate, connected with a positive, uplifting feeling. It enables us to still care and wish well to others in misfortune, but at the same time keeping out own mind bright and wholesome.

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