2020-12-18 Brahmavihāras Compassion (5 of 5)

Insight Meditation Center14min

Gil Fronsdal

00:02

This is the last talk on the Buddhist concept of karuṇā, a word often translated as compassion. In the early Buddhist tradition, the reference point for karuṇā is meditation practice – meditation where we become free of the hindrances, free of clinging and hatred, and free of preoccupation. And with that, we become free of obligation, free of idealism, and free of all the things that keep us locked in, limited, closed down, or agitated. What is it that gets born out of this freedom that has to do with caring for the suffering of oneself and the suffering of the world? With that reference point, what is the flavor and character of compassion which has a quality of freedom within it?

Gil Fronsdal

01:19

Certainly, many of us can have the experience of being touched in a compassionate and caring way for others. In the very movement of compassion, something opens up – something different from self-concern or the usual reference points of me, you, the self, and others.

Gil Fronsdal

01:46

I don't know if this story touches on this for you, but it does for me. I don't know if it's a true story, but maybe that doesn't matter. It takes place in Washington, DC, on a beautiful spring day with some of the great trees flowering with big, beautiful white flowers, and a beautiful blue sky and crisp, clear air. Everyone is delighted by the freshness of it all.

Gil Fronsdal

02:22

A person who goes to work every day walks by a man sitting on the sidewalk begging with a cup – a blind man hoping for some spare change. On that day, the passerby noticed that there was no money in the man's cup. So they asked, "Can I make a sign for you"? And the blind men said yes. So they wrote a sign, propped it against the cup, and went on to work.

Gil Fronsdal

03:02

Coming back at the end of the day, the man was still sitting there, but now there was money in the cup. The passerby stopped and said, "How is it? How's it going"? And the blind man said, "Oh, it's going great. I've never received so much before. What did you write on the sign"? And the passerby said, "I wrote, 'today is a beautiful day, and I'm blind.'"

Gil Fronsdal

03:37

Our sense of common humanity, empathy, and the understanding of what they mean, tells us that many sighted people are really enjoying something special, unique, vibrant, and alive. It's something uplifting – a beautiful day. And a person who's blind may be able to smell the freshness of the day, but can't see the blue sky and the flowers we can see. It touches something in us. And in wanting to extend ourselves to support such a person – write a sign, offer some support, money maybe – something in that movement is no longer about self. This is especially true if we're coming out of meditation and not so busy, self-preoccupied, and caught up in ideas and thoughts about what should and shouldn't be. There's something that opens in us – "Oh. Of course, I feel for this person. I have compassion. I'm with this person."

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