can we “learn” compassion?

~ gendunblog

Today I found this teaching of a buddhist teacher from Bhutan, who tries to explain why it is sometimes so difficult for people who are kind of newbies (like many of us are) to buddhism to understand what it’s all about.

Sometimes it seems the more we desire to reach a state of mindfulness, insight and peace of mind and therefore try to figure out with our analytical mind how to get there, the less it’s possible.

The teacher talks about concepts, paths and systems and how much we like to use them as  a means to come closer to our aims.

And, he also says, truth is fundamentally too simple and therefore it’s the challenge. And, he continues, working with a habit that obscures the truth is a really big challenge in which compassion would be the most needed strategy.

To solve our problem, we are reaching out for solutions that could potentially become a problem themselves…

For example, “mindfulness without the wisdom can be the perfect cause for constipation” (interesting one for me ;-))…

 

 

 

 

7 thoughts on “can we “learn” compassion?”

  2. I think you can but first you have to open up to the experience of compassion. You can’t force yourself to be compassionate any more than you can force yourself to love.

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  3. I don’t now if we can learn compassion, but I hope we can relearn it, if we for any reason lost the ability to feel with other people or other sentient beings.
    My theory is, that humans usually are born with the ability to feel which will later in childhood and adolescence develop into the ability to feel with others, too.
    If the psychosocial development is not disturbed or hindered, the person should usually be able to develop compassion within a reasonable frame and context.

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