Sogyal Rinpoche suggests that compassion is:
[…] not simply a sense of sympathy or caring for the person suffering, not simply a warmth of heart toward the person before you … it is also a sustained a practical determination to do whatever is possible and necessary to help alleviate their suffering. (1)
The standard is set high—not unlike the Sermon on the Mount. Most of us fall short. I certainly do.
However, Buddhism offers a practice that can increase our level of compassion. It is called Tonglen, which means ‘giving and receiving.’ This practice does not require that one be a Buddhist.
Let’s give it a try...
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I invite you to close your eyes, sit up straight, and bring your attention to your breath.
Notice how the inhalations feel going through your nostrils, through your throat into your lungs. What is it like as you use your diaphragm to pull your breath down into belly? What is it like as you exhale? Is your exhalation longer or shorter than your inhalation?
There are no right or wrong answers; just notice the experience that you have having.
Now, recall the last time you saw a street person. It probably wasn’t that long ago.
Maybe it was a man curled up in a doorway, using a flattened cardboard box as a blanket.
Or maybe it was a woman pushing her worldly possessions down the street in a shopping cart.
Or perhaps it was a runaway teenager selling her body on a street corner.
On your next inhalation, breathe in that person's suffering ……………… It might help to imagine that suffering as black smoke, then breathe that black smoke deeply into your lungs. As you then exhale, breathe out love and compassion.
Repeat this over several cycles. Breathe in the suffering; breathe out compassion.
...Maybe that street person is suffering from mental illness. Breathe that in—breathe in the suffering of having a distorted sense of reality—and breathe out love.
...Maybe that person is trapped in the cycle of addiction. Breathe in the suffering from those addictions ... and breathe out compassion.
...Maybe that person suffers from having been physically or mentally abused. Breathe in that pain ... and breathe out love.
[a short period of silence]
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I invite you now to bring your awareness back to the room. Gradually, as you feel ready, open your eyes and become aware of your surroundings.
As you return to ordinary consciousness, I leave you with this reminder of Soygal Rinpoche's words:
[Compassion is] not simply a sense of sympathy or caring for the person suffering … it is a determination to do whatever is possible to alleviate that suffering.
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NOTES
1. Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (HarperOne, 1994)
