Applying Compassion and Wisdom in Daily Life

March 19, 2012 robin 9 comments

In the past, I have talked about balancing the cultivation of compassion with wisdom. One Dharma Friend mentioned that the compassion cultivations made her too drippy. Another described compassion cultivation as wet / hot and discernment cultivation as dry / cold. I have approached this mainly from the standpoint of cultivation; of developing a balanced, equanimous frame of mind.

Today, I watched a Dharma Talk on Youtube; “Freeing Problems in Life with Metta“ by Theravada Monk Ajahn Brahm (Peter Betts). Clicking the link will take you to the “Videos for Metta Bhavana; Cultivation of Loving Kindness” page at recently redesigned Gongyo on Line. If you scroll down, you shall find the embedded video. Or, you can view it at youtube.

Acting on kindness and compassion does not mean we always need to give in or let them walk all over us. Ajahn Brahm approaches the problem from the standpoint of application to difficult situations in daily life: setting boundaries, when to intervene; when to walk away, when to resist; when to forbear. and so on. It gets sticky. Kindness, Compassion, & Empathic Joy are powerful; they can break through resistance and get hostile others to listen to us. That is when wisdom enters the equation.

More: We had a power outage a few weeks ago and my 2006 model Vista computer died. I have been using an older, very XP slow machine. I finally obtained a new, faster Windows 7 computer and got it set up. Meanwhile, I am buying some adapter hardware to turn my HD from the dead machine into an external USB device. Hopefully, I can retrieve 5 plus years of photographs and other files. I’m also looking at External HDs to back up and store files in the future.

I have also updated Robin’s-eye Views. As of now, there are 5 pages. Home consists of some of my photographs, dated on the date I took them. There are also pages for embedded videos and music playlists sorted by general genre. I have noticed that Sony (SME) randomly blocks music videos from embedded youtube playlists with a message: ‘sme restricts playback of this video in playlists.’ It appears that SME owns the Vevo channel on youtube? I gather they want us to use their Vevo videos with their advertising. BTW, the restriction is entirely random.

Solution; From embedded playlists, mouse over the video to bring up the controls. To just skip it, and go to the next video in the queue, click the next icon. To load it to the playlist: Click youtube. Then click on: ‘watch this video in a standalone player.’ Close the standalone player. Go back to the embedded playlist. The video will be loaded, click the arrow to start it. The playlist should continue until the next hassle.

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#1 | Written by clown hidden about 9 months ago.

My thought is that kindness and compassion are not specific activities because any activity can be right or wrong based on the situation. Rather they are states of mind to be cultivated. From that realization right action will flow. I would think that different types of people will utalize different means to cultivate those states of mind.
#2 | Written by robin about 9 months ago.

Even if we have developed kindness and compassion; then there is the problem of how to effectively apply that. So other factors, such as wisdom (prajna), enter in. Also enthusiasm (virya) — do we have enough energy to do anything about a bad situation? Do we have the power (bala)? And so on.
#3 | Written by clown hidden about 9 months ago.

But wouldn’t wisdom and enthusiasm be components of compassion? It seems to me that if you have compassion wisdom and enthusiasm would have to be there. Otherwise compassion would just be a capricious thing, mindlessly doing something that may make you “feel good” but can not produce a good effect. If I do something to help some one that may be compassionate, but if I do something not caring if it helps them but only to get them to leave me alone, it’s not. What I do may be exactly the same.
#4 | Written by robin about 9 months ago.

#3 | Written by clown hidden about 5 hours ago. | Edit

“But wouldn’t wisdom and enthusiasm be components of compassion?”

No. Karuna just means to feel another person’s pain as one’s own. Metta means good will. To effectively act on those motives requires wisdom.

Some people will take advantage of kindness and compassion to harm others. Or one might do something to relieve someone’s pain, but unintentionally do them harm.

That was one of the main points in the video I mentioned: “Freeing Problems in Life with Metta“ by Theravada Monk Ajahn Brahm

Also, a person might have great ideas, but lack the energy to apply them. That is why motivational training is a lucrative business.
#5 | Written by clown hidden about 9 months ago.

So compassion is simply the realization that another feels pain as I would feel pain, that we both share this quality of undergoing pain? Or does it meant that when that guy hit you my jaw hurt? In any case only one of us lost a tooth.
When I say compassion I mean the action of relieving pain in another even at a cost to me.
#6 | Written by robin about 9 months ago.

The karuna or compassion I am talking about is a mental state, an emotion, a kind of empathy, not a physical sensation. Note that the word passion originally meant suffering, especially painful emotions. It comes from the Latin verbal root is pati — ‘to suffer’, plus the suffix -ion, meaning ‘the state or condition of’. The prefix com- means with | same | together with | joint | shared. So compassion literally means to feel another persons sadness or other painful emotion. It is the motivational impulse behind acts of compassion.

According to the Suttas amd commentaries, karuna is the motivation to remove the dukkha (pain, suffering, distress) of others; while metta is the motivation to bring them happiness and well being (sukha). My understanding is that both are karmically wholesome motives in and of themselves.

Note that really good blues music deals with sadness, but it also makes us feel better. I think that is because it arouses the heart of karuna compassion. Bad blues music deals with same topics, but arouses hopelessness, resentment, or even rage.

All of that said, an act of compassion can be misguided and actually unintentionally increase suffering.
#7 | Written by robin about 9 months ago.

I’ll add this. I have done a little work with troubled youth. I came across social workers who had the heart of compassion, but lacked wisdom. Others had wisdom, but lacked compassion. The former, those with compassion, were more effective. They had real empathy and the kids sensed that. That enabled them to break through the stone walls the kids put up to hide their emotional pain. That, in turn, motivated the kids to reform themselves. Then, when the kids did a little better, made progress, the compassionate workers authentically felt happy for them (mudita); which further encouraged them.

The more compassionate workers also tended get emotionally burnt out. That is where the cool/dry detachment of equanimity (upekha) becomes useful.
#8 | Written by robin about 9 months ago.

btw, one thing I am unclear on is the moral valence of qualities like intelligence and enthusiasm. I tend to think they are morally neutral. A serial killer can be smart and passionate; which makes them a more effective serial killer. On the other hand, the Suttas imply that wisdom is morally wholesome. iirc, its opposites; such as nescience (avidya), ignorance (ajnana), and moha are given as morally unwholesome.

I have read various commentaries that attempt to resolve this.
#9 | Written by philip james brett about 9 months ago.

Even in english compassion is a mental state so I’m just wrong on that. Morality, as much as I’m attached to it, is nothing more than a human value judgement. I doubt it exists in any realityt other than the ones in our heads. Perhaps when the sutras speak of wisdom they mean only that which is related to compassion and not knowledge of technology.

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Applying Compassion and Wisdom in Daily Life

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