Karuna (compassion)
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Compassion: The Cardinal virtue of Indic Thought
The Times of India, Jan 16 2016
Ashok Vohra To the question `What should be the object of one's love', Shanka racharya in his `Prashnottara ratnamalika' answers, `kindness towards the miserable and friendship with the good'. He goes on to say that even the gods offer their salutations `to the one whose main virtue is daya, kindness'. In Indic tradition karuna or kindness, compassion, is regarded as the highest virtue. Among the four virtues taught by the Buddha, karuna is the foundation of other virtues, namely , mudita, happiness; maîtri, friendship; and upeksha, non-attachment. Karuna literally means placing one's mind in the other's favour, thereby seeking to understand the other from their own perspective. It involves active sympathy or willingness to share the pain of others and to alleviate their suffering. It comes from the realisation that all beings, like us, wish to be free from suffering. The dictionary defines compassion as `sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others'.Compassion is the state of mind in which one sees all living beings as part or extension of one's own self. In it everyone's suffering is seen as one's own suffering. It is an attempt to ease the suffering of all living beings, including the ones who are strangers; even those who are one's foes. Compassion is not a passive state of mind. It is not merely wishing for the happiness of other beings but adopting means and engaging in acts that lead to the removal of such suffering. It distinguishes itself from the passive emotion of empathy in being in an active state of mind. It is an active endeavour to free others from their suffering. Genuine compassion according to the Dalai Lama `must have both wisdom and loving kindness'. That is, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we wish to free others (wisdom), and experience deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (loving kindness).
Hinduism says there is no `other' in compassion. `I am Brahmn, so are you.' Since all beings are manifestation of Brahmn, there is an essential identity between all beings. Because of its theory of pratityasamut pada, dependent origination and its consequence, the theo ry of anatmavada, no soul or no permanent substance Buddhism upholds that there is no `other' as there is no boundary separating a person from all else in the universe. So alienation from others amounts to alienation from oneself.
The one who acts out of compassion does not do so for his personal benefit. He does not act even for the psychological satisfaction of being instrumental in alleviating the other's suffering. Any true act of compassion does not even originate from the feeling, `I would like to see him not suffering'; `I does not come into it at all.' It is a spontaneous act done for its own sake; not for self satisfaction.
Jainism teaches the theory and practice of compassion through its advocacy of ahimsa and vegetarianism.
Mahavira said, `If you kill someone, it is yourself you kill. If you overpower someone, it is yourself you overpower. If you torment someone, it is yourself you torment. If you harm someone, it is yourself you harm.' The Jaina doctrine of syadvada `may be' is the practice of compassion at the psychic level.
The Dalai Lama says, `If you want others to be happy , practise compassion.
If you want to be happy , practise compassion.' According to him `compassion is a necessity , not a luxury , and without it humanity cannot survive'.
