Compassion and the Pure Land

Mumuwu just sent me this link to a beautiful discussion of the importance of compassion within the context of awakening. It's a reminder that everything we do is done for the benefit of all sentient beings. Even as we work diligently to free ourselves from suffering and delusion, we must always keep this in mind.

www.shindharmanet.com/writings/Learning.htm

Questioner: What is the daily and hourly state of mind of a realised man? How does he see, hear, eat, drink, wake and sleep, work and rest? What proof is there of his state as different from ours? Apart from the verbal testimony of the so-called realised people, is there no way of verifying their state objectively. Are there not some observable differences in their physiological and nervous responses, in their metabolism, or brain waves, or in their psychosomatic structure?

Maharaj: You may find differences, or you may not. All depends on your capacity of observation. The objective differences are however, the least important. What matters is their outlook, their attitude, which is that of total detachment, aloofness, standing apart.

Q: Does not a gnani feel sorrow when his child dies, does he not suffer?

M: He suffers with those who suffer. The event itself is of little importance, but he is full of compassion for the suffering being, whether alive or dead, in the body or out of it. After all, love and compassion are his very nature. He is one with all that lives and love is that oneness in action.

nisargadatta.posterous.com/41-develop-th...titude-vedanta-advai

"M: He suffers with those who suffer. The event itself is of little importance, but he is full of compassion for the suffering being, whether alive or dead, in the body or out of it. After all, love and compassion are his very nature. He is one with all that lives and love is that oneness in action.

nisargadatta.posterous.com/41-develop-th...titude-vedanta-advai "

Word!

Thank you so much for that quote!

Antero.