compassion ain't no easy task...

[fumanchaw]

"the best response to negative emotion is to allow it to self-liberate by remaining in non-dual awareness, free of grasping and aversion. if we can do this, the emotion passes through us like a bird flying through space; no trace of its passage remains. the emotion arises and then spontaneously dissolves into emptiness."

"you may ask why it is

Comments

[escaping_chaos]

^_^

[doazic]

Objection. What's the difference between a reaction induced by emotion and a spontaneous action? If we judge reactions only on what they are and not what caused them, then all positive reactions are equal. And seeing as though the instinctual reaction to negative stimulus should be a positive one (if we agree man is basically good), then there shouldn't any difference here.

I'm not sure if I'm not just getting the point here but I dont see the difference between absolute and relative compassion. Isn't compassion a reaction to stimulus; so by definition there can't be such a thing as spontaneous compassion. It seems that what's being promoted here is a state where compassion is so developed, that it reacts correctly to any input without need for self-improvement. As opposed to undeveloped compassion where input can trigger a reaction that can be positive or negative and at the same time either improve or damage the mechanism.

[arriya]

What constitutes a negative emotion?