Yes, carry it with you at all times. The compass comes in the form of a question. Okay, here goes:
That's it! Rather simple no? See if it works to begin a trajectory of intentions that alleviate rather than cause suffering. I know, it's not all that simple. Yes, in a way it is. Why? Because the rightness or wrongness of the action hinges upon the intention that guides it.
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With the appearance of the suffering of other sentient beings, our own subjectivity becomes its foundation--since all suffering occurs within us. Who else would dare generate the wish to alleviate the suffering of all but those who recognize this? When the suffering of others becomes our own, wisdom is in play.
Our own suffering is the authentic ground of compassion for
others. How else would we know their suffering as suffering? Our desire to
alleviate our own suffering may mature into compassion for the suffering of all
sentient beings once their suffering is allowed its compassionate embrace within us.
To witness other-suffering is to simultaneously know it to be our own. We may reject it by wanting to cure it, to rid ourselves of it. We may reject it by an overt or covert act of aversion because we, in fact, feel it. No matter whose it seems to be, once perceived, it belongs to us--like it or not. If we ourselves did not suffer, we would not feel the suffering of others. We cannot escape empathy.
On the other hand, those who contrive, consciously or unconsciously, to seek the reward(s) for helping others to alleviate their suffering act out of an attachment to the results of their actions and thus reinforce a process of a self-serving and self-sustaining momentum that leads to more suffering for themselves and perhaps others as well. Compassionate actions stem from the pregnant abundance of the fullness of an unadulterated selfless momentum of benign generosity grounded in the spontaneous and evanescent movement of wisdom itself. This is what Yogis call a wisdom (prajna) that is rtam-bhara, one that bears the selfless and ephemeral movement (rta) of life itself and what Buddhists refer to as a unification of wisdom and compassion, dharma-megha ("cloud of dharma"), or absolute bodhi-citta ("awakened heart-mind").
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"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
--Genesis 4:9
What say you? Are we our brothers' and sisters' keepers? In what sense? When the suffering of others is perceived, directly or indirectly, what do we do with it? Do we protest "I am my sister's keeper"? When their suffering is perceived does it then belong to them alone? Are they the only ones who are aware of it and who feel it? While we may not feel it as they are experiencing it, we do indeed feel it. There is no escaping this fact. Even, as psychologists have shown, even the those who torture others feel the suffering of their victims. A torturer who did not feel the pain of their victims would not know when to give more or less pain. Empathy resides in them as well. Their reactions are different than ours but they nonetheless react to others suffering as well--because they feel it, they empathize with their victims in a perverse manner. What do we do with it?
In Buddhism, the Bodhisattva takes a vow to continue to awaken to ultimate Bodhicitta ("awakened heart-mind") for the sake of the awakening of all sentient beings--no matter how many lifetimes this takes. How does our awakening help to enlighten all others? From one perspective, all others are already enlightened and the fully awakened Bodhisattva sees this from the standpoint of their own awakened vision. In other words, my enlightenment awakens all others simultaneously. So the Bodhisattva then strives to show others that truth by her or his compassionate actions derived from their acknowledgement and transformation of empathy into compassion for the suffering of others. All others abide within us through a conscious empathic vision that knows intimately that all others abide within the self, within our experience. Where else could they reside but within our experience? So, they are a part of our own lives, as much as we are. It is easy to take note of a gorgeous little baby in bed on its back smiling and laughing while looking our way. What do we feel then? We empathize, we cannot help but feel their joy as ours, we smile, we feel good, we feel happy too. By residing in us we share their joy, their laughter.
When we come face-to-face with a sentient other, be it a human or animal, we stand constituted by the other's presence. The other has created us by a mere gaze, a gesture of sentience, that speaks to who we have become by their mere presence. At that moment, we owe our lives to that other. We have become who we are through them in that moment of the gaze. What we become is also dictated by who we have been for others. The past selves we have been for others weighs heavily in the present and may be the dominant force behind our own self-sense. What will we be for ourselves in relation to the other? Will we become a self of compassion? As I mentioned, we owe them our life in that moment. Having given birth to us, what is to be our response? If they are suffering, will we become compassionate beings? If they are happy, don't we become happy beings? If not, why? If so, how? Empathy!
Here is a little story that contains a whole lot about empathy and compassion, if you can see it--I'm sure most can. If you cannot, leave a comment and I'll try to address it as best I can. Here is the link to the story:https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24653643
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