Love and compassion

Love and compassion

His Holiness Dalai Lama declares that there is a connection between loving other people and living a happy and fruitful life. He goes ahead to indicate that two things affect our state of happiness or suffering, which he says are the physical and mental abilities of a person. Thich Nhat Hanh also contributes to the topic of compassion by stating the importance of maintaining a good mental condition to live a compassionate life (Tippett, 5:57). Mental problems may bring suffering upon a person substantially as compared to physical issues such as being sick. Through compassion for others, we are able to have peace of mind by caring for other people’s happiness. One of the core reasons which are evident from the readings is the need for love. This is because we cannot exist without love since we are connected through interdependence. When one is sick, compassionate people will help out, and we will be able to live happily by helping others. Another reason why people should learn about compassion is that as long as we are alive, we are going to suffer. This enables people to assist one another to overcome the pain of different sufferings we go through. In turn, this will bring forth happiness to the giver of compassion by helping the suffering people overcome their pain. Dalai Lama says that the lack of affection leads to mental illness than a lack of material things. He further says we can learn compassion by putting it into practice from our day to day activities through controlling our attitude, thoughts, and behaviors. He also says we should learn compassion through reason. Both Buddhists put across the need of learning to avoid anger and hatred. By this, we will be able to have a desire to help one another by acknowledging that all people are equal, and we deserve to be happy. They also say we should embrace peace and brotherhood and shun hatred and anger. American Police officer Cheri Maples learned to bring about compassion in her work. This is evident when she was supposed to arrest a man who had practiced domestic violence, where a family break up was involved (Tippett, 16: 40). She would have arrested the person out of anger, but she chose not to. They talked with the person, and he agreed to give up the child, and later when she met with the guy, he was grateful that the police officer did not take him to jail (Tippett, 16: 45).

Maya Angelou indicates how love can liberate people by giving her account of life experiences since she was expectant until the passing away of her mother. She says that when somebody loves you, they will set you free, and the liberation does not hold any regrets as every time she went back to her mother’s house, she and her child were warmly accepted by her mother (Angelou, 1:33). Some Buddhist teachings that come from her story include compassion, which her mother gave to her while she was young, and she did the same, by caring for her sick mother in her final days (Angelou, 1:55). Maya’s mother was not angry when Maya left her house, but instead, she told her she was welcome back at home, and she should always do the right thing (Angelou, 1:10). Her story is similar to the teachings of Dalai Lama, where he says that we do not need to be religious but grow our compassion, and invest in our good human qualities (Gyatso, pg 54).

After my parents divorced, my father wanted me to stay with him, but I could not since he was planning to have another family, so I had to move out with my mother. After I declined his request, I saw tears flow down his cheeks as he told me, “Go well my son, I have blessed you with all the blessings a father can bless a son with, I love you. May we meet someday .” I was overwhelmed by tears as I replied, “We will fix the problem in our family, dad.” I then spoke to my mother, and after some time, they got back together, and now we are one happy family after the hatred and anger were resolved.

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya. “Love, Liberates.” YouTube, 4 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbecKv2xR14&feature=youtu.be.

Gyatso, Tenzin. “Compassion and the Individual.” The 14th Dalai Lama, 23 Sept. 2016, www.dalailama.com/messages/compassion-and-human-values/compassion.

Tippett, Krista. “Thich Nhat Hanh, Cheri Maples, and Larry Ward — Being Peace in a World of Trauma.” The On Being Project, 14 July 2016, onbeing.org/programs/thich-nhat-hanh-cheri-maples-larry-ward-being-peace-in-a-world-of-trauma/.