In Praise of Great Compassion

"Volume 5 of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion, In Praise of Great Compassion, continues the Dalai Lama's teachings with the first of two volumes on compassion, said to be the essence of the Buddha's teachings. While the emphasis in volumes 3 and 4 is on our situation as an individual and taking responsibility for it, this volume is about opening our hearts to others and generating and strengthening our determination to benefit sentient beings. We begin with cultivating a positive attitude toward others by contemplating the four immeasurables-immeasurable love, compassion, empathic joy, and equanimity-as taught in both the Pa li and Sanskrit traditions, and by developing the altruistic intention of bodhicitta. With examples from celebrated Buddhist texts, such as Candraki rti's Madhyamaka vata ra, as background, we learn to generate the aspiration to attain full awakening for the benefit of all beings and to commit to engage in the path by adopting the bodhisattva ethical code. The volume concludes with a chapter on mind training practices in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which challenge us to reorient the framework through which we view the world, calling out the ridiculous logic of the self-centered attitude and self-grasping that leads to misery and replacing it with a more realistic perspective that helps us to remain balanced when we experience either happiness or suffering, allowing us to make all circumstances favorable to the path.