Quotes About Compassion

At every moment, no matter what we're doing, we need to understand that not being a jerk is how someone becomes enlightened. This state has always belonged to us. Cause and effect makes us act. By not being a jerk now, you create the cause of not being a jerk in the future. Our action is not predestined, nor does it spontaneously occur.

When we forget God we make as big a mistake as we do when we insist that our concept of God is the only one that matters. When we forget God we treat one another and the world we live in as objects. We fail to recognize that whenever we harm someone else or the world we live in, we only harm ourselves.

Dhammapada. Anyhow,

Buddhist morality includes everything we do. You can never know just how far-reaching the effects of your actions might be.

In D?gen's view everything is sacred, and to single out one specific thing, like a book or a city or a person, as being more sacred than anything else is a huge mistake.

Compassion is the ability to see what needs doing right now and the willingness to do it right now. Sometimes compassion may even mean doing nothing at all. Lots of loving people in this world go out of their way to "try to help"--but often they do more harm than good. Stupid helpfulness is not compassion either.

A person is a Buddha when she acts like a Buddha, when she manifests wisdom. When she fails to do so, she's not a Buddha. Thus a person can be a Buddha one minute and a jackass three minutes later. You don't just become a Buddha at the moment of your first enlightenment experience and then stay a Buddha forever.

This is always and inevitably the case. No one gets away with murder. No one gets away with anything. You can't escape the consequences of your immoral acts any more than someone who drops a big-ass amp directly on his foot can escape having broken toe-bones. Your life and the life of everyone else in the universe are one seamless whole. To cause another living being pain isn't evil-it's just stupid. Because that being is you.

Even if the whole world is nothing but a bunch of jerks doing all kinds of jerk-type things, there is still liberation in simply not being a jerk.

I vow to save all beings ...from myself.

No matter how unacknowledged your act of compassion, the universe always notices it. And the universe has a very long memory.

If it doesn't sound like "don't be a jerk" it's not Buddhist teaching.

She knew her husband to be an understanding man. Allowing people their eccentricities, faults, and mess-ups was one of his virtues, something best learned early by anyone who would presume to work with animals.

In a relationship you want to treat people the way you want to be treated.

Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.

A dog's demonstrative behavior, far from indicating any inability to reason, is a measure of their enormous compassion, optimism, hope, and a capacity for forgiveness that should leave us all withered with shame.

He that would be content with a mean condition must not cast his eye upon one that is in a far better estate than himself, but let him look upon him that is lower than he is, and, if he see that such a one bears poverty comfortably, it will help to quiet him.

No one but a woman can help a man when he is in trouble of the heart.

Though sympathy alone can't alter facts, it can help to make them more bearable.

Euthanasia" is an excellent and comforting word! I am grateful to whoever invented it.

That's why I wanted to be part of this AIDS Project Los Angeles party. We help raise funds for those who are having a tough time with some very basic necessities, like shelter, food, and medical care.

Respect is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It takes courage to treat others with kindness and dignity.

Respect is not just about being polite, it's about having empathy and understanding for others.

True respect is not just shown in how we treat those in positions of power, but also those who are vulnerable and marginalized.