Quotes About Compassion

Through Buddhist awareness practices, we free ourselves from the suffering of trance by learning to recognize what is true in the present moment, and by embracing whatever we see with an open heart. This cultivation of mindfulness and compassion is what I call Radical Acceptance.

Poet Gary Lawless writes: When the animals come to us, Asking for our help, Will we know what they are saying? When the plants speak to us In their delicate, beautiful language, Will we be able to answer them? When the planet herself Sings to us in our dreams, Will we be able to wake ourselves, and act?

This is the suffering of fear. Fear is part of being alive. Other people experience this too . . . I am not alone. May I be kind to myself . . . may I give myself the compassion I need.

The Tibetan practice of tonglen cultivates the all-embracing heart of compassion. Tonglen means "taking in and sending out.

She could find the cure through being with the pain.

Clearly recognizing what is happening inside us, and regarding what we see with an open, kind and loving heart, is what I call Radical Acceptance.

Although the trance of feeling separate and unworthy is an inherent part of our conditioning as humans, so too is our capacity to awaken

I want to accept myself completely,

At any moment throughout the day, if you find yourself driven by wanting, the question, what does my heart really long for? will help you reconnect to the purity of spiritual yearning. By pausing and asking yourself at any moment, "What really matters? What do I most care about?" you awaken your naturally caring heart.

I tried to comfort him by explaining that when we really spend time with any living beings—as he had with the ants—we find out that they are real. They are changing, animated, hungry, social. Like us, their life is fragile and they want to stay alive. His playmates hadn't had the chance to get to know ants in the way he did, I told him. If they had, they wouldn't want to injure them either.

There's a prayer that comes from the Buddhist tradition, which is, 'May whatever arises serve the awakening of wisdom and compassion.

we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. • HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

As we figuratively sit beside ourselves and inquire, listen and name our experience, we see Mara clearly and open our heart in tenderness for the suffering before us.

Aceptación Radical empieza a desplegarse cuando nos asomamos a la vivencia del momento, soltando nuestras historias y acogiendo con suavidad nuestro dolor o nuestro deseo. Las dos partes de la aceptación verdadera (ver con claridad y acoger nuestra vivencia con compasión) dependen la una de la otra, como las dos alas de un ave de alto vuelo. Las dos juntas nos permiten volar y ser libres.

Offering companionship in pain acknowledges that suffering is living through all of us, and in our togetherness we enlarge the heartspace that can hold it with compassion.

Keeping our gaze on the bandaged place, as Rumi says, allows the light to enter.

acceptance and presence

while resistance keeps us stuck by hardening our heart and contracting our body and mind, saying, 'i forgive this,' or, 'forgiven,' creates a warmth and softness that allow emotions to unfold and change.

some days i need to forgive myself over and over — twenty times, thirty times. i usually don't need a formal meditation to do so; i simply recognize that i'm judging or disliking myself and bring compassion to the pain i'm feeling. i consciously hold the intention to let go of blame and try to be more kind to myself.

true freedom is being "without anxiety about imperfection.

In the Buddhist tradition, one who has realized the fullness of compassion and lives from compassion is called a bodhisattva.

May this too be held in lovingkindness.

Aversion arises because we are so deeply conditioned to feel separate and different from others.

Radical Acceptance is the art of engaging fully in this world — wholeheartedly caring about the preciousness of life — while also resting in the formless awareness that allows this life to arise and pass away.