"Compassion and the Individual" Within Buddhism and Christianity

Barbara Lazear Ascher writes a well formed essay on the concept of compassion. Compassion is something that we do for others out of the kindness of our hearts. She focuses more on the poor, just how we show them sympathy, why do we do such things. Is showing empathy from our hearts or just for them to go away. I enjoyed this essay due to the fact, that she gives humanistic reasons on why people are compassionate, she doesn’t sugar coat anything, and lastly she breaks down the compassion that she sees everyday.

The Buddhist path requires courage, patience, flexibility and intelligence. Compassion includes qualities of sharing, readiness to give comport, sympathy, concern, caring. In Buddhism, we can really understand others, when we can really understand ourselves, through wisdom. Buddhist teachings can be understood and tested by anyone. Buddhism teaches that they solutions to our problems are within us not outside. The Buddha asked all his followers not to take his word as true, but rather to test the teachings for themselves. (Brian White)

Compassion, by definition, is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. In our modern society, compassion plays a major role in the act of kindness. Many people believe that doing a good deed is a selfless act since they do not get nothing in return. Others believe that doing a good deed to make you feel good about yourself is selfish. It is a theory that causes you to ponder on the purpose of compassion. In Barbara Lazear Ascher’s essay, On Compassion, she contemplates this theory. By using a variety of writing techniques, Ascher is able to share her views on compassion in way that speaks to the audience.

Within literature, Compassion has been described in many ways though very few descriptions have agreed on how it is best identified (Volpintesta 2011). Crowther et al (2013) describe compassion as a deep emotion that is felt by the individual practitioner allowing them to understand what the patient may be experiencing. Nussbaum (2003) argues that compassion goes beyond just understanding and identifying that emotion, it requires the practitioner to produce a response to the feeling or emotion in order to improve the situation. Dewar (2011) points out that compassion is not only about the recognition of the patients suffering but includes small

Compassion impels us to work to alleviate the suffering of our fellow man, to remove ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the sanctity of every single person treating everybody, without exception, with justice, equity and respect.

Dalai Lama once said “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” But how does one learn how to love or feel compassion for others? People all around the world wonder why the feel compassion for others. Most people feel compassion because it helps them understand how others are feeling so they can respond appropriately to a certain situation. Barbara Lazear Ascher, a former attorney and a current author, focused on compassion and how it is developed by people. Ascher’s purpose is to show that compassion is not something that you are born with, it is something that you have to learn and practice throughout your lifetime. A way to practice compassion is when you see homeless. Ascher’s reaches her

Compassion, which is the most powerful and the strongest force in the whole world, helps us to overcome even the greatest difficulties in our life. Combined with a desire to help, compassion can make miracles. If we have compassion, then we can take action and do as much as we can to help the person who is suffering.

“On Compassion” exhibits the changes in which humans have encountered that contributed to the trait of care and compassion in us

The Buddha developed the concept of universal kindness and compassion. His teachings are about surrendering all material

Jesus shows Christians that they should take pity on people in need. People are equal in the eyes of God and we shouldn’t discriminate against others, especially when it degrades them and us. We need to help people in need. These are people who live in the developing countries or are in poverty. People who don’t have enough food or water to live and don’t have enough money to produce them.

In this selection the Dalai Lama establishes compassion as a feeling similar to that of empathy. Empathy as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary is, "identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives." In establishing this type of compassion and empathy for our fellow man, then we establish a type of love and intimacy that is similar to one that "a mother has for her only child." This compassion that one establishes allows one to enhance their sense of compassion, and in doing so then one develops an intense sense of responsibility toward another suffering in that they help the victim to overcome that suffering and the agent of that suffering. Even so, when we do this then we establish the concept of consciousness and we enter into an "ethically wholesome life."

A virtuoso in law once inquired Jesus, what he shall do to inherit eternal life, and who are my neighbors. Jesus replied by showing how a man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho, got assaulted by thieves. Without his possessions and clothes, he laid there half-dead. A minister going down a similar street walked past the man and did not even try helping him, a Levite doing the same later. In the text of The Parable of the Good Samaritan, it mentions, “A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side’’ (paragraph 6). This quote strongly proves that no one cared for the man except one person, because the text stated how the priest and Levite both were rude people who did not take pity or

n the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a parable during one of his teachings revealing virtues like compassion, humanity, and nobility. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of the great commandment “ ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ (Luke 10:27).” Although the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is an old parable, it is an example to be followed in modern society. A lesson that I will carry through high school and my life is that it should not matter who the person is and their differences, if they are in need we must help them because it is the just thing to do.

Jesus is portrayed as a compassionate healer and teacher in Luke's gospel. Luke also portrays Jesus as a saviour in the image of a divine man. Like was a well educated jew that was struggling with the christians new faith. Luke is one of the synoptic gospels in the New Testament whose audience appears to be gentiles. Luke portrays Jesus as a person who reaches out to the poor and brings Justice to all. In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus visited Martha and Mary. Martha was disrespectful to Jesus as she put cleaning before Jesus, where as Mary sat down at Jesus’ foot and stayed with him. Jesus then says “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things” Jesus is showing compassion and love even though Martha was showing disrespect towards Jesus. Overall,

The Buddhist culture believes that all of our problems are caused by a confused and negative state of mind, but all good fortune and happiness comes form a positive state of mind. Buddhism is meant to teach the human mind how to overcome negative minds like ignorance, anger, and