【Description】
In telling touching stories of salmon migration and wolves foraging for their cubs, Grandmaster JinBodhi reveals the
truth of life: All things are nurtured by Heaven and Earth. Expanding on this concept, he introduces the idea of a great compassion that transcends personal love. How strong is the power of compassion? How does an ordinary person lead a life of great compassion? Grandmaster JinBodhi gives us a clear answer in this video.
Grandmaster emphasizes that this secret dharma can change one’s fate. Everyone who hears and sees this content can feel the power of compassion. With this power, even a withered being can be reborn.
【You will learn】
- Recognize the power of compassion
- Obtain the secret dharma that changes fate
- Become a broadminded person
【Featured aphorisms】
- Facing everything with compassion can transform negative connections into good ones.
- Compassion creates good relationships.
- Only with a broad heart can you feel the beauty in this world.
- Good virtues will be passed on through genetic lineage.
【Content】
Compassion Is Universal Love
The Vancouver area experienced a seasonalmiracle of sorts recently — The return of the salmon for spawning. Returning salmon face innumerable dangers, one at each step. By the time they reach their streams of origin, they’ve normally suffered numerous injuries such as their battered heads. Many others die on the journey, perhaps eaten by other fish or animals. To see them teaming up stream is powerfully moving. How can a fish be so driven, ignoring its own bodily survival, free of any inhibition while returning to its birthplace? It’s very impressive. These fish don’t stay in little waterways or inlets either. They travel out into the Pacific Ocean, crossing over to Japan and China, completing a circuit. It can’t be easy, and it shows that animal determination can be as strong as humanity’s in its own way.
Twenty years ago, I watched a Japanese movie about a real family of wolves. It was touching, and I kept crying during the second half of the story. The wolves were highly aware that the people who lived in the area wanted to kill them and had set traps. One of the little wolf cubs got sick and was dying. There was no food to be found in the thick snow of winter. The hunters used chickens to lure the wolves to a spot surrounded by traps. The wolves were aware of this. The father wolf paced back and forth along the perimeter of the hunter’s property for hours. His body language was as clear as speech: “The danger ahead is great, and there is no way through.” Still, as though thinking of his cubs’ pain and hunger, he took a step, tears trickling down, then hesitated. Finally, he ventured ahead.
It wasn’t an act of self-destruction, but of necessity— needing food for his offspring. He made it through and got the bird. But on the way back, he lost his tracks, and stepped into one of the traps. Rear leg caught, he struggled, a desperate creature trying to avoid death. There seemed to be no escape. But the wolf tore free, leaving his rear leg behind. With his front legs and the left rear leg, he crawled back. He died in the snow halfway to his den. It was a very emotional story full of touching scenes.
In this world, all things are sentient. There is so much we don’t know about animals, yet we shareso much in common, so many of the same feelings. All living things have feelings. In fact, plants are also sentient. Just a year ago, I saw a documentary on how emotional communication affects plant growth. Even though it wasn’t nearly as easy to relate to as the first story, it revealed some fascinating truths all the same. In a six-stage experiment, different genres of music were played to one group of plants, another group was given praise, while a third group was subjected to verbal abuse. The abused group didn’t grow properly. It was sickly and yellow. The praised plants grew thick, and the plants, which had listened to music, did exceptionally well.
This affirms that emotions are not exclusively human. They appear to exist in everything.
The concept of yin-yang has held its importance in traditional Chinese philosophy since ancient times. As for how the “myriad of things” were created, it is believed they arose from emotive expression – love in Heaven and on Earth. So everything in the universe holds a specific emotion at its core. What I discuss today is the higher love that Chinese tradition labels as compassion, an emotion that surpasses small or selfish love. It is Universal or unconditional love.
Compassion Brings Health and Happiness
The effects of compassion first start with its greatest benefits to our physical and mental being, such as health, joy, and happiness.
How does this emotional state accomplish so much? Compassion broadens the heart and mind. That breadth allows us to avoid entanglement in hardship, so that we are neither controlled by our worries, nor suffer because of them. A broad heart-mind has the ability to see the uselessness of troublesome things. Remember the impoverished man whose mother-in-law demanded a diamond ring for her daughter. I said, “Get a nice-looking fake.” If that mother were compassionate, her thinking might have been, “My daughter loves this man. My love for her means my affection extends to him. He’s going to be my son. Why demand this hardship of him? What good does it serve?” Instead, she was creating difficulties for him. If she had used compassion and put herself in his position, then the issue would never have come up. She would neither feel great joy, seeing her daughter wear a diamond nor great bitterness because it is fake.
Who is the most hurt by her lack of generosity? She is, for demanding the diamond. True love makes pain avoidable. If the love isn’t true, then it’s selfish or greedy. True love is like the purest of water, and it seems she has polluted hers. Her love is not pure. Why doesn’t she love him like one of her children? She offers him only a fraction of the love she has for her daughter. The more her love is diluted, the more harm she may cause. Most wounded is the person most affected: the mother-in-law herself. And she’s seriously undermining her daughter’s happiness. The affect she has on her daughter’s marriage may cause them to question their love, rather than enjoy it. If the love is true, then why is money such an issue? Conflict and break-ups become more likely. She had planted a seed of unhappiness in her daughter’s marriage. Building a relationship is like building a bridge. If rotting beams are used in the construction, it’s going to collapse. When this may happen may be unclear, but eventual collapse is unavoidable.
The slightest pressure, applied at the right moment, will bring it down.
What is the mother lacking? Compassion. It doesn’t allow love to be too small or selfish. So her love would never allow her to ruin the couple’s happiness. Lack of compassion can trigger hardships and grasping. The presence of compassion brings the power of perspective. True happiness cannot be measured in terms of finances. In fact, wrapped in real happiness, two people can live as beggars and still feel blessed. Broadness of compassion also helps prevent numerous illnesses. This is because of an increase in our ability to assess what we observe and to perceive it clearly. Little things that normally provoke people can be clearly seen from a distance and, therefore, be easily avoided. With that avoidance, we escape harming both ourselves and others.
With a broader heart-mind, I am relatively free from some negative results of fatigue, nor do I find myself in other common adverse circumstances. I’m less likely to be diagnosed with high blood-pressure, or cardio-vascular disease. I won’t easily suffer shock or feelings of fright.
This also means that I am side-stepping negative emotions and reactions that contribute to the development of illness. Many people who grow ill are living with the effects of a shock that caused kidney damage or a great moment of rage that injured their liver. We often feel sympathy for people facing hardship. Yet when we learn the reasons they suffer, wemay feel the hardship is well-deserved. However, even if their hardship is due to a wickedness they’ve committed, when truly imbued with compassion, we wish harm to no one. Can life be free of pain? In China there is a saying: “Those who avoid acts that may trouble the heart need fear no ghastly midnight knocking.” I fear no knocking. It makes sense, because after we do something that evokes feelings of shame, we enter a state of agitation and sleep poorly. Lacking sleep, certain conditions arise like headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, even stomach, kidney, or brain-related issues can all be traced back to sleep disorders. Again, opening your heart and applying compassion to the world is the key, and the health benefits can be your primary motivation.
Another motive could relate to the Chinese concept of xin. The basic meaning of xin is “heart,” but, traditionally, it represents the faculties of both emotional and intellectual energy. Sometimes this is referred to as “heart-mind.” If we broaden the mind in our dealings with the natural world, our working lives, or in any context, then we enter into a calm state of amicable compassion. Imagine you’re on the street, and someone bumps into you. You have the opportunity to think something positive like, “I guess we were meant to connect at that moment.” After all, it was a coincidence, not an intentional act. Maybe if you happened across that person again, you’d form a friendship, all from an accidental encounter. The state of your heart-mind is the key.
Sometimes, youths bump into each other and juststart fighting. They fight until someone has a broken nose or worse. This shows how bumping into someone accidentally could herald a positive, fated moment of connection, or much harm can come from blowing a small thing out of proportion negatively. But when we carry compassion into all our dealings, then any encounter, generated by either a good or bad karmic bond, can become an exceptionally positive opportunity to connect with society and the world.
When your mind is full of compassion, it ensures that your interactions with others will be beneficial. One of the reasons for this is that when someone needs your help, you don’t even consider the personal losses or gains. Instead, you instantly perceive the beauty in the person requesting aid; their goodness and compassion is illuminated in your eyes. Additionally, the compassion in you will make the wondrous qualities in others shine more brightly. Who enjoys interacting with people who just point out your faults: “Your jaw is awfully short, wouldn’t it be better longer?”
Nobody likes to hear that. Or, “Hey, that’s a pretty nice outfit you’ve got on today! Other girls would look better in it. Listen to me, too bad your legs and weight aren’t right for it. Maybe get high-heels and lose some weight?” If someone talked to you like that, you probably wouldn’t see them in a positive light. Your mind would be operating under the impression that the world was against you.
Whenever you consider others, you do it via your sensory organs; if the impression that you receive is a negative one, it is that your mind lacks breadth. It’s like a water pipe, and our emotional input is like water. A wide pipe will easily drain the water poured from a big bucket. A tiny pipe would take hours to do the same job, causing an unhealthy backlog. Everything is remarkably easier to deal with when your mind is broad and open. The narrower the perspective, the less generous the mind, the more people’s barbs come out. It’s like sitting next to someone in a Meditation Retreat and deciding to ignore them because they’re too ugly, because you’re afraid to be associated with them. If you can’t find any good in the person sitting right next to you, then what good will you find anywhere?
Take hardwood floors for example, if you are negatively focused, then maybe they seem too slippery—a real bother. Wouldn’t it be better if we put down carpet? But if we had carpeting, then you could fixate on the bacterial content and refuse to sit down. You can’t force the world to accommodate your perspective!
A broad mind brimming with compassion makes it possible to experience the wonder of the world: a rare and exquisitely joyfulexperience. In my mind, the spirit of compassion can be explained like this: you find a stone, not a polished specialty shop stone, just a normal, everyday rock. And yet, you fully perceive how truly beautiful it is.
Same for the earth, weeds, flowers, and everything else in nature. It’s undeniably beautiful. Sometimes, we go out on fieldtrips. I might want to sit down, and it isn’t uncommon for someone to stop me: “Teacher, you need a blanket or you’ll get dirty!” They think that the grass is dirty, but I think that the grass is probably cleaner than their synthetic city clothes. More natural, certainly. Maybe that’s why I feel that I need to touch the earth regularly. To feel its permeating nourishment. It’s good to go out and get in touch with nature, really physically touch it. Most of us try by driving sheltered in a car, wearing the thickest shoes, two layers of socks, and maybe something to cover our faces. It is a matter of openness of heart.
People go out to connect with nature, wrapped up like mummies. This is counter-productive. This example shows that our hearts are not open. The narrow heart results from a lack of compassion. Compassion opens up our hearts. When our inner hearts are open and accepting, it benefits our overall understanding of not justnature, but everything. Great acts and thoughts derived from compassion can release the innate power in objects and in people that seem otherwise useless or even toxic. That’s one of the reasons that compassion reconnects us with nature, reopening communication channels. It does the same thing between people and all other living things. Taking it to the next logical step, the widened, compassionate mind opens the way for opportunity as well. The amount by which an individual benefits is only limited by the width of their individual mind.
Some wonder, “If I make my mind as large and as open as the sky, will I then have limitless success?” In alltruth, it’s sortof like that. According to history, Emperor Han Wudi’s mother was a cruel and small-minded woman. She struggled viciously to have her son ascend to the throne.
She then plotted with her brother to claim a large section of farmland from the peasants, even though she wasn’t a farmer, and had no idea what to do with the land. She simply desired clear title over it. When her son, the emperor, heard what she had done, he was furious. He demanded she explain herself. “My son,” she answered, “What I did, I did in your name.”
“Everything beneath Heaven belongs to me, what need have I to specifically claim a section of peasant farmland?” the emperor replied.
His mother continued, “You can’t hold on to everything in the world. Only the things you carve your name into are truly yours.”
“You’re wrong, mother,” said the emperor, “This entire kingdom already lies within my palms. How can it be beyond my reach? You yourself have been ennobled as empress. Anything you desire is brought to you. Carving your name into a hunk of earth is meaningless.” The mother never really understood the flaw in her thinking.
Simply put, her mind was too small. From a position of peerless authority and prestige, she set herself against peasant farmers. It’s as though hearing how much land the imperial officials lived on, she felt the need to go out and claim as much for herself. It’s laughable. It’s as if you owned a big house, but insisted on clutching a leg of the dining table saying, “This is mine!” Ridiculous! Even things you hold in your hands or write on won’t necessarily always be yours. Looking back on her now, we all see how foolish she was; she was too narrow and selfish. If someone told her they owned 60 hectares of land, she would compare it to her own 15,000 hectares and still be jealous. No matter how high she rose, her point of reference remained petty.
Without access to a higher perspective, you cannot be a true leader who nurtures nations and enriches the people, who links them to the divine! Everyone, be they officials, business people, or ordinary people, should try to look a little further. Have a little more perspective.
One day, there were two Buddhist scholars in my class. They were notable because they seemed to be utterly emotionless. Apathetic. It was as though they were wholly removed from the feelings of others. Perhaps they feared the harm that emotions could wreak. I told them that by sequestering their hearts to prevent destructive emotions and selfish passions, they were merely suppressing their emotions that were still just beneath the surface. Is it right to live a life devoid of emotions? Feeling is essential to truly being human and alive. If I only felt apathy, there would have been no classes. No one present would have benefitted. In fact, I am full of love and feelings.
Without emotional connection, why would the Western God have offered himself to save the world? Why would the Eastern God have vowed to free us from the suffering of Samsara? They were inspired by a specific emotion. An emotion like the sun, rather than a light-bulb. Expansive, instead of limited. Both illuminate, but one surpasses all limitations. That emotion comes from compassion. Without it, without feeling, without love, there would be no sun to warm the world, no moon and no life. Everyone needs emotional connection. Some are compassionate; some are selfish.
Talking about self-cultivation, I’d like to mention that I don’t cultivate just to be a self-cultivator. I’vealways had objectives. My firstobjective was to relieve my physical suffering. My second was to develop some exceptional skills to free others from the suffering of the world. Lastly, when I had understood the dharma, my objective was to gain mental fortitude. Extraordinary abilities cannot resolve mental anguish.
When I was young, I also underwent extreme training in the martial arts. If I hit bricks, they broke. But so many fragile looking things could still injure me in any number of circumstances.
Even if something small fell on my head, for example. So I realized that even with a powerful physique, I was still entirely vulnerable. After all my martial arts training, I understood how much strong muscle didn’t protect me, in particular, from emotional onslaughts. I was as vulnerable as ever in so many ways. Then I understood that true and lasting health had to come from the spirit itself; that a spiritual broadness could offer physical benefits, as well as psychological ones. I could live without fear. That’s how I developed my third objective, and learned how to become stronger. I used to have many real enemies. But I saw the foolishness of this. If you have enemies, then you will be harmed beyond a doubt. Fear draws harm to you. At long last, my mind destroyed my “oppositional perspective” for it had no enemies.
It changed me until I could easily recognize its essential truth. If my mind were a millstone, I was a knife. Itsmoothed my sharp edge, reformed the weapon I had been, till there was no knife left. My hands are not knives now. There are no daggers left in my heart. I now look on others without enmity, because I see the good in everyone. And so I enjoy true inner peace. It’s as if my heart is a mountain stream that flows into nature, bringing total tranquillity where it wanders. I am safe in the ultimate sense. I’m not saying that I cut myself off from all feeling, neither loving, nor being loved. I mean that I feel goodness for everyone I meet. But I’m not carried away by selfishness, even if it’s disguised as “love”. A person like that still has feelings. For example, a man with this power can still fall for a beautiful, intelligent woman. But she remains her own person in his eyes. He remains a separate person, too. He would not be consumed by negative passions that would harm either of them.
The possessiveness is gone. Like seeing an enchanting tree on the side of the road. It’s beautiful and you can appreciate it without needing to possess it. Without needing to drag it out of the ground, rip out its roots and take it home.
Selfish love motivates such acts, even when it may cause the tree’s harm or demise. A tree like that is perfectly beautiful where it is. Most of the benefit of wealth and material possessions is actually produced in our minds. Imagine four different people all showing up at the same time to dig up that poor tree, each hoping to haul it home. Whoever managed to get it, without killing it, would have to defend the tree constantly. The others would continually seek to steal it. It would be exhausting. And if you lost it, you’d be enraged. What good does any of that do? Instead, you can simply enjoy the moment offered as you pass the tree on the street, allowing others to do the same. No harm, no pain. Not to mention the gradual diminishment of selfishness. Let the birds fly free and the fish swim in the ocean, then everyone is happier. Simply avoid bringing troublesome things into your home, either the home within or without. The less you own, the more peace you have.
Compassion Accesses Infinite Energy
How does an average person begin to develop that kind of compassion? It starts with a single act of goodness. Large or small. No need to consider the personal benefit of it. Don’t even consider the personal benefit, or the status of who you aide. Put your kindness into action freely, without want or need. Try keeping a monthly journal of your acts, both the positive and the less-than-ideal. A personal record of merit and karma. Make a daily habit of noting how these acts, particularly the kind ones, affect you psychologically. I often get to see the positive results of my help in other people’s lives. Seeing their happiness, I feel great joy. I am even happier than they are. So those who help others are often the happiest of all. That’s why helping others is so wonderful for the self.
Additionally, the people we help think and speak well of us. They wish us well. This creates a wonderful, beneficial energy for us, which extends to our children and grandchildren. Every single person, even the most common, benefits by considering the future fruits of their actions, for themselves and their descendants. Like saving money for your children to inherit, merit can be passed down. At the same time, you are passing on positive behaviors. It’s a matter of education, avoiding disastrous excess and planning ahead. Life is impermanent, but virtue and merit can be inherited. Like genes, the merit is passed on. If you share that belief, help others more. They’ll praise you, respect you, and wish you all the best, blessing you and your children with happiness. As a compassionate person, your perspective is broader; you have future generations in mind, benefiting you and all around you, here and now, in a way that you pass on to your children.
So when we help others, we develop better interpersonal relationships because our mind loses its internal saboteurs — bitterness, maliciousness, destructiveness — all dissipate. This process also extends to business. Offering only well-priced, high quality products ensures fewer returns. Accepting returned items graciously encourages people to buy without worry. Customers feel assured of the excellence of your goods, and an easy resolution of any difficulties. It’s an obvious formula for repeat customers and overall success. Trying to cheat clients creates a lot of bad energy for your business, and makes people hesitant, even if you have what they want. When short-term profit is the only goal, it can be a narrowness of mind. Yet the larger the mind, the more likely a business will continue successfully.
Ethically poor business isn’t sustainable. Business people with expansive, compassionate minds benefit more financially than those without. What we call compassion produces a particular energy, and compassion-madeaction produces an unlimited amount of that energy. A compassionate mind is the means to access limitless energy. A compassionate mind connects to the compassionate, limitless energy of the Universe.
There’s an equivalency between the breadth of your mind and the amount of energy you access. Even the smallest things matter; the big picture alone isn’t always enough. This world isn’t formed of big things, but of finer details. So the finer your awareness, the greater your ability to connect to the world.
Whenever I sing or play the qin (musical instrument), it influences energy meridians. It sets the soul to dancing. It enters and touches the deepest level of your body and mind. That’s why some people feel so positively affected. In part, it’s tantric transmission. It’s an energy that accelerates the basic human ability to advance, thrive, and succeed. I hope those who have listened to these teachings will be empowered through compassion. Renewal and long life will result. This is the power of compassion.