A few years ago, an elderly monk arrived in India after fleeing from prison in Tibet. Meeting with the Dalai Lama, he recounted the years he had been imprisoned, the hardship and beatings he had endured, the hunger and loneliness he had lived with, and the torture he had faced.
At one point the Dalai Lama asked him, "Was there ever a time in which you felt your life was truly in danger?"
The old monk answered: "In truth, the only time I truly felt at risk was when I felt in danger of losing compassion for my jailers.". . . Our compassion simply grows out of our willingness to meet pain rather than to flee from it.
. . . Our capacity to cause suffering as well as to heal suffering live side by side within us. If we choose to develop the capacity to heal, which is the challenge of every human life, we will find our hearts can encompass a great deal, and we can learn to heal — rather than increase — the schisms that divide us from one another.
Post #1630
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