Compassion arises easily once we possess the kind of love that has been described, so next we meditate on compassion.

 

The Intermediate Stages of Meditation says:

When a person’s mind is saturated with love,

Like ground that has been moistened,

The seed of compassion, once planted, will grow easily.

Therefore, having permeated the mind with love, meditate on compassion.

The essence of compassion is as follows. It is directed towards beings who possess suffering and its causes and is the wish that they might be freed from this suffering.

 

The same text says:

Compassion is the wish that those who have suffering may be freed from it.

This is the root of the mahayana path and the principal cause of omniscience. It is crucial in the beginning, middle and end. The Compendium of Dharma Sutra (Dharmasangīti-nāma-mahāyānasūtra) says:

O Bhagavan, a bodhisattva should not train in many practices. O Bhagavan, if a bodhisattva keeps to one practice and learns it perfectly, he has all the Buddha’s teachings in the palm of his hand. What is that one practice? It is great compassion.

And Introduction to the Middle Way says:

Love is the seed of this abundant harvest of buddhahood.

It is like the water which causes growth and expansion,

And it ripens into the state of lasting enjoyment,

Therefore, at the outset, I shall praise compassion![1]

In the space before you, visualize your mother from the present life, and consider in detail all her acts of great kindness. In order to repay the great kindness she has shown you, she must be benefitted and protected from any harm. When you examine to see what is beneficial and what is harmful, you can see with complete certainty that she is benefitted by happiness and virtue, and harmed by suffering and negative actions. Yet this mother of yours is lacking in happiness and its causes and is oppressed by suffering and its causes. As the Introduction to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life says:

Although seeking to avoid pain,

They run headlong into suffering.

They long for happiness, but foolishly

Destroy it, as if it were an enemy.[2]

Therefore, just as in the contemplation on the faults of samsara, consider the suffering and causes of suffering within your mother’s mindstream, and reflect again and again on how vast and powerful they are. When the contemplation becomes overwhelming, and you feel the hairs of your body standing on end, and tears streaming from your eyes, say to yourself: “How I wish that my mother were free from all these sufferings and their causes! May she be free! I shall be the one to free her! I pray to the teacher and the Three Jewels that she may be free.” Say these words aloud and meditate on them from the depths of your heart.

 

If you practise like this, but still do not develop compassion, then take yourself to an isolated and expansive place. Sit yourself down in a posture of despair, and reproach yourself, declaring your own faults until you feel ashamed and full of regret. Say to yourself:

Alas! I am poor in fortune and meagre are my merits. I have only weak potential and capacity for the mahayana and I am unaccustomed to the path of bodhichitta. So much so that I can not generate compassion even for my very own mother. If this should continue, what would become of me? What will be my destiny? I will only be ashamed before the buddhas and bodhisattvas. So now I pray to you, my teacher and the Three Jewels, embodiments of inconceivable wisdom, love and power: with your compassionate gaze, you look out for lowly beings, so look with special care upon the likes of me! Grant me your blessings, so that I may swiftly develop love, compassion and the precious mind of bodhichitta!

Be sure to combine this with the practice of Guru Yoga.

 

Then, once again, visualize your mother before you and carefully consider all her sufferings. When you feel your heart beating suddenly, as if a spark had landed on your naked flesh, call out loudly, saying, “Oh, my mother! Oh, my mother!” And, strengthening your resolve, cultivate compassion.

 

When you feel a deep, heartfelt wish that she may be free from suffering, take upon yourself, just as before, all her physical illness, mental anguish, negative actions of body, speech and mind, and everything unwanted and unfavourable. Then extend the scope of the practice like before, so that in the end you have clearly imagined all limitless sentient beings, headed by those who harm you. Reflect carefully on how they have all been your mother infinite times in the past, how they treated you with great kindness, and how they are now suffering. Consider in particular those who cause you harm: they too have been your kind mothers time and again, but now, failing to recognize this, due to their own destructive emotions as the cause, and your bad karma as the contributing condition, they are acting harmfully, as if deranged and devoid of self-control, as a result of which they will fall once more into the lower realms.

 

The venerable Tutop Wangchuk[3] said:

These harmdoers too are my mothers,

In the past they helped me many times,

But as if driven crazy, they lack self-control,

And their misdeeds will bring relentless torment.

The Compendium of Training says:

Crazed by destructive emotions, blinded by delusion,

On a treacherous pathway alongside steep ravines,

Stumbling with each and every step we take,

I and others are always laying the foundation for future misery.

All beings are alike in their suffering.[4]

Generate certainty about this, and recite the following words while bringing to mind their meaning:

Kyema’o kyihü! My heart goes out to all these beings—my old mothers—as vast in number as space itself,

These old mothers of mine who were my parents over and again in the past,

Who, at those times, cared for me with boundless kindness,

Whom I now fail to recognize, having passed away and been reborn,

Who, as if crazed, lack freedom and self-control,

And who are in the process of harming themselves and others.

My heart goes out to these old mothers of mine who have sunk into the pit of conditioned existence,

Driven mad by the demon of clinging to things as real,

Afflicted by the sickness of the destructive emotions,

Tossed to and fro in the ocean of desire,

Tormented by the flames of hatred,

Enshrouded in the darkness of ignorance,

Crushed under the mountain of pride,

Swept up in the fierce winds of envy,

Bound in the tight knots of avarice,

Trapped in the net of doubt,

Wandering in the forests of belief,

Propelled by the winds of evil karma,

Submerged in rivers of suffering,

Lost in the abyss of the lower realms,

Beset by intense heat and cold,

Plagued by perpetual hunger and thirst,

Benighted by folly,

Menaced by weapons of conflict,

Worn down by craving and poverty,

Stricken by signs of impending death,

Led on by the messengers of Yama,

Passing through the perilous pathways of the bardos,

Heading towards loneliness and anxiety,

Deceived by evil companions,

Caught in the noose of Mara,

Cut off from the protection of friends and allies,

Endlessly roaming throughout samsara—

Old mothers of mine, my heart goes out to you all!

Say the words with feeling, and without any pretense, so that they resonate deep inside you and penetrate to the core of your bones.

 

When, through practising this with confident trust, you reach the point at which you would willingly take on others’ suffering, meditate once again on the practice of taking, just as before.

 

These stages for meditating on great compassion are outlined very clearly in the Intermediate Stages of Meditation. It says:

Therefore, consider how all beings are immersed in the burning flames of suffering, and consider that just like us, they do not wish to suffer. Say to yourself: “Alas! When all these sentient beings, who are so dear to me, are suffering, I must free them from their pain!” We must meditate so that this compassion, which is the thought of wishing others to be free from their suffering, just as if we ourselves were experiencing it, extends to include all beings, not just when we are in sessions of meditation, but throughout all our activities. In the beginning, at least, we can consider only our family and friends, and meditate by imagining that they experience the kinds of sufferings mentioned earlier. Next, we consider beings impartially, without bias, and reflect on that they are all our very own family and friends. Reflecting on this thoroughly, we extend the meditation to include those we consider to be neutral. When we rest in meditation on compassion for family and friends, we consider that you extend this feeling to all beings in all directions. When we spontaneous compassion, characterized by a yearning to remove pain, just like a mother seeing the suffering of her dearly beloved child, and we can extend this equally to all beings, then we can say that it has reached perfection. It is fit to be called ‘great compassion.’

How to meditate on compassion, wishing that the suffering of different objects of focus may be quelled, is also clearly explained in several sutras. The Sutra Requested by the Sovereign Lord of Form, for example, says:

Alas! These beings, who are slaves to existence, are stained by attachment to their wives, sons and daughters. They lack independence. Having no control, they lack genuine self-concern. Thinking, “In order that they might gain independence and self-concern, and move towards happiness, I must teach them the Dharma”, the bodhisattva arouses great compassion for sentient beings.

 

Alas! These beings disagree among themselves and harbour so much anger, aggression and malice. They lack independence. Having no control, they lack genuine self-concern. Thinking, “In order that they might gain independence and self-concern, and move towards happiness, I must teach them the Dharma”, the bodhisattva arouses great compassion for sentient beings.

 

Alas! These beings embrace evil friends and are without any spiritual friends. They act in harmful ways…etc.

 

Alas! These beings are dried out and overpowered by their desires, discontented, and lack the stability of the wisdom of the noble ones…etc.

 

Alas! These beings are blinded by their ignorance and delusion. They cling to a self, a being, a life-force, a shell, a person, and an individual…etc.

 

Alas! These beings are caught in the noose of Mara. They remain deceitful and arrogant…etc.

Alas! These beings have closed the gateway to nirvana and opened the gateway to the lower realms…etc.

The text also explains in detail how the compassion of the bodhisattvas arise towards these beings.

 

Therefore, rather than imitating those who seek results without first cultivating the necessary causes, we must put our effort into planting the seeds of compassion, which is the essence of the Dharma. This is also the root of both the Mahayana refuge and the generation of bodhichitta, and is the source of all mundane and supermundane qualities.

 

As it says in the Ornament of Mahayana Sutras:

This commitment through seeking reality is also understood through love.[5]

And:

Who would not be compassionate towards beings

Who are the source of the virtue of great compassion?[6]

An ornament to beautify the mansion of great liberation,

A basis for the great celebration of twofold benefit,

The source of bodhichitta, this mind of compassion—

Be sure to cultivate it, by applying effort, all you fortunate ones!