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Wisdom and compassion

Wisdom and compassion

A talk given at Buddhist Fellowship, Singapore.

Kindness

  • Caring for sentient beings through being eco-friendly
  • The kindness of others—our parents, teachers, friends, and even strangers and people who have harmed us

Wisdom and compassion 01 (download)

Developing compassion with wisdom

  • Our ability to attain realizations depends on the kindness of others
  • Seeing sentient beings as kind and hence lovable is the forerunner to developing compassion
  • Compassion is not condescension
  • How our self-centeredness deceives us and creates problems for us by making us super-sensitive and prickly
  • Compassion has to be practiced with wisdom, otherwise it becomes “Mickey Mouse” compassion
  • Practicing compassion with the wisdom that understands the emptiness of inherent existence
  • Accumulating the two collections of merit and wisdom that lead to the two bodies of a Buddha

Wisdom and compassion 02 (download)

Questions and answers

  • Accidentally killing animals
  • Karma and helping others
  • Precepts, karma, insects
  • Judging sincerity

Wisdom and compassion 03 (download)

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.