Compassion is not something to keep locked inside yourself. It is something to express in action. This compassion must persist beyond the thought, “If only their suffering would come to an end.” If we focus too long on wishing for something that we never pursue and that never happens, we run the risk of falling into a depression ourselves. When compassion arises, it is the time to act.
17th Karmapa
from the book
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book Interconnected :
- You exist in connection with others
- Extend yourself and connect
- The opportunity to love
- Remaining indifferent to the suffering of animals
- Our life is like a vast net
- The air we breathe
- Extending gratitude in all directions
- The imagination to see the other as free and happy
- An important source of closeness and love
- Knowing more is not a substitute for feeling more
- Self-reliance
- The interdependence between us and the world
- Acting against self-serving impulses
- Webs of interdependence
- Noticing the collective effects of our individual actions
- Our closest and most reliable allies
- Interdependence at work
- Touching the core of our equality
- His Loneliness