Episode 39 – The River of Love and Compassion

Loving kindness and compassion are two strong currents that run through the entire Buddhist path • they are directly intertwined with the two sides of meditation practice: shamatha, or taming the mind, and vipashyana, or cultivating insight • there is a lot of cruelty in the world, and things like loving kindness and compassion are often seen not as signs of strength, but as signs of weakness and vulnerability • but in the dharma, loving kindness and compassion are seen as the most powerful forces there are • loving kindness begins with meditation practice, with making friends with yourself • this quality of friendship is not based on struggle or striving; it’s the core of who we are • just as settling down, taming the mind, and being still can lead to greater friendship and understanding of ourselves; the other aspect of meditation, vipashyana, turns our attention to others • that stream of compassion for others is the same energy, just directed outward • the radical teaching of the dharma is that this force of compassion is the strongest force, the most reliable force there is • it is stronger than all of the aggression, anger and hatred that we find around us.