Compassion NOW!
17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Translation: Lama Yeshe Gyamtso
Compassion is the root of all Buddhist practices, but too often compassionate feeling is left inactive. Compassion NOW! (published in print in 2011 by KTD Publications) exhorts us to translate compassionate feeling into positive action in the world. From a teaching given in India in 2010, the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa asserts that having compassion for oneself is a necessary starting point. From there we can expand it to include those beings with whom we have a close connection, and from there expand it even further to develop immeasurable compassion for all sentient beings. We accomplish this through the mahayana practice of mind training, which the Karmapa discusses here with great clarity and insight. An overview of the vajrayana method of meditation on Chenrezik, the bodhisattva of compassion, is also included.
