Unbiased compassion

Today I skipped church and spent the day with the Dalai Lama (and a few thousand other people). A concept that came up repeatedly was that of unbiased compassion. I'm not going to write about what he said as much as I want to explore what it means to me.

We hear a lot about unconditional love. I could write for hours just on what love means, but I'm not going to today. Lucky you. Unconditional obviously means without conditions. I will love you regardless of what you do or say or think. You ate the last cookie. I love you. You robbed a bank. I don't like what you did, but I still love you. You were responsible for genocide. God's gonna make you pay, but I love you.

Unbiased compassion might sound like the same thing, but I see subtle differences in this approach that I think make a huge difference in our personal peace and the peace of the world. I love this definition of compassion: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Isn't that really what we are referring to when we talk of Christ-like love? And then when you make that compassion unbiased...wow!

As you know, I'm a dictionary nerd and I don't just read the definitions that obviously fit the
context in which the word was used. The verb form of bias means to give a settled and often prejudiced outlook to. If our compassion is biased we have judged whether or not that person is worthy of our compassion. But here's the cool definition: to apply a slight negative or positive voltage to (as an electron-tube grid). Totally wrong context, but it prompts deep thoughts. Positive versus negative energy and we choose based on how we feel about that person and their beliefs and actions. Unbiased compassion, on the other hand asks that we not only avoid judging others, but that we also recognize them as children of God (or the universe or the same creator). And because of that we want to serve them and alleviate their suffering.

Some people just radiate love. His Holiness the Dalia Lama is one of them and that's why I wanted to see him today. And now I have a lot of things to think about.

I'm going to leave you with a beautiful text that touched me. My favorite line is, "Enthused by wisdom and compassion". Love it!!!! But that's a post for another day

With the wish to free all beings,
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
Until I reach the heart of awakening

Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
Today in the Buddha's presence
I generate the mind for enlightenment
For the benefit of all beings.

As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world.