hilitehead

“Whichever level of compassion we may have, for the development of bodhichitta to be successful it must be combined with the complimentary factor of wisdom and insight. If you lack wisdom and insight, when you are confronted with another’s suffering, genuine compassion may arise in you spontaneously, but given that your resources are limited, you may only be able to make a wish: ‘May he or she be free of that pain or suffering.’ However, over time that kind of feeling may lead to a feeling of helplessness because you realize you cannot really do anything to change the situation. On the other hand, if you are equipped with wisdom and insight then you have a much greater resource to draw on, and the more you focus on the object of compassion, the greater the intensity of your compassion will be and the more it will increase.”