An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
Compassion is a subject that should be of interest to everyone. There isn’t one person that should consider themselves exempt from the practice of loving. We know from our own lives, I’m sure, that the times we have been the happiest are the times that we have loved. And the times that we have been the most useful are the times that we have been loving.
Compassion is one of the foundational teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, but it is more extensive than the kind of loving we find in our lives. From the Mahayana view, we should seek to love all sentient beings equally. It is a very interesting point of view, because you would think it more natural to love your husband or your wife, your parents and your children, more than you would love others. Buddhists are taught to honor our parents and to maintain the integrity of family, to not have divorces and go from family to family. Yet the Buddhist perspective is that all sentient beings are essentially equal, that their needs are equal and that all sentient beings equally desire happiness. It is useful and beneficial to love everyone and to experience compassion for all beings equally.
We are taught the very reason we love certain people more than others is because in our minds we have the karma of attachment and aversion. We have hope and fear within our minds, and these things are based on the belief in our own ego structure, the belief that self-nature is inherently real. Our relationships with others are shadowed by that and take on the flavor of whatever particular energy suits our particular ego. Because of our ego, we think that we love one person more than we love another.
If we existed somehow miraculously in an egoless state, we would find that all sentient beings are equal and the same nature. They are that same primordial, natural suchness. Seeing each sentient being as that would help us understand that there is essentially no difference. We are all exactly the same, we all desire happiness and haven’t yet developed the skills to get that happiness. We are all deserving of love and caring and nurturing and being taught the skills of happiness.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
