Beyond Love, Develop Compassion

When I was a nun in the Feminine Buddhist Institue more than 10 years ago, one of the nun-teachers asked me one important question, "What's the difference between love and compassion?"

That's a good one, one diligent buddhist may even ask all through his/her life.

At least 85% of the lay people I met would ask, discuss, or mention this topic: love. Almost 50%~70% of them talked about sex or family; others talked about school or work. "Compassion" is such an important aspect of life, yet not many people think about this seriously. Compassion is important enough to inspire one's cultivation of Wisdom.

Let me ask in another way, "What if you could be kind and helpful without asking love or sex in return? What if you could live with and learn from all kinds of people happily without any love or sex relationship? "

Almost all kinds of love need to be confirmed and rewarded: real estate, money, car, presents, cash, ownership, obedience, supply, support, companionship, sex, ... etc. Love DOES ask rewards, if you don't pay for it, it won't be long before it flees. Love is limited by different conditions for different people: if they all agree and cooperate willingly, love would survive; if they don't, love would end or disappear. Love is bound to be dead when the monent it was born. Love could end when Ego is satisfied or too dissatisfied.

So, if you are in love all ready, you love your family, friends, colleague, ... etc, and you hope it would last long and remain good, great, and fresh, the best thing you can do is probably learning to be compassionate by giving more and requesting less.

"What's the difference between love and compassion?"

You will have your own answers.