"The compassion we feel normally is biased..." - Quote by Dalai Lama
The compassion we feel normally is biased and mixed with attachment. Genuine compassion flows towards all living beings, particularly your enemies. If I try to develop compassion towards my enemy, it may not benefit him directly, he may not even be aware of it. But it will immediately benefit me by calming my mind. On the other hand, if I dwell on how awful everything is, I immediately lose my peace of mind.
More by Dalai Lama
“Our world and our lives have become increasingly interdependent, so when our neighbour is harmed, it affects us too. Therefore we have to abandon outdated notions of 'them' and 'us' and think of our world much more in terms of a great 'US', a greater human family.”
“The most important thing in life is human affection.Without it one cannot achieve genuine happiness.And if we want a happier life, a happier family, happier neighboursor a happier nation, the key is inner quality.Even if the five billion human beings that inhabit the earth becomemillionaires, without inner development there cannot be peaceor any lasting happiness.”
“If an individual has a calm state of mind,that person's attitudes and views will be calm and tranquileven in the presence of great agitation.”
More on Compassion
“Fear, hatred, and suspicion narrow your mind - compassion opens it.”
“Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don't see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.”
“Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered. But the old man thought, I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs.”
More on Attachment
“I love wisdom. And you can never be great at anything unless you love it. Not be in love with it, but love the thing, admire the thing. And it seems that if you love the thing, and you don't just want to possess it, it will find you. But if you're in love with the thing, it may run like hell away from you.”
“If you possess something but you can't give it away, then you don't possess it... it possesses you.”
“Favor and disgrace are like fear. Favor is in a higher place, and disgrace in a lower place. When you win them you are like being in fear, and when you lose them you are also like being in fear. So favor and disgrace are like fear.”