A question for any Buddhists out there
Thursday, August 28th, 2003 01:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robinturnerI've just finished reading The Art of Happiness, and a jolly good read it was too. The Dalai Lama manages to hit several nails squarely on the head. However, I have a few problems/issues.
The main one concerns compassion. I'm all for benevolence, in the sense of concern for others' well-being, and regard it as a major source of happiness. On the other hand, taking on board the suffering of other sentient beings in the way recommended by Buddhists (and Tibetan Buddhists in particular, I think) is probably the main source of unhappiness in my life. I'm pretty sure if I did something like tong-len for any length of time, I'd end up as a gibbering idiot, rather like Cordelia in that episode of Angel where she gets cursed so that she gets her visions full-time and gets all the suffering of Los Angeles at once.
So, is there such a thing as too much compassion?
The main one concerns compassion. I'm all for benevolence, in the sense of concern for others' well-being, and regard it as a major source of happiness. On the other hand, taking on board the suffering of other sentient beings in the way recommended by Buddhists (and Tibetan Buddhists in particular, I think) is probably the main source of unhappiness in my life. I'm pretty sure if I did something like tong-len for any length of time, I'd end up as a gibbering idiot, rather like Cordelia in that episode of Angel where she gets cursed so that she gets her visions full-time and gets all the suffering of Los Angeles at once.
So, is there such a thing as too much compassion?
