An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhism Differs from Other Religions by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
In the Buddha Dharma there are mainly two kinds of compassion. There is ordinary compassion, and there is extraordinary or sublime compassion, also called ordinary bodhicitta or sublime bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is the great display of compassion, which is our own primordial nature. Ordinary bodhicitta is the caring for others through the means that we can find on this earth. In other words, caring for others through ordinary means. Like for instance, if you see somebody that’s hungry and you give them a sandwich. That’s compassionate, but it’s ordinary compassion because you know you didn’t get the sandwich from the sublime realms. You got it from a kitchen or you bought it somewhere. It’s ordinary stuff that went into it – baloney or salami or peanut butter and jelly. It’s ordinary even if you make 150 sandwiches and you pass them out to the hungry homeless. That’s a real good day, but still ordinary compassion because it’s easily attainable.
There are many hungry people now in Burma. No matter what the junta says, the people are not eating, and they are sick and dying. Let’s say somehow we magically can put together everything they need, and just bust through the blockades and give it to the people. Let’s say we airdrop everything they need, and the whole place is satisfied. The people have tents or homes or something to live in. They have the means to get food. They have food. They have bedding; they have everything because of this magnificent airdrop that you made. Let’s say that’s possible. That would take an awful lot of money, but still in all it’s ordinary human compassion. We never see ordinary humans doing that very much, and that goes to show you the pickle we’re in. But it’s still ordinary human compassion.
Now, what is supreme or extraordinary compassion? That is compassionate activity that concerns and offers that which is not of this world. The great bodhisattvas that return again and again are considered to demonstrate the great bodhicitta, because the nature of the bodhisattva is such that once they attain certain bhumis, which are levels of realization, then at that time they can step into enlightenment or step into nirvana and attain the rainbow body at any moment. But they hold back because they wish to benefit sentient beings. They look at the suffering of sentient beings. They see this terrible suffering and it moves them, and they return to earth to show them the way out of that suffering. That is considered extraordinary compassion. So then translating, teaching, creating the books of Dharma, offering these ancient teachings in a modern world so that modern people can continue to benefit from something that would ordinarily be lost to them, that is considered extraordinary compassion.
When I held my little new born son in my arms, I thought, “I would do anything for you. I will care for you. I will keep you warm. I will give you my milk, and when you’re done with that, I will bake pies. I’ll do anything for you.” And then I realized I was lying to him, because if my son were to get gravely ill, I would have no power to help him. Or if my son were to die, even though I told him I would never abandon him, I would not be able to follow him into the next rebirth. I would not be able to see to his welfare. So, there’s my baby in my arms, and I have lied to him.
That was one of the main things that made me practice really hard when I was young. I made it my business to learn how to provide the Phowa, which is the transference of consciousness from one level to the next, or from one life to the next rebirth. I made myself learn to do that so that I could help people, and dogs, and cats, and anybody in the dying process, and so I could even follow my own child into the next life, and make sure that his rebirth is good. I’ve attained that goal. And I’m very happy for it. Do you see the difference there? A mother’s love is so powerful, so extraordinary. You would feed your child your own body if they were hungry. And you look in the eyes of your child and you think, “Never has there been love like this. I would do anything for you.” But until that compassion applies to all sentient beings, and we have the skills through our own realization, we are lying. And we are not able to do very much for those we love. That is the one of the differences between ordinary and supreme bodhicitta.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
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