Compassion

[Blastcat]

Once you see the true face of God
You see that face on everyone you meet.

To have an "External" version of god who is on high... means that nobody down HERE is quite so precious as THAT.

I am beginning my journey that I can call "spiritual" if you will, towards compassion.
I find that it helps a LOT in my quest to understand people who don't agree with me.

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Question for debate:

On a scale of zero to ten, zero being no compassion at all and ten being the highest value that you have, in your religious practice, how HIGH do you place the value "compassion"?

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[Divine Insight]

___________________

Question for debate:

On a scale of zero to ten, zero being no compassion at all and ten being the highest value that you have, in your religious practice, how HIGH do you place the value "compassion"?

____________________

For me compassion is all-important. So I place the highest absolute value on compassion. Notice I did not say relative value, so this doesn't necessarily mean that I place compassion above something else, as that something else could also have the highest absolute value.

Also, note that I can made this evaluation as a pure secular atheist. There is no need to bring religion or spirituality into the picture for compassion to have value.

However, if we are going to address religions I would have to say that Buddhism is one of the few religions that allows for a God who can actually be 100% compassionate even in terms of the world as we currently see it.

Other religions do not appear to have Gods that come anywhere near this standard. Certainly any Gods who would condemn people to a place of eternal (or even temporary) damnation clearly fail in terms of being omni-compassionate.

[Elijah John]

___________________

Question for debate:

On a scale of zero to ten, zero being no compassion at all and ten being the highest value that you have, in your religious practice, how HIGH do you place the value "compassion"?

____________________

For me compassion is all-important. So I place the highest absolute value on compassion. Notice I did not say relative value, so this doesn't necessarily mean that I place compassion above something else, as that something else could also have the highest absolute value.

Also, note that I can made this evaluation as a pure secular atheist. There is no need to bring religion or spirituality into the picture for compassion to have value.

However, if we are going to address religions I would have to say that Buddhism is one of the few religions that allows for a God who can actually be 100% compassionate even in terms of the world as we currently see it.

Other religions do not appear to have Gods that come anywhere near this standard. Certainly any Gods who would condemn people to a place of eternal (or even temporary) damnation clearly fail in terms of being omni-compassionate.

Does Buddhism even have a God? Or is that just a popular misconception that it does not.

[Elijah John]

[Replying to post 1 by Blastcat]

For me, compassion is essential. Not that I myself am perfectly compassionate, but it is one of my hightest ideals.

All great religions teach compassion. Jesus taught it, Judaism teaches it, the Quran calls Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful, and as DI points out Buddhism teaches it.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 2 by Divine Insight]


[center]

Donald Trump is the absolute BEST in everything, isn't he?[/center]

For me compassion is all-important. So I place the highest absolute value on compassion.

I don't know what the word "absolute" really adds.

Notice I did not say relative value, so this doesn't necessarily mean that I place compassion above something else, as that something else could also have the highest absolute value.

Well.. you managed to confuse me.
There are more than just ONE highest absolute?

Ok.. I guess.

Also, note that I can made this evaluation as a pure secular atheist. There is no need to bring religion or spirituality into the picture for compassion to have value.

Oh yeah... but religious people can be compassionate, too.
And since this is a religious debate site and all.. I thought I'd include them.

So, you aren't a theist, I take it?

However, if we are going to address religions I would have to say that Buddhism is one of the few religions that allows for a God who can actually be 100% compassionate even in terms of the world as we currently see it.

Woo woo woo

100% is pretty darn tootin' absolute, alrighty.
Dogma much?

Other religions do not appear to have Gods that come anywhere near this standard.

The Muslim and the Hindu and the Mormon and the Christian and the whatever other religion they're in might object.

They might judge Buddhism less generously than an actual Buddhist.
Whadayathink?

Certainly any Gods who would condemn people to a place of eternal (or even temporary) damnation clearly fail in terms of being omni-compassionate.

Who KNOWS the mind of God?
You?

God has this plan, you see.
It's perfectly perfect, not thee.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 4 by Elijah John]

For me, compassion is essential. Not that I myself am personally perfectly compassionate, but it is one of my hightest ideals.

All great religions teach compassion. Jesus taught it, Judaism teaches it, the Quran calls Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful, and as DI points out Buddhism teaches it.

That's why in my conversations with people it always seems to come up. I ask..
"Where is your compassion?" and then, embarrassingly enough, I have to EXPLAIN that.

So, ok. you believe that compassion is essential. Great.
Super.

How does it show up in your debates with people in here?

[Divine Insight]

Does Buddhism even have a God? Or is that just a popular misconception that it does not.

It doesn't have an egotistical God like Christianity does, no.

So if your requirement of a "God" is that it must have an ego, then Buddhism wouldn't have a "God" by that definition. Many people simply don't understand that Buddhist concept of "God" at all. In fact, religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are convinced that they own the copyright on "God", and so if another concept of "God" doesn't match their copyright definition of what they think a "God" should be, they proclaim that it must not be a "God" at all then.

Much of the Western World only considers anthropomorphic images of "God" such as Zeus, Thor, YHVH, Allah, Apollo, Jesus, etc. They simply can't comprehend a "God" like Buddhism actually has.

In fact many Buddhist concede that Buddhism does not have a "God" like the Abrahamic religions think of their "God". This is indeed true.

[Divine Insight]

However, if we are going to address religions I would have to say that Buddhism is one of the few religions that allows for a God who can actually be 100% compassionate even in terms of the world as we currently see it.

Woo woo woo

100% is pretty darn tootin' absolute, alrighty.
Dogma much?

It has absolutely nothing to do with dogma. It's not that the Buddhist proclaim that their God supposedly has this trait. It simply turns out that once you fully understand the Buddhist concept of God you'll see that it simply can't be any other way. In fact, it's pantheism. That should give you a bit of clue right there.

[dio9]

Why when we speak of compassion do we think its a Buddhist ethic? Christianity has a very compassionate ethic, even beyond compassion to self sacrifice. Yes compassion is something to be consciously practiced beyond salvation and grace, its a christian virtue. Compassion is the wind beneath our wings.