AMMDI is an open-notebook hypertext writing experiment, authored by Mike Travers aka mtraven. It's a work in progress and some parts are more polished than others. Comments welcome! More.

Buddha's compassion is something else again, and perhaps beyond my understanding. He does not forgive sin, he liberates from suffering. These aren't at all the same thing, other than being Aspects Of What We Want From Religion or something like that.

Prima facie, the association of the Tibetan term for ‘compassion’ with action stands at odds with the Graeco-Roman association of ‘compassion’ with emotion. In the Indo-Tibetan tradition, ‘compassion’ is, however, also closely associated with the emotion described as ‘loving-kindness’ (Sanskrit* metta*) while Aquinas’ construal of compassion as a passio animae, an affective reaction which brings about a change in bodily state, is seen by him as the basis, when joined with reason, of its correlative virtue, caritas. Arguably, therefore, the meanings of snying rje and misericordia, both of them translated as* ‘compassion’,* are not so far apart as they might seem at first.

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compassion

17 Aug 2023 - 26 Jul 2025

Note: whenever I write about Buddhism, assume that I have no fucking clue what I'm talking about, and go read someone who does have one, unless you for some reason are interested specifically in my take.

Not quite the same thing as empathy but close. The Buddhist take on compassion seems quite different from superficially similar attitudes in Christianity (mercy). Compassion is not just a virtue to practice, it is one of the fundamental properties of being itself. It is both a goal and technique of liberation, in particular, liberation from illusions of separateness.

Self-compassion sounds like it deserves its own page. It sounds like a self-help movement, I could write a fucking book and make bank. Surely it's been done. Self-Compassion

Yeah its a thing. Sounds kinda interesting (as far as therapy stuff can) Compassion-focused therapy - Wikipedia

Jesus does not exactly forgive, that's easy. He redeems, he is sacrificed, he takes on the punishment that we deserve. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but that is the story.

Buddha's compassion is something else again, and perhaps beyond my understanding. He does not forgive sin, he liberates from suffering. These aren't at all the same thing, other than being Aspects Of What We Want From Religion or something like that.

Prima facie, the association of the Tibetan term for ‘compassion’ with action stands at odds with the Graeco-Roman association of ‘compassion’ with emotion. In the Indo-Tibetan tradition, ‘compassion’ is, however, also closely associated with the emotion described as ‘loving-kindness’ (Sanskrit* metta*) while Aquinas’ construal of compassion as a passio animae, an affective reaction which brings about a change in bodily state, is seen by him as the basis, when joined with reason, of its correlative virtue, caritas. Arguably, therefore, the meanings of snying rje and misericordia, both of them translated as* ‘compassion’,* are not so far apart as they might seem at first.

See also, mettā aka loving kindness, which is not quite the same thing. They are both one of the Brahmavihārās