In the introduction to The Six Perfections, Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character, Dale S. Wright says:
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 3-4“From the early beginnings of their tradition, Buddhists have maintained that nothing is more important than developing the freedom implied in their activity of self-cultivation—of deliberately shaping the kind of life you will live.”
The first of the Six Perfections is generosity, and it is generosity which exemplifies the interaction of our practice for self and others.
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 33“If, engulfed in our own world of concerns, we do not even notice when someone near us needs help, we will not be able to practice generosity. Similarly, if we maintain a distant posture toward others that, in effect, prevents them from appealing to us for help, we will rarely find ourselves in a position to give. The first skill that is vital to an effective practice of generosity is receptivity, a sensitive openness to others that enables both our noting their need and our receptivity to their requests. Our physical and psychological presence sets this stage and communicates clearly the kind of relation to others that we maintain.”
This is the lesson we are to take from Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.
As Thich Nhat Hanh explains in Peaceful Action, Open Heart:
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p200“Happiness is made of one substance – compassion. If you don’t have compassion in your heart you cannot be happy. Cultivating compassion for others, you create happiness for yourself and for the world. And because Avalokiteśvara is the embodiment of this practice, the Sutra says that we pay respect to him by bowing and touching our foreheads to the ground. This is an ancient Indian practice, a gesture of deep respect to one’s teacher.”
Gene Reeves suggests in The Stories of the Lotus Sutra that the sutra can be said to have a primary focus on wisdom when it emphasizes teaching the Dharma as the most effective way to help others. But compassion is the focus when you consider the message of the parables.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p275-276“The father of the children in the burning house does not teach the children how to cope with fire; he gets them out of the house. The father of the long-lost, poor son does not so much teach him in ordinary ways as he does by example and, especially, by giving him encouragement. The guide who conjures up a fantastic city for weary travelers does not teach by giving them doctrines for coping with a difficult situation; instead, he gives them a place in which to rest, enabling them to go on. The doctor with the children who have taken poison tries to teach them to take some good medicine but fails and resorts instead to shocking them by announcing his own death. All of these actions require, of course, considerable intelligence or wisdom. But what is emphasized is that they are done by people moved by compassion to benefit others.”
Our faith in the Lotus Sutra is manifest in our compassion.
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