Compassion

A person's nobility is manifested in compassion for others. Kindness and consideration for others resonate with both the Buddhist concept of compassion and the core Christian concept of love. When viewed from a larger perspective, we exist here thanks to the warmth, kindness and support, not only of the people around us but of everything on this Earth and in the entire universe.

All living things - flowers, birds, the sun, the soil - support one another in a beautiful symphony of life. Since the birth of this planet more than four billion years ago, life form after life form has been conceived and nourished. Human life is a part of that chain. If at any point a link were missing from this chain, none of us would be alive today. We are all proof that the chain hasn't been broken.

Life produces new life - surely this is consideration in its most basic form. Delving deeper into this idea, I think we can say that the Earth itself is a giant living organism filled with consideration. The activity of the entire universe is essentially a function of compassion.

Truly commendable people have the spirit to improve and grow, and continually striving to develop ourselves above all else is true consideration for others.

Daisaku Ikeda, The Way of Youth, Buddhist Common Sense for Handling Life's Questions, p.146