The Logic Behind the Ideal of Compassion in the Mahayana Perspective

             1.A brief overview of the meaning of compassions in Buddhism
             In essence, the concept of compassion is fundamental and foundational to all schools and variations of Buddhism, including Zen Buddhism. Buddhism as a philosophy or spiritual practice emerges and originates for the primary insight that all beings are suffering and that this suffering is a result of illusion. The entire Buddhist oeuvre, as is evident in the experience of Siddhârtha Gautama, is therefore based on the sense of compassion for the individual and all sentient beings in the world and the larger universe who suffer under the illusion of Maya. It is the inner logic of compassion, which is in effect the understanding of this suffering and the desire to release oneself and others for the false immersion in the material world, that shapes the various schools of Buddhist thought in different degrees.
             However, the Mahayana school or perception, which is usually distinguished for the Theravada school, places an emphasis on the importance of universal compassion and the release from suffering, which in turn related to the release from suffering through Sunyata or enlightenment.
             The ideal of compassion and the need to liberate others from Maya or illusion is extended to the ideal of no self or anatta. This is line with the view of reality as emptiness or nothingness. (Mahayana Buddhism)
             2. Mahayana and the "Great Vehicle"
             In order to understand the logic and relationship between these concepts, it is necessary to analyze the word compassion in this context. The word Mahayana means the 'Great Vehicle'. This refers to the central concept of compassion for others in that Mahayana is concerned with the aim of universal salvation. Therefore, in the Mahayana tradition the highest ideal that the aspirant strives for is not salvation of self but salvation of the world and even the larger universe of all sentient beings.
             This idea...

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The Logic Behind the Ideal of Compassion in the Mahayana Perspective. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 13:40, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/203151.html