Growing Zen

One lesson from church today was really excellent, beautiful, and absolutely in the same vein as my current study of universal altruism, compassion, and lovingkindness. I even got to share how I've been using meditation to actively cultivate lovingkindness for others (the lovingkindness or metta meditation). I got great feedback :) So, I'm going to type up a few passages that struck me with special force or clarity. They're from chapter 22 of Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, "Doing Good to Others":

"We  are of the same Father in the celestial worlds. ... If we knew each other as we should,...our sympathies would be excited more than they are at the present time, and there would be a desire on the part of every individual to study in their own minds how they might do their brethren good, how they might alleviate their sorrows and build them up in truth, how  [they might] remove the darkness from their minds. If we understand each other and the real relationship which we hold to each other, we should feel different from what we do; but this knowledge can be obtained only as we obtain the Spirit of life, and as we are desirous of building each other up in righteousness."

"We have been sent into the world to go good to others' and in doing good to other we do good to ourselves." 

"We should be friends everywhere and to everybody. There is no Latter-day Saint that hates the world: but we are friends to the world, we are obliged to be, so far as they are concerned. We must learn to extend our charity and labor in the interests of all mankind, This is the mission of the Latter-day Saints--not simply confine it to ourselves, but to spread it abroad, as it of necessity must be extended to all mankind."

That was really beautiful. LDS culture can tend to be insular and isolationist. It's not supposed to be that way. The gospel is not that way. Human compassion, love, and connectedness know no bounds. Thank you, Lorenzo Snow.

"Cultivate a spirit of charity; be ready to do for others more than you would expect from them if circumstances were reversed."

I know it's popular and makes sense to "look out for #1, because no one else is going to," but imagine if everyone practiced the above, to do for others more than they expect to be done for themselves. Everyone would be amply cared for. I know it sounds naive and utopianistic, but it's beautiful and is possible. It's just that everyone has to do it. And the only person you can personally ensure does this is you. There's that quote attributed to Gandhi, "be the change you wish to see in the world." Love it. But in the interest of accuracy, since that's not exactly what Gandhi said, here's the closest actual attributed quote: 

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.”  Both work for what I'm trying to say, so enjoy :)

"We have just got to feel...that there are other people besides ourselves; we have got to look into the hearts and feelings of others and become more godly than what we are now. ... Now if you want to get heaven within you and to get into heaven you want to pursue that course that angles do who are in heaven. If you want to know how you are to increase, I will tell you, it is by getting godliness within you. ... A person never can enjoy heaven until he learns how to get it, and to act upon its principles."

Godliness is, to my mind, the attributes of God: love, compassion, charity. Also, faith, virtue, knowledge, patience, brotherly kindness, humility, and diligence (D&C 4:6). So, taking care of others and cultivating love and charity make us more godly and bring heaven to us and us to heaven. More support for my current experimentation with all the good I'm finding through Buddhism. :)

And, with that very eloquent segue, here is an excerpt from Shantideva's The Way of the Bodhisattva (Padmakara Translation Group edition). It's from the chapter "Taking Hold of Bodhichitta" ("bodhichitta" being "enlightenment mind," the mind that strives toward awakening and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings):