Before commencing the lecture, the Venerable first led the participants in silent meditation, as an initiation for everyone to reflect on their own motivations for attending the lecture. This was done to lead the audience to being mindful of each action in the present moment, as it is essential to our behavioral choices in response to external circumstances.

With her amiable gentleness and witty talks, the Venerable opened the session by recalling her first visit to Taiwan, back then she thought “阿彌陀佛” (Amitabha) was her Chinese name as it has always been the first word everybody spoke to her!

Later she switched to a significant point that most people tend to unconsciously feel superior or harbor discriminating mindsets in the act of kindness; so she led all audiences to practice self reflection by asking “Can the action of kind generosity truly benefit others while accompanied by a “strong ego”? Or, does it merely serve as an angle for reputation?”

On the other hand, in terms of the scenario of parent-child interactions, the Venerable also reminded parents that "Example is always better than precept" (身教重於言教). On this occasion, parents can further reflect if their negative emotional and behavioral patterns have been unconsciously passed down to the next generation during their daily parent-child interactions.

The Venerable kept pointing out that with no exceptions all sentient beings aspire to escape suffering and obtain happiness. However, they usually on the contrary make the causes of suffering. Therefore, we could alternatively employ our empathy for those who hurt us and understand them in a way that everyone is always in their pursuit of happiness yet ends up with suffering. Through this consideration, we could seize the opportunity to bury the hatchet with our compassion.

Venerable Thubten Chodron then additionally made reference to the Buddhists teachings that "As Buddhists, most people aspire to attain Buddhahood. In this regard, one should first generate the causes to attain Buddhahood, namely cultivate compassion then give rise to the Bodhi mind”.

She next expounded on this matter that being compassionate does not mean to become hypocritical, nor bring about suffering or a sense of unfairness. All sentient beings are our brothers and sisters living together in unity, so we should not be hesitant in showing kindness and compassion, nor be fearful of being picked on by others. Instead we should hold on to our faith and be brave enough to act accordingly. Followed by no abiding to the merit of benevolence, freeing oneself from emotional burden then move on, it indeed shows the true embodiment of a compassionate heart.

When it was approaching to the end, participants vigorously raised their queries to the Venerable: “Sometimes emotions flash up too rapidly before kindness and compassionate could emerge; the negative emotions had already erupted ahead. In this case, how should we deal with it?”

A venerable nun, participated as an audience member, also asked “When we unwittingly hurt others, what do we do to resolve the situation by means of kindness and compassion?

The Venerable replied steadily to the participants; keeping contemplation so as to have a clear insight into how the causes and conditions worked on our emotions and behaviors and keeping up our mindfulness and behavioral adjustments. As time goes on, we could gradually nurture our compassionate hearts.

In answering all questions from the floor, she concluded that Buddhism practices and the cultivation of the compassionate heart can only be fostered via ceaseless practice, it has never been achieved in a flash. Whenever we discover our inadvertent harm to others, through making vows and repentance we could still move forward to our goal of mind-purification, step by step. Furthermore, continuous training of our contemplation and setting fire to our motivation and action are required when the causes and conditions are ready for it.

In this tranquil evening at Nung Chan Monastery, amidst a warm and relaxed mutually interactive atmosphere, Ven. Thubten Chodron led everyone to appreciate and immerse in the power of kindness and compassion!

Text: Dharma Drum Monthly
Photos: Lee, Fan (李東陽); DDM Cultural Center
Translation: Chang, Cheng-Yu (張振郁)
Editing: DDM Editorial Team; DDM Australian Editorial Team