Behaving Accordingly

Yutang Lin

Dharma indicates clearly that persons have no self;
Labeling others as high or low could yield illusion.
Considerations over matters need not concern self;
Just ask about how compassion should be applied.

Comments:

The right view of Buddhism clearly indicates that there is no self. In saying that someone has compassion or someone lacks compassion there could already be the implication that someone has substantiality. Even though as a matter of convenience it could be said in such a way; nevertheless, it could hardly be avoided that subtle attachment to the notion of self would result from such sayings. Therefore, in practicing compassion one should simply consider with respect to a given situation how to behave to be in accordance with compassion, and then act accordingly. In this way we can avoid the question of one's having or lacking compassion, but consider only the question of how to conform to compassion.

Written in Chinese on September 8, 2001
Translated on September 9, 2001
El Cerrito, California

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