Listening to the Sounds of the World
~ By Ajahn Amaro ~
One significant aspect of compassion is expressed in the figure of Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva, who comes to us from the Northern Buddhist tradition. Guan Yin is the Chinese name for this great spiritual entity – the Sanskrit is Avalokiteshvāra and the Tibetan is Chenrezig – all these names have the same meaning: ‘The one who listens to the sounds of the world’. To me that is an extremely meaningful name for a being who is the embodiment of compassion, because it doesn’t mean that he or she is necessarily out there doing anything. The primary role of compassion, its primordial attribute, is not getting out there and ‘doing’. Its primary attribute is listening. The quality of empathetic engagement is actualized through the practice of listening. We need to train the heart to listen.
In Pali there are a number of words for ‘compassion’: ‘karuṇā’ has been mentioned already; the Pali Text Society Dictionary tells us that ‘dayā’ means ‘sympathy, compassion, kindness’; there is also the word ‘anukampā’, translated as ‘compassion, pity, mercy’, while the verb related to it, ‘anukampati’, means ‘to have pity on, to commiserate, to sympathize with’; an ‘anukampin’ describes one who is ‘full of solicitude for the welfare of’ others.
Among these the word ‘anukampati’ has a very interesting and meaningful origin: ‘anu’ (‘along with’) + ‘kampati’; the latter word means ‘to vibrate, shake, tremble or waver’. It thus has the sense of ‘resonating’ as in ‘empathizing’, which seems very apposite in understanding how best to relate to the sufferings of all beings.
In the act of listening our eardrums vibrate, they resonate precisely according to the oscillations of the air, as received by the ear, conditioning the perception of sound. In the attitude of anukampā, the heart listens and resonates empathetically with the feelings of others, regardless of how painful those feelings might be, as naturally and impartially as the vibrations of the eardrum. Thus, when we think of the nature of compassion from the Buddhist point of view, it is closer to ‘empathy’ rather than ‘suffering with’. The heart attunes to the feelings of suffering but is not limited, burdened or stressed on account of that.
(From 'A Listening Heart', a Dhamma reflection e-published on 6th April 2020.)
- - ❖ - -
Photograph: replica at the Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives of the 9th century Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara statue found in Chaiya, Surat Thani
Photograph: replica at the Buddhadasa Indapanno Archives of the 9th century Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara statue found in Chaiya, Surat Thani