311 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
311 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
True Love
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World Scripture
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TRUE LOVE
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When the individual realizes Truth and fulfills God's purpose for his life, he
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comes to embody universal love. He delights in the well-being of others and
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selflessly works for their benefit. Love or Compassion, being the core of
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Ultimate Reality, is expressed in the love of the saint who can rise above
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self-centered attachments and desires. It is true love, love that is totally
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committed to the welfare of the other. It is love that is universal,
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overcoming the ordinary tendency to self-centeredness or favoritism for one's
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own.
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The ideal of love described in this section is rare in the world. Such love
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requires the foundation of integrity, truthfulness, and unity with the Absolute
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as described in the previous section on Perfection. Other passages which
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describe love as an ethic can be found under Loving Kindness, pp. 826-30.
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This section opens with several well-known passages that describe human love as
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grounded in divine love: 1 John 4 and 1 Corinthians 13 of the Christian Bible,
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from the Bhagavad Gita, and the Buddhist Metta Sutta. The following passages
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describe divine love as universal, flowing impartially to all beings,
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insentient to likes and dislikes.
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The last three passages discuss true love from the standpoint of love in the
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family. On the one hand, as love for children and love for spouse are the most
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intense of human loves, such love is the standard that should be universally
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applied to all. Thus a Buddhist sutra states that the bodhisattva loves
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everyone as though they were a loved only child. On the other hand, even love
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of family often succumbs to partiality; as the Confucian passage from the
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Doctrine of the Mean cautions, it is not true love if the personal foundation
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is not right.
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Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born
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of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.
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No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love
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is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because
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he has given us of his own Spirit.
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There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do
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with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because
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he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is
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a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God
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whom he has not seen.
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1. Christianity. Bible, 1 John 4.7-8, 12-13, 18-20
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The infinite joy of touching the Godhead is easily attained by those who are
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free from the burden of evil and established within themselves. They see the
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Self in every creature and all creation in the Self. With consciousness
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unified through meditation, they see everything with an equal eye.
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I am ever present into those who have realized Me in every creature. Seeing all
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life as My manifestation, they are never separated from Me. They worship Me in
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the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from Me. Wherever they may
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live, they abide in Me.
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When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his
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own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union.
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2. Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 6.28-32
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If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy
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gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all
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mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove
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mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if
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I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
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Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant
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or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
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resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears
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all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
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Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they
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will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is
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imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the
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imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought
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like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish
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ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in
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part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So
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faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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3. Christianity. Bible, 1 Corinthians 13
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1 John 4.7-20: Cf. Sotah 31a, p. 71; John 17.12-13, p. 271. Bhagavad Gita
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6.28-32: Cf. Bhagavad Gita 3.15-26, p. 976. 1 Corinthians 13: Cf. Abot 2.13;
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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He who is skilled in welfare, who wishes to attain that calm state (Nibbana),
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should act thus: He should be able, upright, perfectly upright, of noble
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speech, gentle, and humble. Contented, easily supported, with few wants and
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simple tastes, with senses calmed, discreet, not impudent, not greedily
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attached to families....
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[He should always hold this thought,] "May all beings be happy and secure, may
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their hearts be wholesome! Whatever living beings there be: feeble or strong,
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tall, stout or medium, short, small or large, without exception; seen or
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unseen, those dwelling far or near, those who are born or those yet unborn--may
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all beings be happy!"
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Let none deceive another, nor despise any person whatsoever in any place. Let
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him not wish any harm to another out of anger or ill-will. Just as a mother
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would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so, let him
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cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings. Let his thoughts of boundless
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love pervade the whole world: above, below, and across without any obstruction,
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without any hatred, without any enmity. Whether he stands, walks, sits or lies
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down, as long as he is awake, he should develop this mindfulness. This, they
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say, is the noblest living here.
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4. Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 143-151, Metta Sutta
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Now, I am jealous of no one,
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Now that I have attained unto the Society of the Saints:
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I am estranged with no one: nor is anyone a stranger to me,
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Indeed, I am the friend of all.
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All that God does, with that I am pleased;
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This is the wisdom I have received from the saints.
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Yea, the One God pervades all: and, seeing Him,
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I am wholly in bloom.
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5. Sikhism. Adi Granth, Kanara, M.5, p. 1299
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Compassion is a mind that savors only
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Mercy and love for all sentient beings.
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6. Buddhism. Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 437
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That one I love who is incapable of ill will, who is friendly and compassionate.
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7. Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 12.13
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If, like a cracked gong, you silence yourself, you have already attained
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Nibbana: no vindictiveness will be found in you.
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8. Buddhism. Dhammapada 134
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Oracle of the Kami of Kasuga, p. 969; Precious Garland 283, p. 860; Sun Myung
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Moon, 4-18-77, p. 355. Metta Sutta: This is the classic Buddhist passage on
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loving kindness. Cf. Dhammapada 368, p. 969; Perfection of Wisdom in Eight
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Thousand Lines 321-22, p. 971; Garland Sutra 23, p. 1000; 23, p. 980;
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Sikshasamuccaya 280-81, pp. 979f.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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A man is a true Muslim when no other Muslim has to fear anything from either
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his tongue or his hand.
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9. Islam. Hadith of Bukhari
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To the addict, nothing is like his dope;
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to the fish, nothing is like water:
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But those immersed in the love of God feel love for all things.
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10. Sikhism. Adi Granth, Wadhans, M.1, p. 557
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Then that do we choose, O Lord of Wisdom, O beautiful Truth, that do we think,
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do we speak, and do we practice, which shall be best of the actions of living
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ones for both worlds!
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11. Zoroastrianism. Avesta, Yasna 35.3
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Hillel said, "Be of the disciples of Aaron--one that loves peace, that loves
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mankind, and brings them nigh to the Law."
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12. Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 1:12
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Have benevolence towards all living beings, joy at the sight of the virtuous,
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compassion and sympathy for the afflicted, and tolerance towards the indolent
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and ill-behaved.
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13. Jainism. Tattvarthasutra 7.11
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Of the adage, Only a Good Man knows how to like people, knows how to dislike
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them, Confucius said, "He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon
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Goodness will dislike no one."
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14. Confucianism. Analects 4.3-4
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Strong One, make me strong.
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May all beings look on me with the eye of friend!
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May I look on all beings with the eye of friend!
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May we look on one another with the eye of friend!
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15. Hinduism. Yajur Veda 36.18
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Wadhans 1.1: This is a good test of whether an emotion is godly love or
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ordinary love. Godly love is all-embracing, while ordinary love focuses on one
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object exclusively, thereby inciting jealousy. Godly love seeks to benefit
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others, while ordinary love is tinged with selfish desire. Cf. Asa-ki-Var
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21.1, p. 1000; Sun Myung Moon, 9-11-77, p. 274.
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He lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of love, and so
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the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide
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world, above, below, around, and everywhere, does he continue to pervade with
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the heart of love, far-reaching, exalted, beyond measure. Just as a mighty
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trumpeter makes himself heard--and that without difficulty--in all the four
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directions; even so of all things that have the shape of life there is not one
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that he passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and
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deep-felt love. Verily this is the way to a state of union with Brahma.
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16. Buddhism. Digha Nikaya xiii.76-77, Tevigga Sutta
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All humanity should walk the path of love. True peace and a world of joy
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cannot be realized without love. Happiness is the same. Can you feel
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happiness alone? You can only feel true happiness when you are able to have a
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reciprocal relationship of love with another.
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Freedom is the same. You cannot experience freedom alone; it can only be
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achieved through love and within love. You don't feel tired in the place of
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true love. No matter how exhausted you are, if you are intoxicated with love
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and you burst into tears out of love then your tiredness will suddenly
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disappear. When you feel true love you don't feel hungry or tired. Also you
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do not feel afraid of death.
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17. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 4-25-81
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What is meant by saying that the regulation of the family depends on the
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cultivation of the personal life is this: Men are partial toward those for whom
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they have affection and whom they love, partial toward those whom they despise
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and dislike, partial toward those whom they fear and revere, partial toward
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those whom they pity and for whom they have compassion, and partial toward
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those whom they do not respect. Therefore there are few people in the world
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who know what is bad in those whom they love and what is good in those whom
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they dislike. Hence it is said, People do not know the faults of their sons
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and do not know [are not satisfied with] the bigness of their seedlings. This
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is what is meant by saying that if the personal life is not cultivated, one
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cannot regulate his family.
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18. Confucianism. Great Learning 8
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If you step on a stranger's foot in the marketplace, you apologize at length
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for your carelessness. If you step on your older brother's foot, you give him
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an affectionate pat, and if you step on your parent's foot, you know you are
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already forgiven. So it is said, "Perfect ritual makes no distinction of
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persons; perfect righteousness takes no account of things [wealth]; perfect
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knowledge does not scheme; perfect benevolence knows no [partiality in]
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affection; perfect trust dispenses with gold."
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19. Taoism. Chuang Tzu 23
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Great Learning 8: Confucianism teaches that one should be partial towards one's
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own family and relatives--yet only as the starting point for a social ethic
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which is an expansion of family relations--cf. Mencius I.A.7, p. 971. To
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counter the tendency of partiality to become corrupt, another aspect to
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Confucian teaching is the search for a universal objective basis for action in
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the world: the cultivation of personal virtue. Each person should have a
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foundation of benevolence within himself or herself in order that love--both to
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family and to strangers--may be correct. Cf. Mencius II.A.6, p. 216; Mencius
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VII.B.6, p. 968. Chuang Tzu 23: Perfect action is spontaneous, heartfelt,
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trusting, and intimate; it dispenses with formalities. It can only exist where
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there is true love. Cf. Tao Te Ching 49, p. 1000.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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The bodhisattva, the great being, having practiced compassion, sympathy, and
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joy, attains the stage of the best-loved only son. For example, the father and
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mother greatly rejoice as they see their son at peace. The same is the case
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with the bodhisattva who abides in this stage: he sees all beings just as the
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parents see their only son. Seeing him practicing good, he greatly rejoices.
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So we call this stage the best-loved.
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For example, the father and mother are worried at heart as they see their son
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ill. Commiseration poisons their heart; the mind cannot part with the illness.
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So it is with the bodhisattva, the great being, who abides in this stage. As
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he sees beings bound up in the illness of illusion, his heart aches. He is
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worried as in the case of an only son. Blood comes out from all pores of the
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skin. That is why we call this stage as that of an only son.
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A child picks up earth, dirty things, tiles, stones, old bones, pieces of wood
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and puts them into his mouth, at which the father and mother, apprehensive of
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the harms that might arise thereby, take the child with the left hand and with
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the right take these out. The same goes with the bodhisattva: he sees that all
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beings are not grown up to the stage of law body and that non-good is done in
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body, speech, and mind. The bodhisattva sees, and with the hand of wisdom has
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it extracted. He does not wish that man should repeat birth and death,
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receiving thereby sorrow and worry.
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When a father and mother part with their beloved son as the son dies, their
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hearts so ache that they feel that they themselves should die together with
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him. The same is the case with the bodhisattva: as he sees a benighted person
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fall into hell, he himself desires to be born there, too. [He thinks,] "Perhaps
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the man, as he experiences the pain, may gain a moment of repentance where I
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can speak to him of the Law in various ways and enable him to gain a thought of
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good."
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For the father and mother of an only son, in sleep or while awake, or while
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walking, standing, sitting, or reclining, their minds always think of the son.
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If he does wrong, they give kindly advice and lead the boy that he does not do
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evil any more. The same is the case of the bodhisattva: as he sees beings fall
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into the realms of hell, hungry ghosts and animals, or sees them doing good and
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evil in the world of man and in heaven, his mind is ever upon them and not
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apart from them. He may see them doing all evil, yet he does not become angry
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or punish with evil intent.
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20. Buddhism. Mahaparinirvana Sutra 470-71
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Mahaparinirvana Sutra 470-71: The love of a mother for her only child, as
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developed in this Mahayana text as the way of the bodhisattva, is similar to
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the Theravada concept of compassion as set forth in the Metta Sutta (above).
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Cf. Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 5, p. 495. The 'stage of law body' is the
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complete realization of Buddhahood, when one is totally identical with Reality,
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the Dharmakaya.
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