Osho on Compassion, Compassion is Therapeutic

Osho – Compassion is always therapeutic; whatsoever your level, it helps you. Compassion is love purified — so much so that you simply give and don’t ask anything in return. Buddha used to say to his disciples, “After each meditation, be compassionate — immediately — because when you meditate, love grows, the heart becomes full. After each meditation, feel compassion for the whole world so that you share your love and you release the energy into the atmosphere and that energy can be used by others.” 

I would also like to say that to you: After each meditation, when you are celebrating, have compassion. Just feel that your energy should go and help people in whatsoever ways they need it. Just release it! You will be unburdened, you will feel very relaxed, you will feel very calm and quiet, and the vibrations that you have released will help many. End your meditations always with compassion. And compassion is unconditional. You cannot have compassion only for those who are friendly towards you, only for those who are related to you.

It happened in China: When Bodhidharma went to China, a man came to him. He said, “I have followed your teachings: I meditate and then I feel compassion for the whole universe — not only for men, but for animals, for rocks and rivers also.

But there is one problem: I cannot feel compassion for my neighbor. No — it is impossible! So you please tell me: can I exclude my neighbor from my compassion? I include the whole existence, known, unknown, but can I exclude my neighbor? — because it is very difficult, impossible. I cannot feel compassion for him.” 

Bodhidharma said, “Then forget about meditation, because if compassion excludes anybody then it is no more there.”

Compassion is all-inclusive — intrinsically all-inclusive. So if you cannot feel compassion for your neighbor~ then forget all about meditation — because it has nothing to do with somebody in particular. It has something to do with your inner state. Be compassion! unconditionally, undirected, unaddressed. Then you become a healing force into this world of misery. 

Jesus says: “Love thy neighbor as thyself” — again and again. And he also says: “Love thy enemy as thyself.” And if you analyze both the sentences together, you will come to find that the neighbor and the enemy are almost always the same person. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and”Love thy enemy as thyself.” What does he mean?

He simply means: don’t have any barriers for your compassion, for your love. As you love yourself, love the whole existence — because in the ultimate analysis the whole existence is yourself. It is you — reflected in many mirrors. It is you — it is not separate from you.

Your neighbor is just a form of you; your enemy is also a form of you. Whatsoever you come across, you come across yourself. You may not recognize because you are not very alert; you may not be able to see yourself in the other, but then something is wrong with your vision, something is wrong with your eyes. COMPASSION is therapeutic.