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