A Heartfelt Aspiration for Compassion

Compassion is the second of the Four Immeasurables.

“The Sanskrit term karuṇā is normally translated  as compassion, but etymologically it simply means kindness. If I have a sense of kindness towards you, I don’t want you to suffer. It implies caring tremendously about the suffering of others, as if it were one’s own. 

Just as loving-kindness is the heart that longs for the well-being of oneself and others, the nature of compassion is simply the heartfelt yearning: ‘May we all be free of suffering and the sources of suffering.’ “

– Dr. B Alan Wallace, The Four Immeasurables (emphasis added).