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Karua (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
; Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
) is generally translated as "compassion
Compassion

Compassion is commonly defined as a profound human emotion prompted by the suffering of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering....
" or "pity". It is part of the spiritual path of both Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
 and Jainism
Jainism

Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
.

a is important in all schools of Buddhism. For Theravada
Theravada

Theravada...
 Buddhists, dwelling in karua is a means for attaining a happy present life and heavenly rebirth. For Mahayana
Mahayana

Mahayana is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophy and practice. It was History of Buddhism in India....
 Buddhists, karua is a co-requisite for becoming a bodhisattva.

heravada Buddhism, karua is one of the four "divine abodes" (brahmavihara
Brahmavihara

The four Brahmaviharas are a series of virtues and Buddhism meditation practices designed to cultivate those virtues. Brahmavihara is a term in Pali and Sanskrit meaning ?Brahma abidings?, or "Sublime attitudes." They are also known as the Four Immeasurables ....
), along with lovingkindness (Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
: metta
Metta

Metta or maitri has been translated as "loving-kindness," "friendliness," "benevolence," "amity," "friendship," "good will," "kindness," "love," "sympathy," and "active interest in others." It is one of the ten paramita of the Theravada Schools of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmavihara....
), sympathetic joy (mudita
Mudita

Mudita is a Buddhist word meaning rejoicing in others' joy. Mudita is sometimes considered to be the opposite of schadenfreude.The term mudita is usually translated as "sympathetic" or "altruistic" joy, the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being rather than begrudging it....
) and equanimity (upekkha).






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Karua (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
; Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
) is generally translated as "compassion
Compassion

Compassion is commonly defined as a profound human emotion prompted by the suffering of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering....
" or "pity". It is part of the spiritual path of both Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
 and Jainism
Jainism

Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
.

Buddhism

Karua is important in all schools of Buddhism. For Theravada
Theravada

Theravada...
 Buddhists, dwelling in karua is a means for attaining a happy present life and heavenly rebirth. For Mahayana
Mahayana

Mahayana is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophy and practice. It was History of Buddhism in India....
 Buddhists, karua is a co-requisite for becoming a bodhisattva.

Theravada Buddhism

In Theravada Buddhism, karua is one of the four "divine abodes" (brahmavihara
Brahmavihara

The four Brahmaviharas are a series of virtues and Buddhism meditation practices designed to cultivate those virtues. Brahmavihara is a term in Pali and Sanskrit meaning ?Brahma abidings?, or "Sublime attitudes." They are also known as the Four Immeasurables ....
), along with lovingkindness (Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
: metta
Metta

Metta or maitri has been translated as "loving-kindness," "friendliness," "benevolence," "amity," "friendship," "good will," "kindness," "love," "sympathy," and "active interest in others." It is one of the ten paramita of the Theravada Schools of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmavihara....
), sympathetic joy (mudita
Mudita

Mudita is a Buddhist word meaning rejoicing in others' joy. Mudita is sometimes considered to be the opposite of schadenfreude.The term mudita is usually translated as "sympathetic" or "altruistic" joy, the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being rather than begrudging it....
) and equanimity (upekkha). In the Pali canon
Pali Canon

The Pali Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism tradition, as preserved in the Pali. It is the only completely surviving Early Buddhist schools canon, and one of the first to be written down....
, the Buddha
Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
 recommends cultivating these four virtuous mental states to both householders
Householder (Buddhism)

In English translations of Buddhist literature, householder denotes a variety of terms. Most broadly, it refers to any layperson, and most narrowly, to a wealthy and prestigious familial patriarch....
 and monastics
Bhikkhu

A Bhikkhu , Bhiksu is a fully ordained male Buddhism monastic. Female monastics are called Bhikkhunis . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha....
. When one develops these four states, the Buddha counsels radiating them in all directions, as in the following stock canonical phrase regarding karua: Such a practice purifies one's mind, avoids evil-induced consequences, leads to happiness in one's present life and, if there is a future karmic
Karma in Buddhism

Karma means "action" or "doing"; whatever one does, says, or thinks is a karma.In Buddhism, the term karma is used specifically for those actions which spring from :...
 rebirth
Rebirth (Buddhism)

Rebirth in Buddhism is the doctrine that the Consciousness of a person , upon the death or dissolution of the aggregates which make up that person, becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new group of skandhas which may again be conventionally considered a person or individual....
, rebirth in a heavenly realm
Buddhist cosmology

Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the universe according to the canonical Buddhist Tripitaka and commentaries....
.

The Pali commentaries
Atthakatha

Atthakatha refers to Pali-language Theravada commentaries to the canonical Theravadin Tipitaka. These commentaries give the traditional interpretations of the scriptures....
 distinguish between karua and metta in the following complementary manner: Karuna is the desire to remove harm and suffering (ahita-dukkha
Dukkha

Dukkha roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, Stress , misery, and frustration....
-apanaya-kamata) from others; while metta is the desire to bring about the well-being and happiness (hita-sukha
Sukha

Sukha is a Sanskrit and Pali word that is often translated as ?happiness" or "ease" or "pleasure" or "bliss." In Buddhism's Pali literature, the term is used in the context of describing laic pursuits, meditative absorptions and intra-psychic phenomena....
-upanaya-kamata) of others.

Mahayana Buddhism

In Mahayana Buddhism, karua is one of the two qualities, along with enlightened wisdom (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
: prajña
Prajña

Praj?a or pa??a has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how." In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, anicca, interdependent origination, anatta, shunyata, etc....
), to be cultivated on the bodhisattva
Bodhisattva

In the Buddhist context, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened existence " or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment "....
 path. According to scholar Rupert Gethin
Rupert Gethin

Dr. Rupert Mark Lovell Gethin is a Lecturer in Indian Religions in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and codirector of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, and president of the Pali Text Society....
, this elevation of karua to the status of prajña is one of the distinguishing factors between the Theravada arahant ideal and the Mahayana bodhisattva ideal:

Throughout the Mahayana world, Avalokitesvara
Avalokitesvara

Avalokitesvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhahood. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....
 (Sanskrit; Chinese: Guan Yin; Japanese: Kanzeon; Tibetan: Chenrezig) is a bodhisattva who embodies karua.

Jainism

Karua is associated with the Jain practice of compassion. For instance, karua is one of the four reflections of universal friendship — along with amity (Sanskrit: maitri), appreciation (pramoda) and equanimity (madhyastha)—used to stop (samvara) the influx of karma.

See also

  • Bodhicitta
    Bodhicitta

    In Buddhism, bodhicitta is the wish to attain complete enlightenment in order to be of benefit to all Sentient beings ? beings trapped in cyclic existence and have not yet reached Buddhahood....
  • Bodhisattva
    Bodhisattva

    In the Buddhist context, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened existence " or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment "....
  • Brahmavihara
    Brahmavihara

    The four Brahmaviharas are a series of virtues and Buddhism meditation practices designed to cultivate those virtues. Brahmavihara is a term in Pali and Sanskrit meaning ?Brahma abidings?, or "Sublime attitudes." They are also known as the Four Immeasurables ....
  • Nilakantha dharani
  • Metta
    Metta

    Metta or maitri has been translated as "loving-kindness," "friendliness," "benevolence," "amity," "friendship," "good will," "kindness," "love," "sympathy," and "active interest in others." It is one of the ten paramita of the Theravada Schools of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmavihara....


Sources

  • Buddha Dharma Education Association & BuddhaNet (n.d.). Buddhist Studies for Secondary Students, Unit 6: The Four Immeasurables. Retrieved from "BuddhaNet" at http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bs-s15.htm.
  • Gethin, Rupert
    Rupert Gethin

    Dr. Rupert Mark Lovell Gethin is a Lecturer in Indian Religions in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and codirector of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, and president of the Pali Text Society....
     (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Monier-Williams, Monier
    Monier Monier-Williams

    Sir Monier Monier-Williams studied, documented and taught Asian languages in England, and compiled one of the most widely-used Sanskrit-English dictionaries....
     (1899, 1964). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-864308-X. Retrieved 2008-05-09 from "Cologne University" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/index.php?sfx=pdf.
  • Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society
    Pali Text Society

    The Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts".Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved....
    . Retrieved 2008-05-09 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
  • Shah, Pravin K. (n.d.). Nine Tattvas (Principles). Retrieved from "Harvard U." at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/jainedu/9tattva.htm.
  • Thanissaro Bhikkhu
    Thanissaro Bhikkhu

    Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an United States Buddhist monk of the Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He was born Geoffrey DeGraff and converted to Buddhism in high school....
     (trans.) (1994). Kalama Sutta: To the Kalamas (AN
    Anguttara Nikaya

    The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
     3.65). Retrieved 2008-05-10 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html.
  • Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2006). Metta Sutta: Good Will (1) (AN
    Anguttara Nikaya

    The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
     4.125). Retrieved 2008-05-10 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an04/an04.125.than.html.


External links