Compassion As the Basis of Moral and Spiritual Order (1)

Compassion in action: an 18th-century Italian depiction of the Parable of the Good Samaritan: “The parable of the Good Samaritan is a parable told by Jesus and is mentioned in only one of the gospels of the New Testament. According to the Gospel of Luke (10:29–37) a traveller (who may or may not have been a Jew) is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by. Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man.” (Wikipedia)

In his great unfinished essay “The Ethic of Compassion for Sentient Beings“, Ramalingam holds that compassion is not only the basis of moral order, i.e., the prevalence of moral norms, in this world, but also the basis of spiritual order in the higher worlds:

“In the absence of compassion, moral discernment and love will not emerge. When moral discernment and love do not emerge, consideration, cooperation, and unity will not be present. If consideration, cooperation, and unity are not present, then the strong will overwhelm the weak and the latter’s adherence to moral norms will be destroyed.

Eventually, due to arrogance and self-aggrandizement, any adherence to moral norms among the strong in their mutual relations will also be destroyed.

There is no moral order in places where wild beasts, such as lions and tigers, which are bereft of compassion, live. In just the same way, there will be no moral order in places where human beings bereft of compassion live.

Without compassion, divine grace will not manifest. Without divine grace, knowledge of ILC (Arutperumjothi or The Immense Light of Compassion) cannot be attained. Without knowledge of ILC, there is no attainment of the bliss of liberation from the shackles of ignorance-bound existence. And without the attainment of this bliss of liberation, there can be no spiritual order in the higher worlds.”

Wood carving of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Liao China, 907-1125 (Wikipedia)