Concept · Library
Concept · Buddhist (Theravāda and Mahāyāna) · Early Buddhist in origin; the Theravāda systematisation in the fifth century CE, and the Mahāyāna development from roughly the first centuries CE.
Compassion (karuṇā)karuṇā
Also known as Karuna · Compassion in Buddhism · The second divine abiding · Feeling with another's suffering · Compassion practice
Presented as what a tradition teaches, attributed to that tradition.
Karuṇā is the movement of the heart towards suffering rather than away from it: the wish that others not suffer, and the willingness to be near their pain. In the Buddhist scheme of the four divine abidings it stands beside loving-kindness (mettā), which wishes others well. The two are companions and not the same thing, and the tradition treats the difference as important.
Entries in this library keep the tradition label and the editorial state the source gave them. A record marked as awaiting scholarly review is offered as a lead to study, not as settled teaching.