30 November 2025

The Wisdom of Compassion

On this Guru Rinpoche Day, Phakchok Rinpoche shares some reflections on compassion based on the words all practitioners recite often: "May all beings as far as space pervades." Rinpoche also states the difference between internal and external compassion, how to balance both, and the attitudes and mindsets practitioners should convey. These are important points to be able to focus on cultivating compassion always.

Dear friends near and far,

As always, I hope this message finds you well, healthy and happy. On today’s Guru Rinpoche day, I would like to share some reflections on compassion.

First, I want to insist on the importance of these few words that we all recite so often: “May all beings as far as space pervades…”

When you recite these words, your mind focuses on space, so that it naturally mingles with the vastness of space. In that expansive state, it is impossible to focus on yourself. These few words thus help overcome our self-centeredness and relax our minds.

Moreover, when we say, “all beings,” we refer to beings who are just like us: wishing for happiness and not wanting suffering, but not knowing the causes of happiness or suffering. The most important wish we can make is for all these beings to be free from the causes of suffering, and to achieve the state of Buddhahood by realizing the true nature of things.

The second thing I would like to point out is that there is a difference between internal and external compassion. By internal compassion, I mean our personal cultivation of compassion. This compassion should be entirely egoless and extend equally to all beings, without any discrimination or judgement. External compassion is the expression of internal compassion: our actions to benefit beings.

In order to balance our internal and external compassion, we need to be very big-hearted and open-minded, able to understand different perspectives and to put ourselves in another’s shoes. We need to be down to earth, respectful, and have a good understanding of the overall situation. Such an attitude is essential to benefitting oneself and others.

The external expression of compassion consists in the four ways of benefitting beings: giving gifts, being friendly, giving meaningful advice, and practicing the advice that you give. But our external actions also necessitate skillful means: the ability to discern people’s characters, that our actions may be effective and not lead to harmful results. However, even though external compassion necessitates some discrimination, this judgement should never go deep enough to touch our hearts: these should always remain overflowing with compassion for all, even as our expressions of compassion need to depend on outward circumstances.

With this in mind, please focus on cultivating compassion always.

With all my love and prayers,

Sarva Mangalam.