From Medieval Japan to Modern Times: The Timeless Power of Compassion

"Winter always turns to spring," wrote Nichiren Daishonin in a letter to his follower in Medieval Japan in 1275. The recipient of that letter was a lay nun Myōchi who had lost her husband and struggled to raise her children alone.

Sounds familiar? Some 750 years later, we face similar challenges. Time is different, but human nature is not.

At the beginning of this letter, Daishonin writes with great compassion, "It is hard for children to grow up when even one parent is missing. Your husband had to leave behind a daughter, a son who is ill, and you, their mother, who suffers from a poor constitution. To whom could he have entrusted his family before leaving this world?"

In Buddhism, compassion is one of the three attributes of a Buddha. The other two are wisdom and courage. An enlightened person radiates these probities, and they guide their behaviour.

I focus on compassion in this article because it is the most essential aspect of being human. It is the founding principle of civil society, as Margaret Mead has been said to think.

The origins of compassion are in the dawn of the human race.

Margaret Mead (1901-1978), the renowned American anthropologist, was said to suggest that the first sign of civilisation in ancient culture was not materials or fire but a femur that had been broken and then healed.

Mead's observation highlights the difference between human behaviour and that of animals. If somebody is hurt and unable to fight back for survival in the animal kingdom, that poor creature is on its own and left to die. Humans do care and try to help the unlucky ones.

Even though we don't know for absolute certainty that Mead said so, it is sufficient to assume that against her other work, this has some truth in it.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the unlucky who fell and has tended to the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilisation starts, is Mead's conclusion.

Medieval Japan wasn't a cradle of care.

In Medieval Japan, the shoguns ruled ruthlessly. Amidst natural disasters, internal clashes between shogunates, pandemics, and a constant threat of foreign invasion by Koreans, Japan was not an Eldorado.

There was also a range of Buddhist schools and endemic Shinto religion that the ruling clan used to control people, tax them and keep track of their whereabouts. The unholy marriage between military rulers and religious leaders was suffocating.

Against this backdrop, Nichiren's revolutionary ideas about the sanctity of life, equality and respect for all are heroic. His compassion shines through every word he writes to the distressed lady Myōchi. I can feel how she got new strength from reading the letter.

Nichiren himself was twice exiled, almost beheaded and endured persecution throughout his life. Authorities hated him because of his integrity and total lack of power games. He knew what suffering is, and thus he could not only empathise but act compassionately.

Compassion is a verb.

"Rest assured that I will look after your children whether you are still living or are watching from under the sod," writes Daishonin at the end of the letter promising to help and be there for Myōchi's children if she cannot look after them.

Empathy is easy, we can empathise and feel sorry for somebody, but compassion requires action. A compassionate person cannot stay as an onlooker and grizzle when somebody is hurt. That's why in Nichiren Buddhism, compassion is so important.

Buddhism is action. It is to help people elevate their life states and transform sufferings into joy and pain into happiness. It is a two-way street: those we help will return the favour. It is the virtuous cycle that takes civilisation higher.

Over the thousands of years of traditions and spiritual search, Buddhism has developed methods and tools to heal those spiritual femurs that otherwise would have left the suffering people on their own.

Compassion gives immediate aid but also a long-term remedy.

Nichiren expands the view from individual pain into societal problems and the importance of profoundly learning from Buddhism's philosophical frameworks in the letter I refer to.

He is putting the lay nun Myōchi's hardships into a new context. In that way, he gives intellectual leavers to her to overcome the emotional agony she is experiencing. She can see beyond her own suffering and gain hope.

Compassion generates hope. And hope gives strength to continue and fight for a better future. Daishonin instils this hope-inducing sentiment in every sentence, "Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are as if in winter, but winter always turns to spring. Never, from ancient times on, has anyone seen or heard of winter turning back to autumn. Nor have we ever heard of a believer in the Lotus Sutra who turned into an ordinary person."

In a very gentle way, Daishoning emphasises that lay nun Myōchi is not an ordinary person but worthy of respect, happiness and a beautiful future. He assures her that she will eventually break through and transform her seemingly hopeless situation by having a strong faith in Buddhist principles and following them.

Daishonin is ready to take immediate action but also shows us that genuine compassion sows the seeds for a deeper understanding of life and how to transform it for the better.

In another letter, Daishonin writes, "If you wish to cure a disease, you must first discover its cause. By the same token, if you wish to save people, you must expound the cause of their suffering."

What does this mean to you and me?

When the brown substance hits the fan, giving up and losing hope is easy. It is a daily struggle for most of us. Seeing somebody in the middle of their challenges requires us to take action.

When life throws those curve balls at someone, it is our human right, privilege and responsibility to be there for them. In those events, it is good to remember the two aspects of compassion:

Immediate and concrete help is based on understanding the circumstances where our fellow human being is and suffers. Take action, don't take selfies in the moment of suffering.

Provide a spiritual, intellectual, social and emotional context for the long-term healing process. Don't preach but be the wise one who dares to stand up, show the cause, and suggest the cure.

The renowned comedian and film director Charlie Chaplin wrote in his memoir, "Life in a close-up is a tragedy, and in a wide shot, it's a comedy".

Compassion is not for fainthearted or humourless pedants. In compassion, the joy of living is instilled as the driving force. Curiosity, open heart and mind go hand in hand with this attribute of an enlightened person.

You can be a genuine Buddha if you base your life on compassion, cultivate your wisdom without bias and prejudges and take courageous action to alleviate pain and give joy instead. By doing so, you can be grateful for everything that happens to you because you are transforming your life and that of others for the better, one thought, word and deed at a time.