Question asked by Thorim
About the benefits of compassion, the buddha says "Fire, poison, and sword cannot touch him." (AN 11.16) what does it mean?
For example if I pratice compassion and I feel strongly compassion nor the fire nor a person that try to beat me will affect me physically?
Or if someone try to gun shot any great master with a lot of compassion, the bullet will not affect him?
Thanks!
Dear Thorim,
Thank you for your question. As you have mentioned, in the Anguttara Nikaya, also known as the Gradual Collection or Numerical Discourses, which belongs to the Pali Tipitaka of the Theravadan Buddhist tradition, it does indeed mention that one can expect to receive eleven blessings from the practice of loving kindness and compassion. For those who do not know, I will list them out here:
1. One sleeps peacefully.
2. One awakens peacefully.
3. One does not have bad dreams.
4. One is liked and dear to human beings.
5. One is liked and dear to non-human beings.
6. One will be protected from Devas,
7. One cannot be harmed by fire, poison, and weapons.
8. One’s mind becomes easily concentrated.
9. One’s facial expression will be serene.
10. One will die unconfused.
11. If one does not reach higher states, one will at least be born in the realm of Brahma.
In the example you have mentioned, yes this does mean that one can be physically protected from these forms of harm when practicing loving kindness and compassion, or more precisely, not affected by them. For your second example, yes a highly attained master can be shot at but the bullets will not affect him or her.
Many people, even Buddhists, would find this hard to believe. However I always tell people to take the life story of the Buddha as the perfect story to illustrate this point. When Buddha was under the Bodhi tree during his meditations which resulted in his complete enlightenment, he was not only tempted by Mara and his daughters but was also attacked by the armies of Mara. However, try as they would, none of their weapons could harm the Buddha. In fact even the arrows they shot towards the Buddha turned to flower petals and landed at the Buddha’s feet. At this point the Buddha was not fully enlightened yet, but had reached a level at which he could no longer be harmed by any weapon.
How this was achieve was because during the Buddha’s meditations he had purified his karma to be harmed by weapons and such. Similarly when we practice loving kindness and compassion, with the right motivation, our negative karma is purified and our positive karma and merits are multiplied, propelling us on our spiritual journey.
Merely thinking that we are compassionate, however, is not enough for this to be accomplished. We must be sincere in our efforts to develop this compassion, cultivate it, practice compassion often making it our foundational practice, and properly undertake the practice of compassionate acts and thoughts. Once we do this, which is not impossible otherwise no one would have achieved higher states of mind and ultimately enlightenment, we will receive such benefits. I hope this helps.
Thank you.