The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and night always delights in compassion.
A shared theme
Compassion & Mercy
Mercy is named as a divine attribute in the Quran's every chapter, the Psalms, and the Sikh scripture; compassion (karuna) is the defining virtue of the bodhisattva. Across traditions it flows downward from the Divine and outward toward the suffering, the poor, the orphan and the stranger.
Buddhism
3 versesChristianity
8 versesBlessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Confucianism
3 versesMencius said, 'All men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others. … even now-a-days, if men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well, they will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress. … The feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence. …
Hinduism
4 versesLet the rich satisfy the poor implorer, and bend his eye upon a longer pathway. Riches come now to one, now to another, and like the wheels of cars are ever rolling.
Islam
8 versesWe sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.
Jainism
3 versesBy renouncing pleasures he obtains freedom from false longing, whereby he becomes compassionate, humble, free from sorrow, …
Judaism
6 versesLearn to do well; Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Sikhism
2 versesThe God-conscious being is the helper of the helpless. The God-conscious being extends his hand to all.
Sufism
6 versesAlthough His thrall shall miss the road and err, / ’Tis but to teach him wisdom through distress, / Else Pardon and Compassionate Mercy were / But empty syllables and meaningless. …
Taoism
1 verseTao has of all things the most honoured place. No treasures give good men so rich a grace; Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface. … Why was it that the ancients prized this Tao so much? Was it not because it could be got by seeking for it, and the guilty could escape (from the stain of their guilt) by it? This is the reason why all under heaven consider it the most valuable thing.
Where the traditions differ
In the Abrahamic faiths and Sikhism mercy is first God's, and human mercy imitates it. In Buddhism and Jainism compassion arises from insight into the shared nature of suffering rather than from imitation of a deity. Taoism's 'compassion' (ci) in Tao Te Ching 67 is one of three treasures and is tied to courage; Confucian ren is humaneness cultivated through relationship. The practical commands — feed the hungry, protect the orphan — converge almost word for word.