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(Buddhist Values for Today? -- continued)
The greatest figures in Buddhism were activists who engaged forthrightly with the world, including the Buddha himself, the great teachers and transmitters of Buddhist teachings into other countries, the 13th Century Nichiren who brought Buddhism to ordinary folk in Japan and now to America, the Zen masters of China, and modern figures like John Daido Loori, who founded a new order and a Zen monastery in New York State in the 1980s. All these figures were engaged with the world, sought to understand and change the world for the better, and sought to make a significant difference in the lives of others.
So it is with all of Buddhism. One does not seek refuge from the world. One faces it and deals with it through understanding and “active compassion” in the search for one’s own enlightenment. If one needs refuge, one finds it in what is represented by the Buddha, in the teachings of Buddhism, and in the Buddhist community.

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The Importance of Compassion and the Acquisition of Wisdom
“Active compassion” is perhaps the most fundamental Buddhist moral value. “Active” means not just saying, “Oh, I do feel for you. I feel your pain.” “Active” means also doing something to help someone else deal with his or her pain. In helping others, one is transformed. One’s life has more meaning and more depth. One ultimately may become truly wise, a goal of Aristotle himself. One need not give up oneself in order to practice active compassion. Looking outside oneself, understanding the world as it really is, following the “path”---all these take one farther up the mountain of life. The climb is so much better, and the view is awesome! Check it out!
Langston SnodgrassMay 9, 2013