Compare And Contrast Metta And Karuna

People are naturally good. I believe that everybody has some type of compassion and mercy inside themselves. Many people look for religion to help guide their good intentions in helping others and showing compassion and mercy. Metta and Karuna are two practices that help and guide people to compassion and using their inner good. Metta and karuna are two fundamental practices in the religion of Buddhism. Both contain extremely broad definitions. The most basic translation for metta is friendliness and love. Karuna essentially means compassion. These two practices and mindsets, metta and karuna, are the two of the four qualities of love. The other two of which are mudita (appreciative joy) and upekkha (equanimity). By digging deeper into the …show more content…
As I was contemplating on what would be a good way to be a better person, the simplest yet powerful act came into my head; smiling. I decided that I would try to smile. Smiling can have a big impact on a person’s feelings and emotions. I thought a smile would show warmth and compassion to an individual who may be feeling down. At first it was a little weird because I didn’t realize how little I smile. I wasn’t really a negative person, but smiling is just an act that I don’t think too much about. As I entered rooms and walked across people, I would greet them with a smile and say “hello, good morning.” I am naturally a very shy person so this was very awkward for me. I’d get looks from people like “umm, what are you doing? Stop smiling at me.” It was discouraging to get those kind of facial expressions from people. But that didn't stop me. I excused them as perhaps they had a rough day. I didn’t want to assume anything bad. So I carried on smiling. I noticed how my mindset changed. It felt like a lot of the negativity that was built up inside my head was gone. I was thinking more positive thoughts and I was genuinely happy. I started to think the best of things instead of assuming the worst. I also noticed people returning my greetings and smiling back at me. It made me feel good. It’s as though the intention of trying to be compassionate and loving and friendly to a fellow human being helps you …show more content…
I overthought it, looking at smiling as something that others wouldn’t appreciate and that the fear that people wouldn’t respond my smile with a smile of their own. But I forced myself and persevered and now smiling is becoming more of habit. I am more comfortable in showing compassion to others. Not to show off but rather to be a better human being. That’s what metta and karuna are for. In my journey of practicing metta and karuna, I decided that I’d take my compassion and friendless to another level. I was going to greet others and smile and then ask “how are you today.” I thought that it’d only be right to continue in pursuing higher levels of metta and karuna after the successful results I’ve seen just by smiling. And I must say, I am very happy I took those heights. When I smiled at others, I got good reactions. But when I asked them how they are doing today, it’s as if they immediately felt happy that someone genuinely cared enough to ask how they are doing. At first I mostly did it with my friends and my inner circle. I asked my parents frequently how are they. Then I progressed to asking strangers how they were doing. When I went to the mosque to pray, I greeted fellow muslims whom I did not know with the common greeting ‘assalamu alaykum’ (peace be upon you) and shaken their hand and smiled. Then I asked how they are doing. The responses were beautiful. People would smile big and return my greeting and ask how I am