Japanese Koan on Compassion
Compassion is one of the Reiki precepts.
We really require great wisdom to be truly compassionate and the system of Reiki gives you the tools to delve into that compassionate space through the practice of its five elements. Each situation we encounter will require a different compassion - there is not one way, but many - just as all humans are unique and work in their own individual ways.
Have a read of this Japanese koan and see what you think about this as a form of compassion.. or is it? Koans are meant to be contemplated and meditated upon. We suggest you try it.
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryoken sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon.”
This koan was taken from Random Koans
