Karuna · Pāli/Skt: karuṇā

Karuṇā is compassion in a particular sense. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy puts its content simply: “The content of compassion is a wish for others to be free from suffering”, a quality that “makes it possible to be fully aware and present in the face of others’ suffering”. Access to Insight’s Pali glossary adds the practical edge, defining karuṇā as “Compassion; sympathy; the aspiration to find a way to be truly helpful to oneself and others.”

It is trained rather than merely felt. Karuṇā is one of the four brahmavihāras, the sublime or divine abodes “that are attained through the development of boundless mettā (goodwill), karuṇā (compassion), muditā (appreciative joy), and upekkhā (equanimity)”. The early discourses describe the training as a deliberate radiating in every direction: in the Vatthūpama Sutta (MN 7) a practitioner “abides, having suffused with a mind of compassion” one direction of the world, “likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth, and so above, below, around and everywhere, and to all as to himself” (trans. Nyanaponika Thera).

Traditions share the practice but weight it differently. The Stanford Encyclopedia notes that “Most lineages of Buddhism, including the Theravāda, value and practice the Four Divine Abidings”, while in the Mahayana compassion becomes the organising motive of the whole path, since “all serious Mahāyānists take the bodhisattva vow, promising to become Buddhas in order to help all beings”. For how this looks in daily life, see practising compassion.