All That Appears Is Your Own Mind

Pam Steinbach

I’ve been thinking about how we arouse compassion. What is compassion? What is love? How do we arouse it? As concepts, they are complicated and often misunderstood. We may intend to be more loving and compassionate and these qualities are to be developed on the Buddhist path. However, love and compassion are concepts. We don’t really know what love is yet it is felt and experienced. The word itself has many meanings: romantic love, I love pizza, non-judgmental love (as opposed to judgmental love?), and needy or grasping attachment to another. And compassion is also a concept with difficulties. We may feel something stir as we encounter another’s suffering, pain, or loss and then be uncertain whether it’s true compassion or pity or fear that it could happen to befall us. It’s easier to say what they are not. How to embody these concepts in a tangible and correct way?

In the face of suffering, we want to compartmentalize it because suffering is fearsome. It takes courage to enter into compassion. The heart is tender; it’s natural to want to protect it. But are we going to use this precious life that is fleeting anyway to cower, intellectualize, and protect a self that has no inherent lasting essence or do we aspire to be of use and attain freedom for ourselves and others?

“It is this tender heart of a warrior that has the power to heal the world.” - Trungpa Rinpoche

We have all probably experienced love and compassion in a way that is neither a concept or emotion. It’s an expression of something deep - wisdom, perhaps; a taste of our inseparable non-dual awareness. If we want to arouse it, we practice it with devotion.

There is a practice from the Vajrayana Buddhist path that fills the mind with these qualities beyond concepts. This practice arouses compassion in a way that we human beings can relate to by imagining/bringing into mind a manifestation of the historical Buddha or Tara, for instance. Look at the image, taking careful note of it, and then close your eyes and construct it in mind. It may take a few times to get it clear. If you can only visualize a hand or face, that is sufficient. As the image manifests in mind, the qualities of love and compassion attributed to them are purely mind. Practices of imagining them in meditation energizes those qualities in ourselves.

All that appears is mind. The imagined is as “real” as the appearance of your car, your beloved, or a rainbow. It’s an appearance in mind, empty of inherent existence just like you: a flash in the pan dependent on causes and conditions, interdependent parts of other stuff temporarily gathered. When bringing into mind an embodiment of these far-reaching qualities of love and compassion, they right there and then manifest in mind just like everything else does.

This is a practice of engendering compassion without thinking about compassion; it’s a direct being of compassion when brought to mind without words. With practice and habituating compassion in this way, we plant seeds leading to the ultimate wisdom of non-dual interdependence. Thus, we take refuge.

Update From The Board

Day Long Retreats – John Steinbach is offering day long retreats in May; Thursday, May 1, Friday, May 2 and/or Saturday May 3. The retreats are open from 9:00 am till 9:00 pm. All retreatants are asked to arrive by 9:00 am. Those who can only join for a portion of the day may feel free to leave at the 12:30 pm lunch break, or the 5:00 pm dinner break. These are offered in person only at 2332 Sandpoint Road. Check our website to sign up for any single day or combination of the days to attend.

Please join us at IMFW for our yard cleanup day on Saturday, May 10. We begin around 9:00 am and we’ll have juice and donuts to share. This is a day of light yard work, weeding, trimming and applying mulch to the flower beds. We have many gardening tools at Sangha House, however, you may find it helpful to bring your own.

The Board of Directors for IMFW, which is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization:
Tammy Dyer, Founding Teacher
Drew Consalvo, Guiding Teacher
Deb O’Kelly, President
Dora Rogers, Secretary
Monica Cardenas, Treasurer
Josh Smith
Matthew Katinsky

Our mission is to provide for the study and practice of Insight (Vipassanā) Meditation according to the Theravāda Buddhist religious tradition and to support and encourage the development of community based upon Buddhist ideals, teachings and practices.

Daylong Retreats

May 2025

John Steinbach is facilitating three day long retreats

Thursday, May 1
Friday, May 2
Saturday, May 3.

You are welcome to join for one or any combination of the days. The retreats are scheduled from 9:00 am till 9:00 pm. All retreatants are asked to arrive by 9:00 am. If you are attending part of the day, you may leave at the lunch break at about 12:30 pm or the dinner break at around 5:00 pm. If you are planning to stay for the longer day, please bring a sack lunch for one or two meals, depending on how long you plan to stay.

Pam Steinbach is facilitating two day long retreats

Friday, May 16
Saturday, May 17

from 9:00 am till 5:00 pm. All retreatants are asked to arrive by 9:00 am. If you plan to join for a half day, you may leave at the lunch break. You can join for either day.

Please sign up for the retreat day that you are interested in on our website at https://www.imfw.org/retreats-day-long.

These retreats are offered in person only at 2332 Sandpoint Road, Fort Wayne, IN.

Insight Meditation Fort Wayne holds its classes and meditation groups without charge, in the spirit of freely offering the Buddha’s teachings.

May all beings be well, happy, and peaceful.

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Insight Meditation Fort Wayne · 2332 Sandpoint Rd · Fort Wayne, IN 46809-1746 · USA