Reconciling Self-Sacrifice … (09/09/09)
“Self-sacrifice is Love with the motivation to alleviate the suffering of others. This supreme love requires involvement in the knotty problems of the world – love that bears with the failings and weaknesses of others, love that is committed to helping others regardless of the cost to one’s self. We have the example of Jesus Christ, who offered his life to redeem sinful humanity, and Moses, who risked his life before Pharaoh for the sake of his people. We have the example of the bodhisattva, who vows to devote himself to save all beings by accepting their sufferings as his own. A Hindu example of this sacrificial attitude and of the practice of “transfer of merit” is found in the story of King Vipascit, who would rather ease the suffering of the denizens of hell than enjoy by himself the bliss of heaven.” ~ unknown
“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
~ Jesus in John 15.13 (Christianity)
“Love can be established when one sacrifices oneself and gives oneself for others.”
~ Sun Myung Moon, 9-11-72 (Unification Church)
“The believer who participates in human life, exposing himself to its torments and suffering, is worth more than the one who distances himself from its suffering.”
~ Hadith of Ibn Majah (Islam)
“One must have the courage to face life as it is, to go through sorrows and always sacrifice oneself for the sake of others.”
~ Kipsigis Saying (Traditional Religion of Kenya)
“A bodhisattva resolves, “I take upon myself the burden of all suffering; I am resolved to do so; I will endure it. I do not turn or run away, do not tremble, am not terrified, nor afraid, do not turn back or despond. And why? At all costs I must bear the burdens of all beings. In that, I do not follow my own inclinations. All beings I must set free. The whole world of living beings I must rescue from the terrors of birth, of old age, of sickness, of death and rebirth, of all kinds of moral offense, of all states of woe…”
~ Sikshasamuccaya 280-81, Vajradhvaja Sutra (Buddhism)
“I should be a protector for all sentient beings, to let them all be liberated from all afflictions. I should be a refuge for all sentient beings, to free them from all fears … I should accept all suffering for the sake of all sentient beings in all worlds, in all states of misery, for ever and ever, and still always cultivate foundations of goodness for the sake of all beings.”
~ Garland Sutra 23 (Buddhism)
“Neither in heaven nor in Brahma’s world do men experience such joy as arises from conferring bliss on suffering creatures. If, while I am present, torment does not hurt these men, here then will I remain, firm as a mountain … As long as these beings are in sore suffering, I will not go. From my presence the denizens of hell grow happy. Fie on the sickly protection-begging life of that man who shows no favor to one distressed, even though he be a resolute foe. Sacrifices, gifts, austerities do not work for the welfare of him who has no thought for the succor of the distressed…. To grant deliverance to these men excels, I consider, the joy of heaven … Men in thousands, O Dharma, suffer pain here in hell; and being in affliction they cry to me to save them; hence I will not depart.”
~ Markandeya Purana 13-15 (Hinduism)
;