The Jewish tradition has a word that is rich in meaning - Hesed. My translation goes something like this: Love, devotion, truth and faithfulness laid out on a table of lovingkindness.
Jews and Christians believe that God models this Hesed for us. We are to mimic God.
Buddhists have a word, "Maitri" that translates to "lovingkindness" or "unconditional friendship."
One of the critiques of Buddhism is that it appears to be self-serving meaning that the practice focuses a lot on self and not the other. Those with this critique would say that Christianity is meant to be other-centered.
I would remind us all that Jesus consolidates the entire law into two: love God and love your neighbor - as yourself. We forget that last distinction. We love as we love ourselves.
As I was reading today, Chodron's concern is that we would embrace ourselves, our thinking and our being with this unconditional friendship. I wonder how our loving of God (however we understand God) and our love of the other would change if we extended lovingkindness to ourselves more readily.
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