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Quote by Henri J.M. Nouwen

“If I could meet Rembrandt right where he had painted father and son, God and humanity, compassion and misery, in one circle of love, I would come to know as much as I ever would about death and life. I also sensed the hope that through Rembrandt’s masterpiece I would one day be able to express what I most wanted to say about love.”

Quote by Henri J.M. Nouwen

Book:The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
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The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

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Henri J.M. Nouwen

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“A loving, compassionate person heals others simply by existing. Wherever they are, compassionate people are healing, because they do everything they can to help others with their body, speech, and mind. Merely being near a compassionate person heals us because it brings us peace and happiness. Simply seeing the face of a kind, warmhearted person makes us feel happy. (p. 51)”

CompassionBuddhismThe Path Of The Bodhisattva
Book:Ultimate Healing: The Power of Compassion
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“To accomplish the vast work of bringing all living beings happiness, especially the peerless happiness of full enlightenment, we need to become enlightened. To guide others perfectly, we need to develop the inner qualities of our mind, especially omniscient wisdom, compassion for all beings, and the perfect power to reveal the methods to help others. These qualities are vital in healing ourselves and all other living beings. Enlightenment means cessation of ignorance, anger, attachment, and all other unhealthy thoughts, as well as cessation of even their subtle imprints, and completion of all realizations. And enlightenment is achieved through mental development. We need to develop both compassion and wisdom. We need to develop not only the wisdom that understands conventional reality, especially the causes of happiness and suffering, but also the wisdom that understands ultimate reality, because it is only then that we can eliminate the ignorance that is the root of all suffering and its causes and achieve liberation. Normally, before we can teach others about literature, philosophy, science, or handicrafts we ourselves need to be qualified to teach. For example, before doctors can train other people to become doctors, they must have the knowledge and clinical skills needed to diagnose even obscure diseases. In a similar way, we cannot lead all living beings to the state of full enlightenment unless we are perfectly qualified through development of the positive qualities of mind, especially compassion and wisdom. Only then can we really help others. The purpose of our life is to heal every single living being's body and mind of all suffering and its causes and to bring every one of them to the ultimate, everlasting happiness of full enlightenment. Developing our inner qualities of wisdom and compassion is the way to heal our own mind and body, and through this we will then also be able to heal others. (p. 31)”

WisdomCompassionBuddhismEnlightenmentPower Of The MindThe Path Of The Bodhisattva
Book:Ultimate Healing: The Power of Compassion
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“Rembrandt portrays the father as the man who has transcended the ways of his children. His own loneliness and anger may have been there, but they have been transformed by suffering and tears. I see the immense beauty of the father’s emptiness and compassion.”

SpiritualityCompassionLonelinessTearsTransformationTheologyEmptinessFatherhoodProdigal SonRembrandt
Book:The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
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