Even If It Is Only 20% Compassion, It Still Counts

To be compassionate, you need to listen attentively, really care, and give good advice skillfully within the context of others, and all that requires stillness of the mind. 

If you don’t have that stillness yet, you can still have empathy and do compassionate activities.  You can still do a lot of stuff like taking someone to the airport. If the compassionate activity is only 20% compassion and 80% something in it for you because you want to maintain a relationship, you still need to do it in order to practice and it still counts.

Let's not get too carried away with the requirements. You want to increase the percentage of compassion in all of your activities. When you first start, that percentage is confined within the karmic conditions you have with people around you. Be more compassionate with people around you and practice, and when you get better at it, you may try to do that to people beyond people you are interacting with. 

You look at every situation and you'll see some percentage of compassion, but I doubt you'll have much 100% compassion. There's always something in it for you, either attention, feeling good about yourself. 

[From talks given on December 29 2022]