The Yoga of Unparalleled Compassion
The Yoga of Unparalleled Compassion is an instructional text belonging to the mind training genre.1 Extolling the virtues of compassion, which it holds to be the very foundation of the qualities of a buddha, it presents a concise visualization practice on how to develop a compassionate heart. It is based on the following eight-line quotation from a text by the Indian mahāsiddha Virūpa entitled A Pith Instruction on Suchness Utterly Free of Elaboration:2
Those who’ve protected you with boundless love,
Are embodiments of kindness—think of them with compassion.
“This perpetrator of harm, too, is my mother!
Though she has shown repeated kindness to me in the past,
She is out of control, as if she were insane.
Owing to her negative karma, she will suffer in the Avīci hell.”
Through contemplating thus,
Your compassion for the three realms will become perfect.
Teachings on Virūpa’s Mind Training Instruction with Asanga Vajra Rinpoche
For our May Text of the Month, we were honored to welcome His Eminence Asanga Vajra Rinpoche to give a teaching on The Yoga of Unparalleled Compassion, a profound mind training text by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, based on instructions from the Indian mahāsiddha Virūpa, and translated by Jamie Creek.
This short but potent text presents both direct and gradual meditations on compassion. With vivid visualizations and clear contemplative steps, it guides practitioners to generate a truly open heart—beginning with compassion for one’s greatest enemy. This teaching brings into focus compassion not just as a noble sentiment, but as the very ground from which the awakened qualities of a buddha arise.
Tutorial on The Yoga of Unparalleled Compassion with Jamie Creek and Schelling
On May 18, we held a special tutorial on “The Yoga of Unparalleled Compassion,” our May Text of the Month—a profound mind training text by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, based on instructions from the Indian mahāsiddha Virūpa, and translated by Jamie Creek.
Building on the recent livestream teaching with His Eminence Asanga Vajra Rinpoche, research coordinator Arne Schelling and in-house translator Jamie Creek led a detailed discussion on this concise yet powerful text, which presents both direct and gradual approaches to compassion meditation.