Christianity & Buddhism
Compassion: Loving-Kindness and Loving Your Enemies
Compassion is central to both faiths. Buddhism cultivates loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna) toward all beings, and the Dhammapada teaches that hatred is never ended by hatred but only by love. Jesus commanded something strikingly close and yet distinct: to love not only neighbors but enemies, grounded in the love of a personal God who loves his enemies first. Both prize love over retaliation; they root it differently.
What Buddhism teaches
Among the highest Buddhist virtues are metta (loving-kindness) and karuna (compassion), cultivated toward all sentient beings without exception. The Dhammapada opens its teaching on hatred with a line beloved across the world:
Compassion in Buddhism flows from insight into the suffering of all beings and from release of the ego that divides self from others.
What Jesus taught
Jesus commanded a love that reaches even to enemies, and grounded it in the character of God, who pours out good on the just and the unjust alike.
Where they meet
Both traditions refuse to let hatred be answered with hatred, both call for compassion beyond one's own circle, and both see love as a power that heals.
Where they part
Buddhist compassion arises from insight and the loosening of the self, aiming to relieve the suffering of all beings. Christian love is the response to a personal God who first loved us and even loved his enemies to the point of the Cross; it is not only the ceasing of hatred but a positive, self-giving love for a particular person. The two loves run close together, and spring from different sources.
Buddhist sources: the Pali Canon (Sutta Pitaka) and the Dhammapada (F. Max Müller's 1881 public-domain translation where quoted). Buddhism is diverse (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana); we note where traditions differ. Bible: King James Version. Every reference on this page was checked against its source.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Buddhism say about love and hatred?
- Buddhism teaches loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna) for all beings. The Dhammapada (verse 5) famously says hatred is never ended by hatred, but only by love.
- Is 'love your enemies' the same as Buddhist compassion?
- They are strikingly close and genuinely different. Buddhist compassion flows from insight and the release of the ego; Jesus' command to love enemies is grounded in a personal God who loved his enemies first, and is a positive self-giving love, not only the ceasing of hatred.
Come and see
Buddhism begins with an honest look at suffering; so does the Gospel, though it answers it differently. The most direct way to know Jesus is to read his words and watch what he does. There is no pressure here.
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