Walking out of a Buddhist bookstore in San Francisco early this month, I heard from the radio of a passing car the voice of U.S. President George W. Bush giving his annual State of the Union speech. For a second, the word compassion seemed to hang in the clear air. This ideal, greatly cherished by Buddhists, is "one of the deepest values" of America, according to the President.
Immersed in Buddhist literature for the past few years, I have come to know well how words suddenly lose their familiar meanings when encountered in a different society or culture....
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