My Ring Promise

The oldest surviving love poem was recorded 4,000 years ago on a cuneiform tablet titled The Love Song of Shu-Sin (recited by a bride to her Sumerian king). Today, some of the most relatable love poems are conveyed through song. What then does Buddhism say about love in all its iterations – falling in it, staying in it, consciously (or unconsciously) uncoupling from it and reeling from the heartbreak of it? 

Buddhism teaches that just like all our other qualities, the love we possess is boundless; it equates to the Buddhist ideal of compassion. Rather than view this as a limited resource to be shared sparingly, authentic love powers our committment to support others and enables us to grow ever more human in the process.

The celebrated novelist Antoine de Saint-Exupery observed: 

Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. There is no comradeship except through union in the same high effort. 

If we genuinely love someone, then through our relationship with that person, we can develop into someone whose love extends to all humanity.

Excerpted from Oct 1, 2021 Living Buddhism “A Buddhist View of Love.” See more online at www.sgi-usa.org.