--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The heart that breaks open can contain…" description: "\"The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and inn..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3da/joanna-macy-15005_annihilation_the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-t_35325.jpg" --- # The heart that breaks open can contain the whole… ![“The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and innermost reponses to our world - to hunger and torture and the threat of annihilation - we touch that boundless heart.” quote by Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3da/joanna-macy-15005_annihilation_the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-t_35325.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3da/joanna-macy-15005_annihilation_the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-t_35325.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3da/joanna-macy-15005_annihilation_the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-t_35325.jpg) > “The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... All is registered in the 'boundless heart' of the bodhisattva. Through our deepest and innermost reponses to our world - to hunger and torture and the threat of annihilation - we touch that boundless heart.” [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote suggests that profound suffering and compassion open a capacity to hold all experiences, linking personal pain to universal interconnectedness. **In simple terms:** Suffering expands awareness. Key Takeaway Pain can become a gateway to universal empathy. Themes interconnectedness compassion suffering spirituality emptiness Mood reflective awe-inspiring somber Type philosophical spiritual inspirational When to use this quote - grieving loss - witnessing injustice - facing existential threat - experiencing deep empathy Key Concepts boundless heart bodhisattva human response universal register Practical Applications - mindfulness practice - social activism Questions to Reflect On - How does personal pain transform into broader compassion? - What practices help us hold the 'boundless heart'? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Annihilation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) [Bodhisattva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bodhisattva/) [Boundless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boundless/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Hunger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hunger/) [Our world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-world/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Threat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/threat/) [Torture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torture/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-heart-that-breaks-open-can-contain-the-whole-universe/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [“The heart tht breaks open can contain the whole universe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-heart-tht-breaks-open-can-contain-the-whole-universe/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [And so, with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/and-so-with-a-boundless-heart-should-one-cherish-all-living-beings/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [“Nothing can contain the limitless spirit of a boundless heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-poirot/nothing-can-contain-the-limitless-spirit-of-a-boundless-heart/) [Ken Poirot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-poirot/) > [You contain a universe inside yourself. There's no end to it - your conscious, your subconscious. There is no limit to what's inside you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-shulgin/you-contain-a-universe-inside-yourself-there-s-no-end-to-it-your/) [Ann Shulgin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-shulgin/) > [I realize that there's a thing called the bodhisattva ideal, and it's a very nice pinnacle of attention. It's a very egotistical thought, ultimately.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/i-realize-that-there-s-a-thing-called-the-bodhisattva-ideal-and-it-s/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [I can hope that this long sad story, this progression of priests and ministers and rabbis and ulamas and imams and bonzes and bodhisattvas,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/i-can-hope-that-this-long-sad-story-this-progression-of-priests-and/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand, can you show me the shine in your Japan?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steely-dan/bodhisattva-would-you-take-me-by-the-hand-can-you-show-me-the-shine/) [Steely Dan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steely-dan/) > [Pure Spirit, one hundred degrees proof - that's a drink that only the most hardened contemplation-guzzlers indulge in. Bodhisattvas dilute their Nirvana with equal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/pure-spirit-one-hundred-degrees-proof-that-s-a-drink-that-only-the/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [Some students went to Milarepa and said, we should stop living in caves and meditating because we should go out and help beings as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tenzin-palmo/some-students-went-to-milarepa-and-said-we-should-stop-living-in/) [Tenzin Palmo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tenzin-palmo/) > [To feel overflowing love and almost unbearable compassion for all living creatures is the best way to fulfil the wishes of all the Buddhas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dilgo-khyentse-rinpoche/to-feel-overflowing-love-and-almost-unbearable-compassion-for-all/) [Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dilgo-khyentse-rinpoche/) > [Examine thus yourself from every side. Note harmful thoughts and every futile striving. Thus it is that heroes in the bodhisattva path Apply the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shantideva/examine-thus-yourself-from-every-side-note-harmful-thoughts-and-every/) [Shantideva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shantideva/) > [We have compassion because of the incredible pain and suffering which we as unenlightened beings cause to ourselves and all others through our ignorance.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tenzin-palmo/we-have-compassion-because-of-the-incredible-pain-and-suffering-which/) [Tenzin Palmo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tenzin-palmo/) > [Meat-eating is condemned by the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Sravakas; if one devours meat out of shamelessness he will always be devoid of sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/meat-eating-is-condemned-by-the-buddhas-bodhisattvas-and-sravakas-if/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [For fear of causing terror to living beings, Mahamati, let the Bodhisattva who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating flesh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/for-fear-of-causing-terror-to-living-beings-mahamati-let-the/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) ## More by Joanna Macy > [When you look at what is happening to our world-and it is hard to look at what's happening to our water, our air, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/when-you-look-at-what-is-happening-to-our-world-and-it-is-hard-to/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [“In the first movement, our infancy as a species, we felt no separation from the natural world around us. Trees, rocks, and plants surrounded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/in-the-first-movement-our-infancy-as-a-species-we-felt-no-separation/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [“Yet, even focusing on this present life, disciples often queried the Buddha as to who is responsible for the habits, sufferings, and pleasures we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/yet-even-focusing-on-this-present-life-disciples-often-queried-the/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [There's a song that wants to sing itself through us. We just got to be available. Maybe the song that is to be sung…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/there-s-a-song-that-wants-to-sing-itself-through-us-we-just-got-to-be/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [Clothe yourself in your authority. You speak not only as yourself or for yourself. You will speak and act with the courage and endurance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/clothe-yourself-in-your-authority-you-speak-not-only-as-yourself-or/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [There are the holding actions, the changing actions, and the vision of the future - what we want to see happen for the Earth.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/there-are-the-holding-actions-the-changing-actions-and-the-vision-of/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [We are capable of suffering with our world, and that is the true meaning of compassion. It enables us to recognize our profound interconnectedness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/we-are-capable-of-suffering-with-our-world-and-that-is-the-true/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [Action isn't a burden to be hoisted up and lugged around on our shoulders. It is something we are. The work we have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/action-isn-t-a-burden-to-be-hoisted-up-and-lugged-around-on-our/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [Qualities like love and compassion are not just abstract virtues that are the property of saints and adepts. Anyone can develop these qualities in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/qualities-like-love-and-compassion-are-not-just-abstract-virtues-that/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/the-most-radical-thing-any-of-us-can-do-at-this-time-is-to-be-fully/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/this-is-a-dark-time-filled-with-suffering-and-uncertainty-like-living/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [Future generations, if there is a livable world for them, will look back at the epochal transition we are making to a life-sustaining society.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/future-generations-if-there-is-a-livable-world-for-them-will-look/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [Because the relationship between self and world is reciprocal, it is not a matter of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/because-the-relationship-between-self-and-world-is-reciprocal-it-is/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [It’s walking the razor’s edge of the sacred moment where you don’t know, you can’t count on, and comfort yourself with any sure hope.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/it-s-walking-the-razor-s-edge-of-the-sacred-moment-where-you-don-t/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) > [It is my experience that the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-macy/it-is-my-experience-that-the-world-itself-has-a-role-to-play-in-our/) [Joanna Macy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) [Explore all 44 Joanna Macy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-macy/) ## More Annihilation quotes > [The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health; that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-hahnemann/the-highest-ideal-of-cure-is-the-rapid-gentle-and-permanent/) [Samuel Hahnemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-hahnemann/) > [To fight is to face death once more, perhaps the total annihilation of their kind. But to run... is that not also a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nalini-singh/to-fight-is-to-face-death-once-more-perhaps-the-total-annihilation-of/) [Nalini Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nalini-singh/) > [I'm not afraid of anything other than spiritual annihilation. Where your soul is sucked into the void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crispian-mills/i-m-not-afraid-of-anything-other-than-spiritual-annihilation-where/) Crispian Mills > [“The breath had become as much a trick as breathing. Things were not dual merely, but multiple. I had become a cage of mirrors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/the-breath-had-become-as-much-a-trick-as-breathing-things-were-not/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-chopin/there-were-days-when-she-was-unhappy-she-did-not-know-why-when-it-did/) [Kate Chopin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-chopin/) > [I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-carver/i-ve-crossed-some-kind-of-invisible-line-i-feel-as-if-i-ve-come-to-a/) [Raymond Carver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-carver/) > [We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on it's vulnerable reserves of air and soil, all committed, for our safety, to it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adlai-e-stevenson/we-travel-together-passengers-on-a-little-spaceship-dependent-on-it-s/) [Adlai E. Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adlai-e-stevenson/) > [Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/liberty-is-to-faction-what-air-is-to-fire-an-aliment-without-which-it/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [Today I will once more be a prophet. If the international Jewish financiers, inside and outside Europe, succeed in plunging the nations once more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/today-i-will-once-more-be-a-prophet-if-the-international-jewish/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [“The edge of total annihilation wasn't the worst place to hide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-rocha/the-edge-of-total-annihilation-wasn-t-the-worst-place-to-hide/) [Kit Rocha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-rocha/) > [To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/to-hope-is-to-give-yourself-to-the-future-and-that-commitment-to-the/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Annihilation is an absurdity in terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-palissy/annihilation-is-an-absurdity-in-terms/) Bernard Palissy > [Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/love-is-scary-because-it-pulls-you-in-with-an-intense-force-a/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [I have issued the command, and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad, that our war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-have-issued-the-command-and-i-ll-have-anybody-who-utters-but-one/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [Every great love brings with it the cruel idea of killing the object of its love so that it may be removed once and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-great-love-brings-with-it-the-cruel-idea-of-killing-the-object/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Browse all 244 Annihilation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annihilation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe... 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