Concern for others to be happy and compassion wishing them to be free from suffering are needed not only as the basis for a bodhichitta motivation for mahamudra* practice, but also for keeping that practice on course to its intended goal. When we have changed our focus in life from the contents of our experience to the process of experience, there is great danger of becoming fixated on mind itself. This is because the direct experience of mind itself is totally blissful - in a calm and serene sense - and entails extraordinary clarity and starkness. Concern for others is one of the strongest forces that brings us back down to earth after having been up in the clouds. Although all appearances exist as a function of mind, other beings do not exist merely in our head. Their suffering is real and it hurts them just as much as ours hurts us.

Furthermore, to be concerned about someone does not mean to be frantically worried about this person. If we are fixated on our child's problems at school, for example, we lose sight that whatever appearance of the problems our mind gives rise to is a function of mind. Believing the appearance to be the solid reality "out there," we again feel hopeless to do anything and thus become extremely anxious and tense. We worry to the point of becoming sick and we over-react toward our child, which does not help. If we focus instead on the process of mind that gives rise to our perception of the problem as if it existed as some horrible monster "out there," we do not eliminate our concern for our child, only our worry. This allows us to take whatever clear and calm action is necessary to alleviate the problem, Thus not only is compassion necessary for successful practice of mahamudra, but mahamudra realization is necessary for successful practice of compassion.
The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra