The essence of Buddhism is kindness, compassion. This is the essence of every religion, but particularly in Mahayana Buddhism. I think this is very important and everybody can practice it without deeper faith. Simply you are a human being; everybody appreciates kindness. In fact when we grow up, we grow up in the kindness of our parents, and without that sort of kindness we cannot exist. This is very clear because today you find that children who are not brought up within the love of their parents, or where there is a disruption in the family, are later psychologically affected. As a human being, kindness, a warm heart is very important......If you have this basic quality of kindness or good heart, then all other things, education, ability will go in the right direction.
If you have a bad heart, then knowledge or ability are used in the wrong direction; instead of helping others, it makes trouble .... Every man has the basis of good. Not only human beings, you can find it among animals or insects, for instance when we treat a dog or horse lovingly.