In Buddhism, it is taught that the individual should be kind to all things. Not simply people, but animals, plants, and the all of the everything else.
 
Here is the question to ask yourself to find if you are walking the path of better/higher consciousness, “Are you kind to all living things?”
 
The fact is, most people never think about this idea. They just do as they do, motivated by whatever emotion-based ideology is going on within themselves. If they want something from someone, they try to get it. If it is not freely given, they may even try to take it by force. If someone is sayings something they don’t like, this will, at the least, make them angry, or at the most they will argue, or try to make themselves sound better and more or that whatever something else that is self-designed to make that other person appear to be less. But, at any point of this, does any of that equal kindness?
 
In Sanskrit, the term for kindness is, “Metta.”  The Karaniya Metta Sutta is one of the essential, and understood to be one of the most profound discourses, presented by the Buddha; first recorded in the Pali Canon. This discourse is found in the Khuddakapatha of the Khuddaka Nikaya.
 
The main component of this sutra is compassion, for it teaches that from compassion is where human understanding arises. From this high-level of empathy then the ego is allowed to be put to rest and the person interacting with that other living being relinquished their enhanced sense of Exaggerate Self and allows compassion to take hold and be their guide, thereby instead of trying to take or attempting to compete with other living beings, all living things, all peoples, are allowed to exist within their own perfection.
 
So, here’s the test: Do you try to take, do you try to judge, do you try to compete, do you try to make yourself appear to be something more, while attempting to diminish that other living being? If you do, you are not walking the path of compassion and kindness. From this, not only are you causing negative karma to be formed in your own life, but you are hindering and possibly hurting the life of that other living being. Is that what you wish to do?
 
Answer: Find compassion in your heart. Develop it. Be kind to all living and nonliving things. Embrace the spiritual path. Be more than a taker or a warrior on an ego-driven path of selfishness. Be the source of kindness.