"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." So says the Dalai Lama.

"Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don't be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked." So says Jesus Christ.

In our time: "Kindness--an everyday by-product of all the great virtues--is at once the simplest and most weighty discipline human beings can practice," according to Krista Tippett in her spiritual memoir Speaking of Faith.

I was thinking about the meaning of kindness this week, and I turned to a bunch of online dictionaries and found the following.

1. Sensitive
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

2. Tender
RhymeZone

3. Gentle
Infoplease

4. Favorable
AllWords.com Multilingual Dictionary

5. Forbearing
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

6. Well-disposed, benign
Online Etymological Dictionary

7. Benevolent
The Wordsmyth English Dictionary

8. Compassionate
Encarta

9. Easily governed
Webster Dictionary, 1913

10. Showing consideration and anticipation of needs
Ultralingua

11. Having feelings befitting our common nature; congenial; sympathetic
Free Dictionary

12. The nature or quality of something; it's essence
Merriam-Webster

13. The bread and the wine of the Eucharist
OED

Thursday Thirteen