If one feels very profound compassion, this already implies an intimate connection with another person. It is said in our scriptures that we are to cultivate love just like that of a mother toward her only child. This is very intimate. The Buddhist notion of attachment is not what people in the West assume. We say that the love of a mother for her only child is free of attachment.
Insight From the Dalai Lama: 2007 Calendar,” Copyright © 2006, Andrews McMeel Publishing.