How training the mind in compassion for other beings is directly related to--and in fact a prerequisite for--the very pinnacle of Buddhist meditation.
The heart of meditation--the thing that brings it alive--is compassion.
This is not an ordinary compassion but one that is developed and expanded in parallel with wisdom that arises through meditation.
Without that essential foundation, other practices are pointless.
Fortunately, the mind can be trained in compassion, and the mind thus.