A Tibetan teacher liked to say that westerners think that Buddhism is all calm and peaceful, and that compassion is soft and gentle, but when we're talking about waking up to the true nature of reality a slap in the face could be an act of compassion. It's just that most of us aren't awake enough to judge when a slap is compassionate, so we should probably not do that at the beginning of the path!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Tath%C4%81gatas#Elements_...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleshas_(Buddhism)#Five_poison...