- Buddha's Response to Harm: Challenging Wisdom
What does early Buddhism say about responding to harm? We'll explore how the Buddha's teachings on kindness, compassion, and forgiveness inform a wise response to harm in general, and to habitual or unavoidable harm in particular.
- The Power of Kindness - Cultivating Compassion and Kindness from Early Buddhist Teachings
Kindness and compassion are key early Buddhist teachings. What are they, and why are they important? We'll look at these questions as well as suggest several practices for cultivating such beneficial states.
- Co-dependency in Buddhist Practice
Can Buddhist practices of lovingkindness and compassion reinforce our tendencies towards co-dependency? We will look at what co-dependency is, how it may arise, and how it differs from Buddhist ideals of kindness and compassion among…
- Why Be Kind?
The Buddha recommended we practice certain wholesome states of mind, such as kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy. Many of us find this work difficult. Why should we foster such emotions? I'll give some pointers by looking at what…
- Can Practicing Kindness Bring Us to Nirvana? One Professor's Controversial Claim
Several years ago the eminent scholar and professor Richard Gombrich put forward a controversial thesis: that the Buddha believed practicing kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity could lead us directly to enlightenment. We…
- Learning Kindness: The Problems of "Near and Far Enemies" in Buddhism
In the practice of kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity it is of great value to learn how to distinguish them from other emotions that are similar but opposed to them. We will discuss what are termed their "near enemies"…
- Can You Turn Egoism to Compassion?
We'll look at a story from the early tradition that illustrates our innate tendency to self-love, and how this tendency can be turned to more outward compassion for others.
- Compassion Meditation: Second of the Brahmaviharas
Compassion is the second of the four Brahmavihāras, or skillful emotional states. We will consider three forms of compassion meditation practice, from the early and later traditions. We will also look at its history in Buddhism, and…
- How Compassion Became Empathy in Buddhist Meditation
Buddhist compassion practice changed radically over the first few centuries following the Buddha's passing. One way it changed is outlined in a paper by Buddhist scholar Anālayo: compassion practice became more of a practice of empathy.…
- Buddhist Compassion Meditation: a Brief History
Buddhist compassion meditation practices changed dramatically during the millennium from the Buddha's lifetime to the lifetimes of some of his most famous commentators. Using a paper by the gifted scholar Anālayo as a guide, we will look…