Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

Nourishing Compassion

With Roshi Joan Halifax recorded on January 9, 2022.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has shared that compassion is not a luxury but a necessity for human beings to survive. There is no more important time to understand and strengthen compassion than right now.

During this session we’ll explore the geography of compassion, and how to cultivate compassion through rich practices from various Buddhist traditions. We will also explore the edge states of altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, and engagement, and how compassion can transform the shadow of these states into their healthy forms. Finally, we will look through the lens of Bernie Glassman’s Three Tenets of Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Compassionate Action as a way to meet the world with courage, care, and wisdom.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Wiebke Pausch

    Embracing the Radical Act of Rest

    Global challenges, economic uncertainty, and information overload can trigger fear and anxiety, leading us to overactivity and survival mode driven by guilt or inadequacy. The simple act of resting offers a powerful path to liberation: connecting deeply with the body, trusting gravity, and finding the ease that naturally supports an awakened mind. What holds us…

    Read More

  • Stephen Fulder

    The Dharma on the front lines: how to work with conflict.

    Peace sometimes feels impossible to find. It is there for a while then something happens and conflict or friction returns. It may be conflict with ourselves, in relationships to people close to us, at our work place, or between social groups. Often we can feel despaired that despite much dharma practice and meditation, conflict keeps…

    Read More

  • Shaila Catherine

    Overcoming obstacles.

    Worldwide Insight talk from Shaila Catherine: “Overcoming Obstacles”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.

    Read More

  • Scott Tusa

    Our Struggles Are the Path

    This session will explore how our struggles can become stepping stones on our path to growth. By learning to meet difficulties with openness and compassion, we can transform obstacles into opportunities. The session will draw upon Buddhist teachings and include guided meditation, a dharma talk, and some time for Q&A. Participants are encouraged to bring…

    Read More

  • Brian Dean Williams

    S.A.L.S.A.: Using Buddhist practice to Respond to “Spicy” Emotions

    Life presents plenty of opportunities to react unconsciously, often creating harm for ourselves and others. How might we apply our Buddhist practice to “Spicy” situations and emotions, in order to respond wisely? In this session, Brian will draw on Stephen Batchelor’s work and propose a working acronym of “S.A.L.S.A.” to navigate life’s spiciness and act…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Practice and Prejudice: Waking up to our reality blinkers

    Martin writes: “Do you remember that Youtube video ‘Awareness test’ from a few years ago, where you’re asked to pay attention to one thing (passes made by the team in white) and you end up completely missing something else? (check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4 – it only takes 30 seconds) We perceive reality in accordance with…

    Read More