The Transformative Power of Compassion: Healing Through Empathy

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Many Faces of Pain
• The Importance of Empathy
• The Power of Compassion
• The Role of Suffering
• The Transformative Nature of Pain
• Overcoming Fear and Paralysis
• The Science of Pain
• The Healing Power of Empathy
• Cultivating Compassion in Society

The Power of Compassion: Transforming Pain into Healing 🙏

Introduction

Pain is an inherent part of the human experience. It comes in many forms - some sharp, some dull, some soft, some wise. As the Dalai Lama once said, "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive." And I would suggest that it's not just humanity that cannot survive, but all species on this planet, as we are discovering today. It includes the great cats and even plankton.

The Many Faces of Pain

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a shelter on the outskirts of Bangalore, India. I went to the pavilion early in the morning, where 31 men and women were dying. I passed by the bed of an elderly woman who was breathing rapidly, frail, as if in the final stage of active dying. I looked into her face and then at the face of her son sitting next to her, and saw the anguish and despair etched on his broken face. And it reminded me of a phrase from the epic Indian poem, the Mahabharata: "What is the most astonishing thing in the world, Yudhisthira?". And Yudhisthira replied, "The most wondrous thing in the world is that around us people may be dying, and we do not realize that it could happen to us."

The Healing Power of Empathy

In that shelter, young girls from the surrounding villages were tending to the 31 dying individuals. I observed one of the girls as she washed an elderly man. I saw the strength that arises when natural empathy is truly present. I saw her hands as she washed him, and then I looked at another girl who was cleaning the face of another dying person. And it reminded me of the reason why I was there. Every year, I have the privilege of taking clinicians to the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, where there is no medical care. And on the first day in Simikot, Humla, the remote west of Nepal, an old man walked in, clutching an infected arm. He walked in, someone said something, and we realized he was deaf. We took a look at the arm, and there we saw a pair of eyes. The arm was wrapped in a small girl. Her body was massively burned. Again, the eyes and hands of Avalokiteshvara. It was a little girl, an assistant, who cleaned the wounds of this baby and wrapped the burns. I know these hands and eyes; they have touched me. They have touched me when I was four years old and lost my sight and was partially paralyzed. And my family brought in a woman, whose own mother was a slave, to care for me. And that woman had no sentimental compassion. She had phenomenal strength. And it was indeed her strength that became a kind of supportive gesture that has been a guiding light in my life.

The Transformative Nature of Pain

So we can ask, what is compassion made of? And it has different aspects. It has both referential and non-referential compassion. But first and foremost, compassion is made up of that capacity to see clearly into the nature of suffering. It is that ability to endure deeply and also to know that I am not separate from this suffering. But that is not enough, because the compassion that activates motor movement means that we truly desire to transform suffering. And if we are so blessed, we engage in activities that transform suffering. But compassion has another ingredient, which is highly fundamental. That ingredient is that we cannot be attached to the outcome. I have worked with dying people for over 40 years. I had the privilege of working on death row with a maximum security prison for six years. And it became very clear to me through personal experience, from working with the wretched and training caregivers, that any attachment to outcome would deeply undermine my capacity to be fully present in the midst of the catastrophe that we all are. And when I worked in the prison system, I was very clear about this, that many of us in this room, as well as virtually all men that I worked with on death row, are not murderers. The seeds of their own suffering have never been watered. Compassion is, in fact, a vital human quality. It is found within every human being. But the conditions for compassion to be activated, to arise, are special conditions. I had that condition to a certain extent from my childhood disease. Eve Ensler, whom you will hear from later, has that activated condition in an incredible way through the many waters of suffering that she has gone through. And you see, compassion has enemies, and those enemies are such things as mercy, moral outrage, fear. And you see, we have a society, a world, that is paralyzed with fear. And in that paralysis, of course, our capacity for compassion is also paralyzed. The word terror is global. The feeling of extreme terror is global. So our work, in a sense, is to address this condition, this prototype, that has penetrated into the psyche of the entire globe.

The Science of Pain

Now we know from neuroscience that compassion has some really extraordinary qualities. For example, a person who cultivates compassion, when they are in the presence of suffering, they feel that suffering more deeply than others. However, they recover more quickly. This is called elasticity. Many of us think that compassion exhausts us, but I promise you, it is something that enlivens us. Another thing about compassion is that it truly enhances what's called neural integration. It brings together all parts of the brain. Another thing that's been discovered by different researchers, at Emory and at Davis, and so on, is that compassion enhances our immune system. Hey, we live in a really toxic world. (Laughter) Many of us are poisoned, in our psychosocial and physical visage, by the toxins of our world. But compassion, the generation of compassion, actually sets our immune system in motion. You see, if compassion is so good for us, I have a question: Why don't we teach our children with compassion? (Applause) If compassion is so good for us, why don't we train our health care professionals in compassion, so they truly do what they're supposed to do, which is to transform suffering? And if compassion is so good, why don't we vote for compassion? Why don't we vote for compassionate people in government to have a more benevolent world? In Buddhism, we say, "May there be a wrathful back and a gentle front." There has to be a very powerful back just to keep us in the middle of the wash. And that's the quality of cool blood. But there has to be a gentle front -- the capacity to be completely open to the world, so that we have that unguarded heart. And the prototype of this, in Buddhism, is Avalokiteshvara, Kuan-Yin. It is a feminine prototype, that which perceives the cries of suffering in the world. She stands with 10,000 arms, and in each hand she has a liberating instrument, and in the palm of each hand, there is an eye, and those are the eyes of wisdom. I say, for thousands of years, women have lived, have been, an example, have met with familiarity the prototype of Avalokiteshvara, of Kuan-Yin, that perceives the cries of suffering in the world. Women have protested, have been, the power that emanates from compassionate suffering perception, in a way that is unfiltered, in between, in the perception of suffering as it really is. They have stirred societies with kindness, and we have felt that woman after woman has stood at that forward edge. And they have embodied compassion through direct action. Jody Williams calls them, "It's good to meditate." I'm sorry, I have to take some exception to that, Jody. Take a little bit of stillness and let it quiet your mother in you, well. (Laughter) But the other side of the equation is we also have to leave the cave. We have to come out into the world, as Asanga did, to the extent that he wished to understand Maitreya Buddha, to the extent of leaving the cave, the extent of walking on the path, to the extent that he saw something on that path. He saw a dog thrown right at his feet. He saw that the dog had a huge wound on its leg. The wound was infested with maggots. He poked out his tongue to clean those maggots off so as to not hurt the dog. And in that moment, the dog transformed into the Buddha of love and compassion. I believe that women and girls today must fuse in a very powerful way with the men -- with their fathers, with their sons, with their brothers, with the hydraulic engineers, the builders, the nurses, the doctors, the lawyers, with our president, and all beings. Women in this room are lotuses in a sea of fire. We must bring this capacity to life to women everywhere. Thank you. (Applause)

Highlights

• Pain is an inherent part of the human experience.
• Compassion is a necessity for the survival of humanity and all species on the planet.
• Empathy and compassion have the power to transform suffering.
• Fear and attachment to outcomes hinder the activation of compassion.
• Compassion is a fundamental human quality found within every individual.
• Compassion enhances neural integration and boosts the immune system.
• Teaching children compassion and training healthcare professionals in compassion are essential.
• Voting for compassionate leaders can create a more benevolent world.
• The prototype of compassion in Buddhism is Avalokiteshvara, Kuan-Yin.
• Women have been exemplifying compassion and transforming suffering through direct action.

FAQs

Q: How can compassion transform suffering? A: Compassion allows us to see clearly into the nature of suffering and endure it deeply. It also motivates us to actively work towards transforming suffering in ourselves and others.

Q: Why is fear a hindrance to compassion? A: Fear paralyzes us and limits our capacity for compassion. It prevents us from fully engaging with the suffering around us and taking action to alleviate it.

Q: How does compassion affect our physical and mental well-being? A: Compassion enhances neural integration, bringing together different parts of the brain. It also boosts our immune system and protects us from the toxic impact of the world.

Q: How can we cultivate compassion in society? A: Teaching children compassion, training healthcare professionals in compassion, and voting for compassionate leaders can create a more compassionate and benevolent world.

Q: Who is Avalokiteshvara, Kuan-Yin? A: Avalokiteshvara, Kuan-Yin is a feminine prototype in Buddhism who perceives the cries of suffering in the world. She embodies compassion and wisdom.

Q: How have women contributed to the embodiment of compassion? A: Women have protested, exemplified compassionate suffering perception, and stirred societies with kindness. They have been at the forefront of embodying compassion through direct action.