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The Sciencization of Compassion

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Abstract

Recent neuroscientific research has caused a paradigm shift in our understanding of the meaning and scope of compassion. Derived from the Latin root compassiō, compassion used to be a religious emotion that implied suffering with the perceived sufferer, whereas now it is examined as a psychological, neuroscientific, neurobiological, and thus natural, phenomenon. The newly arisen research interest in compassion led to the development of secular compassion training programs that follow closely in the footsteps of the “mindfulness revolution.” Whereas the latter has been criticized for its reductionist appropriation of Buddhist thought by the capitalist west, in this paper, I demonstrate that the secularization of compassion is the result of innovative activities by representatives of the Buddhist traditions. I argue that some of the causes for the recent secularization and sciencization can be traced back into the fourteenth century Tibet, namely to the innovative exegetical activities of the scholars of the Tibetan Lojong tradition. I argue that from the perspective of the tradition, the sciencization of compassion resembles a deliberate purposeful “translation” effort that fits into the “two-track approach” of Buddhist propagation.

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Notes

  1. Several scholars have undertaken research on the relationship of Buddhism and science: Donald Lopez (2008) retraces the colonial influences on framing Buddhism as a religion compatible with science and expresses his reservations about the authenticity of such interpretations. David McMahan (2008) examines the range of influences that have shaped Buddhism in America today. Next to scientific naturalism, he identifies Western monotheism, rationalism, and romantic expressivism. Jose Cabezon (2003, 35–70) distinguishes three ways in which the Buddhists have conceived the nature of the relationship between Buddhism and science: either as conflictual-ambivalent, or as compatible-identical, or as complementary. Other recent publications related to the subject are Wallace (2003, 1–30), McMahan and Braun (2017), and Wilson (2014). On the assessment of secularization in American society, see http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/, accessed July 9, 2017.

  2. https://mbsrtraining.com/

  3. The department is now running under the name Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology. https://www.naropa.edu/academics/masters/clinical-mental-health-counseling/contemplative-psychotherapy-buddhist-psychology/index.php

  4. https://www.mindandlife.org/mind-and-life-dialogues/

  5. This conference was organized by Khenpo Karthar and Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche at the World Trade Center in New York City in 1987. Since the untimely passing of the latter, the endeavors seem to have discontinued. http://www.dharmadownload.net/pages/english/Natsok/0010_Teaching_English/Teaching_English_0002.htm.

  6. The research on the meaning and dimensions of empathy has increased in recent years, in parallel to the research on compassion. It is generally understood as the human capacity to mirror another being’s experience, particularly their suffering, based upon recognizing evidence of their emotional state. Latest research proposes a typology of cognitive, affective, and somatic empathy (Read 2019). Psychologist Tania Singer analyses the differences between empathic distress and compassion (Singer and Klimecki 2018; Klimecki and Singer 2012).

  7. The Dalai Lama reportedly asked him: “You’ve been using the tools of modern neuroscience to mostly study anxiety, depression and fear, all these negative feelings. Why cannot you use these same tools to study qualities like kindness and compassion and equanimity?” https://abcnews.go.com/Health/neuroscientist-richie-davidson-dalai-lama-gave-total-wake/story?id=40859233

  8. A simple Google search for academic papers on “compassion training” gives 47 entries in the quarter century before 2007, but 1270 entries since the neuroscientific study by Lutz and Richardson in 2008.

  9. CCARE stands for The Center of Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. http://ccare.stanford.edu/ Envisioned by the clinical professor of neurosurgery Dr. James Doty, the center was founded in 2008.

  10. Thupten Jinpa has translated and collaborated on numerous books by the Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium (2001) and The Art of Happiness (Dalai Lama and Cutler 1998), as well as Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World (2011). His own publications include A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives (2015) and translations of major Tibetan works featured in The Library of Tibetan Classics series (http://www.tibetanclassics.org/).

  11. The team consisted of Margaret Cullen, M.F.T., Philippe Goldin, Ph.D., Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., and Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D. and later joined by Leah Weiss, Ph.D. and Monica Hanson. Today, except for Philippe Goldin, all the contributors to the IM constitute the founding faculty of the Compassion Institute

  12. Since 2016, the program is being offered through the Compassion Institute, headed by Thupten Jinpa as CEO.

  13. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compassion, accessed Feb 1, 2018 (emphasis mine). It is possible that the adjustment of the definition is the result of the recent research and the influence of Buddhist philosophy on this research.

  14. For alternative definitions, see Jennifer Goetz in Goetz, Keltner, and Simon-Thomas (2010), Goetz in The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science (2017) and Clara Strauss’s five component-definition procured by a group of psychologists and psychiatrists in Great Britain under her leadership (Strauss 2016, 11–12).

  15. Asaṅga in his Ratnagotravibhāga I,V (tr. Johnston) explains compassion as an integral part of buddhahood: “Unproduced, effortless, not arisen by understanding from others, buddhahood is endowed with the power of awareness and compassion and has the two purposes.” The two purposes refer to the benefit for oneself and for others (Stenzel 2019, 40).

  16. Taking bodhisattva vow constitutes the formalized commitment for embarking on the bodhisattva path. Over time, several bodhisattva path transmissions have developed (Kongtrül 1998). In the Bodhisattvaprātimokṣa Sūtra, a work of early Mahāyāna literature, the aspirant engages in the bodhisattva path by voicing the following vows: “I, with the name so-and-so, […] for the benefit and the liberation of the infinite world of beings, to deliver them from the suffering of saṃsāra, I generate the mind of supreme and perfect awakening. […] From now on, the gifts I give, the discipline I observe, the patience I practice, the efforts I carry out, the concentration I develop, the wisdom I practice, the skilful means I employ, all of these will be dedicated to the welfare, the benefit and the happiness of all beings.” (Tr. Vievard 2001, 423. Cited in Stenzel 2019, 9)

  17. Asaṅga, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, Tib: theg pa chen po mdo sde’i rgyan gyi bzhad pa (Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sūtra), XVII, 34: The compassionate ones (karuṇātmaka/ bodhisattvas) have four types of compassion (kṛpā): (1) that from its nature (prakṛti), (2) from its careful analysis (pratisaṃkhyā), (3) from methods of cultivation (abhyāsavidhāna) acquired in a former life, and (4) from gain of purity (viśuddhi) by destroying its adversary (vipakṣa) Translation: Nagao (2000, 11).

  18. Skt. sattvālambana karuṇā, Tib. sems can la dmigs pa’i snying rje

  19. Skt. dharmālambana karuṇā, Tib. chos la dmigs pa’i snying rje

  20. Skt. anālambana karuṇā, Tib. dmigs pa med pa’i snying rje. The probably best-known source is the Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra, T 403, k. 4, p. 500a13–17; T 397, k. 29, p. 200a, 15–18. The relevant passage is cited in Śikṣāsamuccaya (Śāntideva and Vaidya 1999, 212). Sā [maitrī] trividhākṣayamatisūtre ‘bhihitā | sattvālambaṇā maitrī prathamacittotpādikānāṃ bodhisattvānāṃ | dharmālambaṇā caryāpratipannānāṃ bodhisattvānāṃ; anālambaṇā maitrī anutpattikadharmakṣānti-pratilabdhānāṃ bodhisattvānām iti || Transl.: The noble Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra describes three kinds of loving-kindness (maitrī) which also apply to compassion: “the loving-kindness of beginner bodhisattvas, which takes sentient beings as its object; the loving-kindness of bodhisattvas with practice experience, which takes simple entities as its object; and the objectless loving-kindness of the bodhisattvas who have attained the acceptance of the non-arising of everything.” Note: anutpattikadharmakṣānti is often mentioned in the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras and involves the absence of emotional resistance against the teaching of emptiness (Translation Goodman, Śāntideva 2016, 209; also Bendall, 212). The threefold typology is also common in Tibetan treatises of the path, albeit with adapted interpretations (sGam po pa: Dvags po thar rgyan; Sa skya Pandita: Thub pa’i gong gsal; Tshong kha pa: Lam rim chen mo).

  21. See also the Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra, quoted in the SS XII. Here, the sūtra describes the three levels for maitrī in a similar way (Śāntideva and Vaidya 1999, 212): sā trividhā āryākṣayamatisūtre’vihitā- satvārambaṇā maitrī prathamacittotpādikānāṃ bodhisattvānām / dharmārambaṇā caryāpratipannānāṃ bodhisattvānām / anārambaṇā maitrī anutpattikadharmakṣāntipratilabdhānāṃ bodhisattvānāmiti // The Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra describes three kinds: “the loving-kindness of beginner bodhisattvas, which takes sentient beings as its object; the loving-kindness of bodhisattvas with practice experience, which takes simple entities as its object; and the objectless loving-kindness of the bodhisattvas who have attained the acceptance of the non-arising of everything” (Translation Goodman, Anthology, 209).

  22. Explanations are found in the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, Śrīmālādevī Sūtra, and the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantra Śāstra.

  23. Blo sbyong tshig brgyd ma by Dge bshes Glang ri thang pa (Shönu Gyalchok and Könchog Gyaltsen 2004, 177–186). Jinpa (2019) mentions that the first usage can be traced to the Kadam master Potowa (Po to ba, 1027–1105).

  24. BCA VIII, 120 (Min 203, 2–3): ātmānaṃ cāparāṃścaiva yaḥ śīghraṃ trātum icchati / sa caret paramaṃ guhyaṃ parātmaparivartanam// Whoever longs to quickly rescue both himself and others should practice the supreme mystery: the exchange of self and other. (Translation Crosby/Skilton 1999, 99) Tib. (TG dbu ma la 28a5) gang zhig bdag dang gzhan rnams ni // myur du bskyab par ‘dod pa des // bdag dang gzhan du brje bya ba // gsang ba’i dam pa spyad par bya // Those desiring speedily to be a refuge for themselves and others/ Should make the interchange of “I” and “other,” and thus embrace a sacred mystery. (Padmakara 2006, 126). This and all following verses cited in the article were translated by the Padmakara Translation Group.

  25. BCA VIII, 140 (Min 204, 16–17): hīnādiṣv ātmatāṃ kṛtvā paratvam api cātmani | bhāvayerṣyāṃ ca mānaṃ ca nirvikalpyena cetasā || Tib. (TG dbu ma la 29a2): dman sogs bdag tu byas pa dang // gzhan nyid du ni bdag byas nas // rnam rtog med pa’i sems kyis su // phrag dog ‘gran dang nga rgyal bsgom // Transl. Padmakara (2006, 129).

  26. He also instructs to curb the self-grasping mind by having it behave timid and shy like a newly wedded bride (166), or else bring it forcibly to heel “Well then, apply the lash.” (167)

  27. BCA VIII, 131 (Min 203, 24–25): na nāma sādhyaṃ buddhatvaṃ saṃsāre ‘pi kutaḥ sukham | svasukhasyānyaduḥkhena parivartam akurvataḥ || Tib. (TG dbu ma la 28b4): bdag bde gzhan gyi sdug bsngal dag // yang dag brje ba ma byas na // sangs rgyas nyid du mi ‘grub cing // ‘khor ba na yang bde ba med // Transl. Padmakara (2006, 128).

  28. See, for example, Thokmé Sangpo’s commentary on BCA VIII, 89 (2006, 127): gnyis pa kun rdzob byang sems sgom pa la gsum ste/ bdag gzhan mnyam pa dang / brje ba dang / thun mong gi bya ba’o // Transl.: Secondly, the cultivation of conventional bodhicitta has three sections: the equalizing of self and other, the exchange, and ordinary activity. The division of the BCA’s teachings into conventional and ultimate bodhicitta is foreshadowed in Indian commentaries. (Jinpa, in Readings of the BCA, 2019).

  29. This definition was given by the eighth century Indian scholar Kamalaśīla in the Second Bhāvanākrama, cited by Wangchuk 2007, 257.

  30. In the Geluk school, ultimate bodhicitta is mostly practiced after tonglen while most non-Geluk authors place the meditation on ultimate bodhicitta before conventional bodhicitta, according to Jinpa in his introduction to Mind Training (Shönu Gyalchok and Könchog Gyaltsen 2006, 13 n.26).

  31. According to Jane Compson, the critics of the “socio-culturally unsound” argument which criticize the cultural appropriation of Asian religious traditions are Jane Compson, Ronald Purser, David Roy, Michael Stone, Bhikkhu Bodhi, among others. Compson also includes a critique of maintaining an unwholesome status quo: “Mindfulness training has wide appeal because it has become a trendy method for subduing employee unrest, promoting a tacit acceptance of the status quo, and as an instrumental tool for keeping attention focused on institutional goals” (Monteiro, Compson, and Musten 2017, 33).

  32. Secular ethics is built on the same philosophical pillars as CCT, namely, shared humanity and interdependence. See Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World (2011).

  33. These categories cannot be understood as rigidly defined groups. The two-track approach refers to two types of engagement in spiritual practice. Traditionally, Buddhist tradition associated them with the monastic clergy on the one hand and the householder-lay practitioners on the other. The reality is, of course, more complex.

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  1. Kathmandu University, Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Bagmati, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Julia Caroline Stenzel

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Stenzel, J.C. The Sciencization of Compassion. DHARM 3, 245–271 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-020-00084-w

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