A short meditation for fostering compassion

A meditation for fostering compassion, from Thupten Jinpa.

Thupten Jinpa
26 February 2016
Photo by Tim Wang.

As you contemplate the various ways in which you are the beneficiary of contributions from so many people, including countless strangers, acknowledge that it’s the presence of others that makes it possible for you to live, it’s their presence that gives meaning to your existence, and it’s their deeds that contribute toward your welfare.

Now allow your heart to open so that a sense of appreciation and gratitude may begin to arise in you. Abide in this state, and whatever positive thoughts and feelings you happen to experience, let them permeate your entire being.

Next contemplate this thought: “Just as I feel happy when others wish me well, and feel touched when others show concern for my pain and sorrow, so everyone else feels the same way. Therefore I shall rejoice in others’ happiness and feel concerned for their pain and sorrow.”

Once again, recalling your profound recognition that others aspire to happiness and shun suffering the same way you do, open your heart to rejoicing in others’ happiness and connecting with their pain.

Now—having brought to your mind the fundamental recognition that, just like you, all others aspire to happiness and wish to avoid suffering, as well as having reflected on the deeply interconnected nature of yourself and others—let your heart become permeated by the sense of connection with others.

From A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives, by Thupten Jinpa, PhD, with permission from Hudson Street Press.

Thupten Jinpa

Thupten Jinpa

Thupten Jinpa is a former Tibetan monk who holds a B.A. in philosophy and a Ph.D. in religious studies, both from Cambridge University. Since 1985, he has been the principal English translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama and has translated and edited numerous books by the Dalai Lama, including the New York Times Bestsellers Ethics for the New Millennium and The Art of Happiness. Jinpa’s own publications include works in Tibetan, English translations as well as books, including A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives and Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows.  Jinpa is the general editor of The Library of Tibetan Classics series, the main author of CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training), an eight-week formal program developed at Stanford University, and the founder and president of the Compassion Institute. He is the Chair of Mind and Life Institute, founder of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, and an adjunct professor at the School of Religious Studies at McGill University. Jinpa lives in Montreal and is married with two daughters.