I’m currently researching the related topic of the compassion-oriented Buddhist spiritual path, so my response will be from that perspective. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat.
John Makransky, of Boston College and Kathmandu University, has done great work on this question. He adapts Tibetan Buddhist practices for a secular Western context. See “Compassion Without Fatigue: Contemplative Training for People who Serve Others” (third link from the top). The main insight for me is that I am not alone in trying to alleviate suffering—so many people throughout history have stood in compassionate solidarity, and I can draw on them for support.
Makransky takes the opposite approach of commenter Denis Drescher—he (and the Buddhist tradition) believe that reducing feelings of compassion is not the answer. Boundless compassion (along with boundless wisdom) is quite literally the goal of the Mahayana Buddhist path, so it’s wonderful that you feel so much compassion already. Countless Asian philosophers have been developing these ideas for millennia, so they’ve inevitably come up with some good ideas and coping mechanisms!
For a beginner-friendly philosophical analysis of the progression from painful compassion to wise equanimity, see Sadness, Love, Openness by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Note that this author is a Tibetan lama, so he takes a more religious approach than Makransky.
I’m currently researching the related topic of the compassion-oriented Buddhist spiritual path, so my response will be from that perspective. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat.
John Makransky, of Boston College and Kathmandu University, has done great work on this question. He adapts Tibetan Buddhist practices for a secular Western context. See “Compassion Without Fatigue: Contemplative Training for People who Serve Others” (third link from the top). The main insight for me is that I am not alone in trying to alleviate suffering—so many people throughout history have stood in compassionate solidarity, and I can draw on them for support.
Makransky takes the opposite approach of commenter Denis Drescher—he (and the Buddhist tradition) believe that reducing feelings of compassion is not the answer. Boundless compassion (along with boundless wisdom) is quite literally the goal of the Mahayana Buddhist path, so it’s wonderful that you feel so much compassion already. Countless Asian philosophers have been developing these ideas for millennia, so they’ve inevitably come up with some good ideas and coping mechanisms!
For a beginner-friendly philosophical analysis of the progression from painful compassion to wise equanimity, see Sadness, Love, Openness by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Note that this author is a Tibetan lama, so he takes a more religious approach than Makransky.
Hope this helps!
Thank you! I hadn’t thought about the issue through this lens before. I will explore those resources.