Compassion and Equality

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Tonglen: Exchanging Oneself and Others

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

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Compassion is often thought of as sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. Cultivating compassion begins by learning to tune in to other people in a kind and loving manner. This is not the understanding of the famous eighth century Indian Buddhist scholar Śāntideva. He presents a compassion training that relies on the recognition of the fundamental equality of all beings, and is sustained by disciplined self-education. His instructions have inspired not only the Tibetan Mind Training[2] tradition, but also secular compassion training models in contemporary North America. Śāntideva’s ideas are worthy of close consideration not only for scholars of Buddhism, but for anyone concerned with the question of how to foster compassion in societies that struggle with an increase of xenophobic voices and intolerance.[3]
This paper explores the meaning and ethical underpinnings of Śāntideva’s instructions, dubbed by Tibetan commentators[4] the "Equalizing and Exchange of Self and Other" passage. This passage is part of the Mahāyāna Buddhist treatise Bodhicaryāvatāra (Skt., literally Engaging in the Practice of Awakening),[5] which is considered a world classic of religious literature. Contrasting my reading with contemporary interpretations by Charles Goodman (2015) and the philosopher trio Jay Garfield, Stephen Jenkins and Graham Priest (2015), I argue that Śāntideva’s “Equalizing and Exchange” passage is best understood as meditation instructions, rather than ethical theory or philosophical reasoning. The specificity of Śāntideva’s instructions is his deconstructive approach to compassion training. In a meditative process, the trainee deconstructs compassion-inhibitors, such as self-cherishing and prejudice, rather than strengthening empathetic emotions.

Notes

(From the title): Paper presented at the AAR EIR, April 28, 2017 in Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Lojong, Wylie blo sbyong.
On the rise of xenophobia, see Watch Human Rights, World Report 2017 (Place of publication not identified: POLICY Press, 2017).
Foremost among them is the influential commentary by Thogs med bzang po dpal, Ocean of Good Advice, Commentary on the Introduction to the Parctice of Bodhisattvas. Byang Chub Sems Dpa'i Spyod Pa La 'Jug Pa’i 'Grel Pa Legs Par Bshad Pa’i Rgya Mtsho (Reprint by Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang 2008). For a comprehensive list of commentators, see Frederik Liland, "The Transmission of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, the History, Diffusion, and Influence of a Mahāyāna Buddhist Text" (MA, University of Oslo, 2009).
For a multilingual edition of the Bodhicaryāvatāra (BCA), see Śāntideva, "Bodhicaryāvatāra," University of Oslo, Faculty of Humanities, https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=volume&vid=24.

Citation

Stenzel, Julia. "Compassion and Equality." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion EIR, Waterloo, ON, Canada, April 28, 2017.

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