Ethics of Compassion Essay

Words: 1265
Pages: 6

Ethics of compassion To help explain the ethics of compassion I will be using reference from the Dalia Lama’s book Ethics for the New Millennium, more specifically chapter ten; The Need for Discernment, and chapter 5 The Supreme Emotion. I will also refer to Touching Peace, and the five mindfulness trainings. The Dalia Lama had so many strong points it was hard to find any criticisms in his philosophies. One thing that concerned me was how he recognizes people who kill and torture for pleasure. The other point he made that came across as weaker to me or somewhat questionable is that we are to question whether our motive is genuinely compassionate when considered in relation to the totality of all beings. As for the strong points keeping …show more content…
This is where it seems that these types of evil people are lacking a common human thread. The Dalia lama believes that we can enhance our capacity for empathy- experienced as a feeling. We can restrain our feelings through reasoning; we enhance them the same way. Our instinctive capacity for empathy is the source of that most precious of all human qualities called in Tibetan “Nying je” which should be understood in terms of a combination of empathy and reason. The more we develop compassion, the more genuinely ethical our conduct will be. The next point that I found to be extremely truthful, and insightful was that having concern for others breaks down barriers which inhibit us from healthy interaction with each other. There is no substantial difference between us, and we should recognize that we all share a common desire to be happy and to avoid suffering. In recognizing this when we act out of concern for others the peace it creates in our own hearts brings peace to everyone we associate with. Love and compassion are fundamentally important to us all. We need to take other’s feelings into consideration, given that ethical conduct consists in not harming others. In chapter ten in The Need for Discernment the Dalai Lama begins explaining the need for discipline. Ethical discipline is something we adopt voluntarily on the basis of full recognition of its benfits. He says it is indispensible because it is a means by which we