OBU
Garden Room, Buckley Building
Headington Campus
Compassion is a state of mind, a wish for beings to be free from suffering. When compassion is present in the heart there is no place for anger or hatred. In that moment a wish to harm simply cannot arise because compassion overpowers it. Although compassion may arise naturally towards those we love and who have cared for us, it can also be cultivated so that it arises even towards our enemies. To develop it fully, we begin by cultivating for ourselves, then extend it gradually to others. When linked with understanding, compassion brings both inner and outer peace.
This talk is delivered by Dr Dechen Rochard, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Bristol and Research Fellow, The Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion, Oxford.
Dechen Rochard studied for several years at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India and then completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge. She translates Buddhist texts and is currently working on a project for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.