The Force for Good

The Dalai Lama’s form of compassion isn’t the wishy-washy kind that is confined to holidays or Sunday school. Rather, he calls for moral responsibility in all spheres of public life, which includes having a profound distaste for injustice, as well as taking initiative to expose and reform corrupt systems.

Three principles exemplify such compassion in action:fairness, transparencyandaccountability.By treating everyone equally, remaining open and honest, and taking responsibility for our mistakes, we can create a powerful form of compassion to drive our actions.

Compassion in action doesn’t just mean relieving suffering, but also getting engaged in rectifying wrongs by actively opposing injustice or protecting people’s rights.

Moreover, the Dalai Lama encourages us to learn how we can reduce our destructive emotions. Of course, feelings such as anger and frustration can also be constructive, functioning as drivers of positive action.

For example, the Dalai Lama once met a social worker whose group had been given too many cases, making it impossible for them to help any of the individuals. The social worker became morally outraged, and it was with this anger that he motivated his team to protest and successfully get their workload reduced.

However, it doesn’t take much for anger to go from constructive to destructive. One way to ensure we use frustration to drive positive actions is by maintaining basic compassion towards a person that we take issue with.

It’s clear that compassion is a recurring theme here. In the next blink, we’ll explore another situation where compassion plays a central role: the divide between science and religion.