ABSTRACT
The book explores the psychology of compassion. Although it has been long neglected in Western psychology, Eastern traditions have viewed compassion as central to liberating our minds from the power of destructive emotions such as fear, anger, envy and vengeance (Goleman, 2003). Compassion not only is a process that underpins the building of prosocial relationships with others, but also has great potential to heal our minds and bodies. In Buddhist traditions, compassion is linked to metta or loving-kindness. This form of loving is not linked to ‘desire’ for the other or seeking attachments. Salzberg (1995) says that metta comes from two words meaning ‘gentle’ and ‘friend’ (p. 24). Compassion (which is an element of loving-kindness) involves being open to the suffering of self and others, in a non-defensive and nonjudgemental way. Compassion also involves a desire to relieve suffering, cognitions related to understanding the causes of suffering, and behaviours – acting with compassion. Hence, it is from a combination of motives, emotions, thoughts and behaviours that compassion emerges.
