by Anthony Joseph
It’s hard to encounter suffering — your own, that of loved ones, and the endless reports in the news. For a sincere practitioner, this leads to a natural question: “If I open to the suffering of all beings, will I be overwhelmed?”
This concern is especially relevant for those practising great compassion and the mind of enlightenment (bodhichitta) — the central Mahayana motivation to attain complete awakening for the sake of all beings. But while this path takes suffering as its object, it does not lead to emotional burnout. In fact, the opposite is true.
The root of the Path
Bodhichitta arises from compassion — specifically, from great compassion. The Indian master Chandrakīrti says:
Buddhas are born from bodhisattvas.
The compassionate mind, non-dual understanding,
And bodhichitta are the causes of Bodhisattavas.Because this compassion alone is the seed of the Victor’s rich harvest
And like the water for its development,
And the ripening of that to be enjoyed for a long time,
I, therefore, shall praise compassion at the start.
And what is great compassion? The Venerable Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden, in Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism (p. 548), writes: “Ordinary compassion is the wish for one or a number of beings to be free from suffering, and great compassion is the wish that all living beings be free from whatever suffering they experience.”
Geshe-la also notes (p. 549): “To practise great compassion you must have a strong feeling for the suffering of all living beings.”
As practitioners, we are encouraged to generate bodhichitta at the beginning of each day and to carry that intention into our thoughts and actions. In doing so, we are repeatedly reminded of the suffering of all sentient beings. And here, a natural response may arise — especially when we encounter suffering directly in others or in the world around us: distress. A sense of being emotionally weighed down by the sheer volume of suffering.
Do you ever notice this in yourself — that witnessing suffering brings some experience of emotional pain or helplessness? This is a deeply human response, and it is exactly what we can learn to understand, work with, and gradually transform into something more stable and beneficial.
Empathy and compassion: a crucial distinction
Here, both Buddhist practice and modern neuroscience converge. Empathy and great compassion may look similar from the outside, but they are distinct states of mind — with very different inner effects.
Empathy is the capacity to feel or resonate with another’s pain. Without stability or wisdom, it can lead to empathic distress — where one becomes personally affected by others’ suffering. Studies show that empathy activates brain regions associated with physical pain (such as the anterior insula and cingulate cortex), creating a negative emotional response. One subject in a study where they were directed to focus on empathy for a week reported:
“As I looked at the people around me when I took the train in the morning, I was beginning to see suffering everywhere.”¹
By contrast, great compassion — cultivated through meditation — does not amplify distress. Instead, it activates brain regions linked to maternal love, warmth, and affiliative care. Research by Richard Davidson and others found that when experienced meditators generated great compassion, their response to suffering included both greater sensitivity and greater resilience. They did not shut down or become distressed — they became more open and positive.
As the researchers put it: “Experienced meditators are both more sensitive to and more concerned by others’ sufferings, and they react not by experiencing increased distress, but by feeling compassion. One can train in acquiring these states of mind.”¹
Compassion as a positive mind
This reflects a core insight of Buddhist psychology: great compassion is a virtuous mind. It is not afflicted. It is not burdensome. It is inherently beneficial — to self and others.
In Path to Enlightenment, Geshe Loden writes (p. 28) that through training: “You will become progressively more relaxed, both physically and mentally, and gain a more natural sense of ease,” and that by integrating the practices with your mind, “you will naturally remain in a tranquil and happy state quite effortlessly.”
In other words, the long-term effect of practising great compassion is not exhaustion, but peace. Not depletion, but expansion and renewal.
Beginning where you are
What about those of us who are not yet experienced meditators? Encouragingly, even a week of practice can make a difference. One study found that: “A week of training in compassion increased prosocial behaviour and was associated with changes in the neural networks linked to compassion, positive emotion, and maternal love.”¹
So how do you develop this type of great compassion — the kind that renews you and brings inner peace?
First, you need to practise the meditations on great compassion and bodhichitta as presented in Path to Enlightenment. You do this by becoming familiar with them through reading and listening, then reflecting until you gain a clear understanding. From there, you meditate in a way that generates some feeling of great compassion, and through repeated practice, you become more familiar with that state. With continued nurturing, your understanding and experience of great compassion will deepen over time.
This path unfolds both in formal meditation and in how you live your life — you practise deliberately in both. Meditation is essential for developing altered states of mind, but daily life must be congruent with it and provides the opportunity to strengthen the habit. From your meditation, you may find compassion arising spontaneously. When encountering suffering or helping someone in distress, you can also deliberately connect with great compassion — moving from empathy to the thought: “May this person, and all sentient beings, be free from suffering.” From the imprint of your meditation, the perspective and feeling will also arise. Then you hold that.
A gesture of the heart
Your own suffering can also be an opportunity for generating great compassion. In my own life, I remember being unwell and speaking with Geshe Loden. He advised me that, in recognising my own suffering, I should consider how many millions of others were experiencing the same pain at that moment — and then sincerely wish that they be free from it.
This gesture of the heart not only transforms suffering into compassion but also expands your view: you begin to recognise that suffering is not personal or isolated — it is a shared experience of sentient beings.
This recognition lessens your sense of isolation, deepens your empathy, and gives insight into the nature of life in samsara. In this way, you can move from pain, distress, or anxiety about your own suffering to the positive and expansive mind of great compassion — a mind that includes both love and the wisdom that sees the universality of suffering.
The strength of great compassion
With training, compassion becomes not a burden but a source of strength. It transforms our relationship with suffering not by turning away or being overwhelmed. Our empathy of recognising suffering, does not stop with that experience, but leads on to love and compassion arising. Our recognition of suffering in ourselves and others leads us to wisdom, resilience and positive states.
In Tibetan Buddhism, great compassion is not only the cause of enlightenment, but also a profound support for our daily life. By lessening self-cherishing and increasing our concern for others, compassion helps us respond more calmly to difficulties, relate more openly in relationships, and find meaning even in challenging times. These are natural results of reducing the afflictive emotions that cause distress and conflict.
Compassion, as a central element of that path, brings benefit both immediately and ultimately — for ourselves and for others.
References
1. Matthieu Ricard, “From Empathy to Compassion in a Neuroscience Laboratory,” Chapter I.IV in Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World, Little, Brown and Company, 2015.