There's actually a distinction between loving kindness and compassion. Compassion is considered the trembling or a quivering of the heart in response to seeing pain or suffering. A loving kindness is that fundamental sense of connectedness with ourselves and with others, ultimately, with all beings. And it's based not so much on seeing everybody wants to be happy, but on recognizing our universal vulnerability.
Sharon Salzberg is one of the worlds best know Buddhist teachers and a leader in meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness practice (vipassana or insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion (the Brahma Viharas). She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
In this episode, Eric and Sharon discuss her book Real Happiness At Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace.
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Sharon Salzberg and I Discuss How to Bring Lovingkindness to Your Life …
- Her book, Real Happiness At Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace.
- Lovingkindess is the fundamental sense of connectedness to ourselves and each other
- Compassion is recognizing the universal vulnerability of ourselves and each other
- The fundamental teaching of “everyone wants to be happy“
- Remembering that it’s never to late to make a change
- How the mind is naturally radiant and pure
- The “visitors” that obscure our mind
- The essential question of asking what we really need to be happy
- How mindfulness is about training to find “the place in the middle”
- Balancing repression and indulgence in our emotions
- Whether Buddhism teaches that desire is the core problem
- Making decisions from a “climate of wisdom”
- The four types of enemies (outer, inner, secret, and most secret)
- How to deal with these enemies
- The importance of setting intentions
- Watching our thoughts like an elderly person watches children in a park
- How the difference between happiness and misery depends on where we place our attention.
Sharon Salzberg links:
Sharon’s Website
Twitter
Facebook
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If you enjoyed this conversation with Sharon Salzberg, check out these other episodes:
Discovering Our Essence with A. H. Almaas
Inner Freedom Through Mindfulness with Jack Kornfield
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