The Buddha was raised in the Hindu tradition that we explored last week. His focus always returned to human suffering, and how our undisciplined thinking leads to unhelpful actions. The problem isn’t that we have desires (that can be a good thing). The real problem, for many Buddhists, is our “latent craving” (p. 36), or the addictive need to always have more, and the disappointment we feel when we don’t get it. We want to keep getting more of a good thing, and when it ends (as all things do in life) we get angry, or violent, or just sad. This problem is not the fault of the gods, but as one contemporary psychology professor notes, the issue is “self-centered thought and prior conditioning” (40). According to some of the Buddhist schools we’re reading about, which “self-centered” thoughts are problematic? Why? Which of these self-centered thoughts do you suffer from? Why? Read through the meditation guide from University of Toronto chaplain, Bhikkhu Saranapala. Like many Buddhists, he argues that our “real struggle” revolves around our minds being “restless and agitated.” “You have to give more training to this mind,” he writes. “You have to transform this mind into a positive, wholesome one.” How does Saranapala propose we do this? In Mahayana Buddhism, the emphasis is on helping others. As we learn from the story of Avalokiteśvara (p. 38), giving to others who need it helps us think clearer. In the tradition of Avalokiteśvara, the current Dalai Lama recently tweeted, “Spiritual practice involves, in the one hand, acting out of concern for others’ well-being. On the other, it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do so” (p. 45). In our audio interview of the prolific Vietnamese Buddhist author, Thich Nhat Hanh, you’ll hear him describe the mental obstacles to living a compassionate life. When people inflict suffering on others, Hanh argues, “wrong perceptions are foundations of their fear, their violence, their hate” (27.50). The answer isn’t to erase all feelings, but to look at our own suffering, to make use of it, and to transform it as Hanh argues in the 5-6 minute mark. “You have the right to be angry,” Hanh later says, but then you have to learn to transform that anger into a kind of love and compassion for other people” (30.40). It’s noteworthy that although the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are considered by many to be “religious” leaders, neither leader appeals to the gods or to supernatural events. Instead, they focus on this-worldly “reasons” for learning how to build the mental strength needed to give compassion to strangers and loved ones alike. This emphasis on reason and rationality is one reason why different strains of Buddhism often overlap with modern psychology and Western science. What are some of Hahn’s “reasons” to be compassionate? What are the major obstacles in our thinking patterns? What specific steps can we take to think, and therefore act more compassionately?