Ep. 600 – How Compassion Works with John Makransky and Paul Condon

In a conversation on cultivating compassion, authors and professors John Maransky and Paul Condon explore how to activate our natural capacity to care for all beings.

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This time on Mindrolling, John, Paul, and Raghu discuss:

• Paul and John’s spiritual and personal journeys, and how they came together to write How Compassion Works
• Seeing the humanity in all beings and opening our hearts even to our perceived enemies
• Looking to the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism in order to cultivate compassion
• Dropping into the grounded depth of our awareness so that we can meet that same quality in others
• Becoming aware of our reactive minds as the first step on the path of compassion
• Adding in psychological and scientific perspectives to the practice of compassion
• Our natural capacity to care and how it takes less effort than hate/conflict
• Embodying ideals of kindness and seeing others in a less superficial way
• Practicing honest self-reflection to assess and grow our capacity for compassion
• The domino effect of love and kindness– how seeing compassion in action inspires others
• Reunifying with our inner beings and loving nature through mindfulness 
• The symbiotic relationship of love and wisdom

Recommendations From This Episode: 

Learn more about Sustainable Compassion via audio guided meditations, videos, retreats, writings, and more!

Order your copy of John and Paul’s newly released book, How Compassion Works, HERE

About John Makransky, Ph.D.

John Makransky, PhD, is Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College, senior advisor for Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre of Buddhist Studies in Nepal and developer of the Sustainable Compassion Training model for accessing innate capacities of compassion and awareness. John's academic writings have focused on connections between practices of wisdom, compassion and devotion in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, on adapting Buddhist practices for contemporary minds, and on interfaith learning. In 2000, John was ordained as a Lama, a meditation teacher of innate compassion and wisdom, within the Nyingma Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. As a meditation teacher, John is known for guiding participants in their discovery of underlying powers of love and wisdom. Since 2000, John has taught meditations of innate compassion and wisdom, adapted from Tibetan Buddhism, for modern Buddhists, those in other spiritual traditions, and for people in caring roles and professions.

“In order to really be the kind of person that can make a beneficial difference in our world, we have to learn how to drop down below the superficial reactive level of consciousness we all tend to live on together into more of the depth of our being, the ground of our experience.” – John Maransky

About Paul Condon, Ph.D.

Paul Condon is an associate professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University, a visiting lecturer for the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and a fellow of the Mind & Life Institute. His research examines the ways that psychological science can inform the adaptation of meditation practices in dialogue with contemplative traditions, with an emphasis on compassion training. His research and writing also examine the constructed nature of emotion and concepts, attachment theory, and the impact of meditation on compassion and prosocial behavior. Paul also teaches meditation practices adapted from the Tibetan Nyingma tradition. He has studied and collaborated with John Makransky to develop and teach Sustainable Compassion Training. His practice and teaching have also been informed by study with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Lama Willa Baker, and the Courage of Care Coalition.

"Care is a natural capacity and being in a caring relationship with another being is more natural and less effortful than bein