Module 10: Engaged Buddhism · The Buddha’s Path
Compassion vs Despair: A Buddhist Approach to Witnessing Suffering (David Oromith)
David Oromith · 90 minutes · recorded April 1, 2025
Compassion and its near enemy, despair: how to attend to the suffering of others and of the world without being overwhelmed by it.
A recording of a workshop David gave in February 2025, on the Buddhist understanding of compassion and of its near enemy, despair. It asks how we attend to the suffering of others and of our world without tipping into overwhelm, despair, or the sense of being burdened by it. Sharing his own experience of both compassion and despair, and drawing on the teachings of Lama Alan Wallace, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and others, David looks at why we cultivate compassion for the suffering of the world in the first place, and at how to work with the crippling feeling of despair that can come with it.
Depression and low mood Stress and burnout Compassion (karuna)