Warm-Heartedness: The Ultimate Source of Happiness 05-08-26

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]So in 2019 uh his holiness the Daly Lama said our world needs a compassion revolution and we need it now.

[00:00:13]So thankfully the world uh for the world we now have uh cognitivebased compassion training which was developed by Emory University and uh former Gish Lang Tenen Nege I think who is a PhD uh and works at the center for contemplative science and compassion-based ethics at Emory in Atlanta.

[00:00:42]So the last week of April, the community uh had the uh fortune to uh be trained in this method. Uh it's called uh for a shorter uh name CBCT.

[00:01:00]Um and it was so helpful. Gosh. Um I took away a few things from it. One thing that was really clear to me is that I'm understanding more and more when I hear uh uh concepts and trainings in a topic that I have some experience in from different teachers. um I get a much different or a much deeper understanding um of the trainings of the you know how to use them and that was most definitely true and it was just about words. It was interesting. The one that really struck me was um you know we say that we set our motivations all the time and um okay you know yeah but in this particular training they talked about how we prime our mind with a certain way of going forward and that was so helpful. It seemed to extend the whole concept of motivation in a very in a much deeper way for me. So it was very helpful.

[00:02:18]Um and of course since all humans want happiness and they don't want to suffer um this program which is secular uh is bringing ethics and compassion uh to people around the world. Um it's uh going many places now and they're trying to get it uh spread to as many places as possible.

[00:02:44]Um so we can rejoice in this because uh I don't think we have any idea the ripple effect of this training what it will have for this world but it will only be good that I know for sure.

[00:02:59]So CB CBCT is um based on lojang or mind training and that's what we study and practice uh a lot. It's a very powerful and practical tool that we use. Um has as his holiness has said the ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness.

[00:03:23]Even animals display some sense of compassion. When it comes to human beings, compassion can be combined with intelligence.

[00:03:32]Through the application of reason, compassion can be extended to all 7 billion human beings.

[00:03:41]So needless to say there is a fundamental need for compassion and I came across a story uh that demonstrates this need very vividly for us. I think so. Um, when US armed forces entered Bookenwald concentration camp at the end of World War II, uh, they were met by 900 children, 900 children who had survived uh, these unspeakable horrors.

[00:04:11]Um, as a first task, the soldiers set up a soup station to slowly reu in reintroduce food and nut nutrients to the starving kids. The children formed two lines as the soldiers did their best to ensure that what they had lasted long enough to feed each child.

[00:04:34]It was uh not it was not enough. The soup ran out in one of the lines. As the next child approached in that line, the soldier serving soup froze, holding his empty ladle in his hand. He stared at the young boy, hungry and weak, and was overcome with a deep desire to help. Not knowing what else to do, the soldier knelt and embraced him.

[00:05:01]After what felt like a long time, the soldier looked up and noticed that some of the children who were standing in the other soup line had abandoned it. They formed a new line in front of him, each of them waiting their turn to receive a hug.

[00:05:17]While they still needed nutri nutritious food, of course, what was even more pressing for them in that moment was their need to feel safe and nurtured.

[00:05:26]They needed compassion.

[00:05:29]I was also struck by the soldier's warm-hearted compassionate response. Um, talk about pivoting. You know, he was uh, you know, recently um, looking for the enemies and trying to protect his life and then he comes here and all of a sudden he just pivots and you know his great heartwarming compassion just comes forward. Um, so it was very beautiful. Um so of course when we think about it each one of us enters uh this world helpless and vulnerable. Um from birth we depend on many others uh for our needs and to care for us. And of course that was just demonstrated in this story that I read.

[00:06:15]Our need for compassion is very basic um as is our need for nourishing food and you know clean water. Certainly this is not true just for individuals but as as the Daly Lama has urgently stated that the survival of humanity as a whole as a whole.

[00:06:42]Okay. Where's the next part of this?

[00:06:48]needs needs a competent person to print any. Okay, that was a sentence. God, let me try it again. This is true not just for individuals, but as the Daly Lama has urgently stated, for the survival of humanity as a whole there. Anyhow, emotional needs are equally essential for the well-being as basic material needs. Neither one is enough. We need both of them. uh so that we can thrive.

[00:07:19]So as compassion is rooted in warm-heartedness, it fills us with feelings of connection associated with pleasure, safety and calm. Feeling connected to others also combats the feelings of isol isolation.

[00:07:36]Expansive coma compassion also gives meaning and purpose to our lives which can carry us through when the going gets rough. So as we develop our compassion more and more, we develop this resilience that can um uh service when you know we're very uh challenged by different things that happen.

[00:08:01]So the person who embodies compassion is truly the first to benefit as his holiness has said a bazillion times.

[00:08:10]In 1998, his holiness wrote in the art of happiness, "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."

[00:08:23]And so let's stay connected to our warm-heartedness and connect with compassion to all of those that we come in contact with so that we can continue to develop our compassion, our warm-heartedness, and um be able to uh benefit many beings as we go through our days.