Compassion and the True Meaning of Empathy

Joan Halifax

Buddhist roshi Joan Halifax works with people at the last stage of life – in hospices and on death row. She shares what she’s learned about compassion in the face of death and dying, saying that it is a source of strength and resilience, healing and powerful; and also shares a deep insight into the nature of empathy. “Women have manifested for thousands of years the strength arising from compassion, in an unfiltered, unmediated way in perceiving suffering as it is,” she says. “They have infused societies with kindness.”