I want to address the issue of compassion. Compassion has many faces. Some of them are fierce; some of them are wrathful; some of them are tender; some of them are wise. A line that the Dalai Lama once said, he said, "Love and compassion are necessities. They are not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive." And I would suggest, it is not only humanity that won't survive, but it is all species on the planet, as we've heard today. It is the big cats, and it's the plankton.
Quero tratar o tema da compaixón. A compaixón ten moitos rostros. Algúns son feros; outros irados; algúns son tenros e outros sabios. Unha vez o Dalai Lama recitou: "O amor e a compaixón son necesidades. Non son luxos. Sen eles, a humanidade non pode sobrevivir." E eu engadiríalle, que non só a humanidade non sobreviviría, morrerían todas as especies do planeta, tal e coma hoxe escoitamos. Dende os grandes felinos, ata o plancton.
Two weeks ago, I was in Bangalore in India. I was so privileged to be able to teach in a hospice on the outskirts of Bangalore. And early in the morning, I went into the ward. In that hospice, there were 31 men and women who were actively dying. And I walked up to the bedside of an old woman who was breathing very rapidly, fragile, obviously in the latter phase of active dying. I looked into her face. I looked into the face of her son sitting next to her, and his face was just riven with grief and confusion.
Hai dúas semanas estiven en Bangalore, na India. Tiven o grande privilexio de dar clases nun hospicio nos arredores de Bangalore. E á mañá cedo fun ao pavillón dos doentes. Naquel hospicio, había trinta e un homes e mulleres que estaban ao bordo da morte. E achegueime á cabeceira dunha anciá que estaba a respirar moi rápido e moi fráxil, era claro que estaba na última fase da súa agonía. Mirei a súa cara. Mirei á cara do seu fillo, sentado ao seu carón, e a súa cara estaba desgarrada pola dor e a confusión.
And I remembered a line from the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic: "What is the most wondrous thing in the world, Yudhisthira?" And Yudhisthira replied, "The most wondrous thing in the world is that all around us people can be dying and we don't realize it can happen to us." I looked up. Tending those 31 dying people were young women from villages around Bangalore. I looked into the face of one of these women, and I saw in her face the strength that arises when natural compassion is really present. I watched her hands as she bathed an old man.
E lembrei unha pasaxe do Mahabharata, a grande epopeia hindú. "Que é o máis prodixioso do mundo, Yudhisthira?" Ao que Yushisthira respondeu, "O máis prodixioso do mundo é que ao noso redor a xente pode morrer e non nos decatamos de que pode acontecernos a nós." Ollei cara arriba. Atendendo a eses trinta e un moribundos había mozas das aldeas próximas a Bangalore. Ollei á cara a unha desas mulleres, e vin no seu rostro a forza que xurde cando a compaixón natural está presente. Ollei as súas mans namentres bañaba a unha anciá.
My gaze went to another young woman as she wiped the face of another dying person. And it reminded me of something that I had just been present for. Every year or so, I have the privilege of taking clinicians into the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. And we run clinics in these very remote regions where there's no medical care whatsoever.
A miña mirada fixouse noutra moza namentres esta limpaba a cara doutro moribundo. E iso fíxome lembrar algo que viña de presenciar. Cada ano ou así teño o privilexio de levar médicos ao Himalaia e ao Planalto do Tibet. E instalamos clínicas nestas remotas rexións onde non hai asistencia médica nin nada polo estilo.
And on the first day at Simikot in Humla, far west of Nepal, the most impoverished region of Nepal, an old man came in clutching a bundle of rags. And he walked in, and somebody said something to him, we realized he was deaf, and we looked into the rags, and there was this pair of eyes. The rags were unwrapped from a little girl whose body was massively burned. Again, the eyes and hands of Avalokiteshvara. It was the young women, the health aids, who cleaned the wounds of this baby and dressed the wounds.
E o primeiro día en Simikot en Humla, ao oeste do Nepal, a rexión máis empobrecida do Nepal, achegouse un ancián suxeitando uns farrapos. Entrou e alguén lle dixo algo, e nos decatamos de que era xordo, e miramos entre os farrapos, e vimos un par de ollos. Os farrapos estaban envoltos sobre unha pequena que tiña todo o corpo queimado. Outra vez, os ollos e mans de Avalokiteshvara. Era a moza, a médica, quen limpou as feridas deste cativo e as tapou.
I know those hands and eyes; they touched me as well. They touched me at that time. They have touched me throughout my 68 years. They touched me when I was four and I lost my eyesight and was partially paralyzed. And my family brought in a woman whose mother had been a slave to take care of me. And that woman did not have sentimental compassion. She had phenomenal strength. And it was really her strength, I believe, that became the kind of mudra and imprimatur that has been a guiding light in my life.
Coñezo esas mans e ollos; tamén me tocaron a min. Tocáronme daquelas. Tocáronme durante os meus 68 anos. Tocáronme cando tiña catro anos e perdín a vista e estaba parcialmente paralizada. E a miña familia trouxo a unha muller cuxa nai fora esclava para que me coidase. E aquela muller non tiña unha compaixón sentimental. Tiña unha extraordinaria forza. E era tal a sua forza, pensei, que se converteu no tipo de mudra e imprimatur que guiou a miña vida.
So we can ask: What is compassion comprised of? And there are various facets. And there's referential and non-referential compassion. But first, compassion is comprised of that capacity to see clearly into the nature of suffering. It is that ability to really stand strong and to recognize also that I'm not separate from this suffering. But that is not enough, because compassion, which activates the motor cortex, means that we aspire, we actually aspire to transform suffering. And if we're so blessed, we engage in activities that transform suffering. But compassion has another component, and that component is really essential. That component is that we cannot be attached to outcome.
Polo que podemos preguntar: De que se compón a compaixón? Existen varias facetas. Existe a compaixón referencial e non referencial. Pero primeiro, a compaixón confórmase da capacidade de ollar con claridade nas orixes do sufrimento. É esa capacidade de permanecer forte e tamén de recoñecer que non son alleo a ese sufrimento. Pero non abonda, xa que a compaixón, que activa o motor cortex, quere dicir que aspiramos a transformar o sufrimento. E se temos esa bendición, involucrámonos en actividades que transformen o sufrimento. Mais a compaixón ten outro compoñente, un que é realmente esencial. Ese compoñente é que non podemos suxeitarnos ao desenlace.
Now I worked with dying people for over 40 years. I had the privilege of working on death row in a maximum security [prison] for six years. And I realized so clearly in bringing my own life experience, from working with dying people and training caregivers, that any attachment to outcome would distort deeply my own capacity to be fully present to the whole catastrophe.
Traballei con moribundos durante máis de corenta anos. Traballei con condenados a morte nun cárcere durante máis de seis anos. E decateime que achegar a miña experiencia no traballo cos moribundos e entrenando aos coidadores, que calqueira suxeición ao desenlace deformaría profundamente a miña capacidade de estar presente en toda a catástrofe.
And when I worked in the prison system, it was so clear to me, this: that many of us in this room, and almost all of the men that I worked with on death row, the seeds of their own compassion had never been watered. That compassion is actually an inherent human quality. It is there within every human being. But the conditions for compassion to be activated, to be aroused, are particular conditions. I had that condition, to a certain extent, from my own childhood illness. Eve Ensler, whom you'll hear later, has had that condition activated amazingly in her through the various waters of suffering that she has been through.
Cando traballei no sistema penitenciario tiña isto ben claro: que moitos de nós nesta habitación, e case tódolos sentenciados a morte cos que traballei, nunca experimentaran a compaixón antes. Esa compaixón é de feito unha cualidade inherente humana. Está presente en todo ser humano. Mais as condicións para activar a compaixón, para despertala, son particulares. Eu reúno, en certa medida, esas condicións a partir da miña doenza cando era cativa. Eve Ensler, a quen logo escoitaredes, tamén ten esa condición incriblemente por mor de varios tipos de sufrimento polos que tivo que pasar.
And what is fascinating is that compassion has enemies, and those enemies are things like pity, moral outrage, fear. And you know, we have a society, a world, that is paralyzed by fear. And in that paralysis, of course, our capacity for compassion is also paralyzed. The very word terror is global. The very feeling of terror is global. So our work, in a certain way, is to address this imago, this kind of archetype that has pervaded the psyche of our entire globe.
E o incrible é que a compaixón teña inimigos, que son tales coma a piedade, a indignación moral, o medo. E vedes que a nosa sociedade, o mundo, está paralizado polo medo. E nesa parálise, de certo, a nosa capacidade por sermos compasivos tamén está paralizada. A palabra medo é universal. O sentimento de medo tamén. O noso traballo, en certo modo, é atallar esta imaxe, este arquetipo que invadiu a psique de todo o mundo.
Now we know from neuroscience that compassion has some very extraordinary qualities. For example: A person who is cultivating compassion, when they are in the presence of suffering, they feel that suffering a lot more than many other people do. However, they return to baseline a lot sooner. This is called resilience. Many of us think that compassion drains us, but I promise you it is something that truly enlivens us.
A través da neurociencia sabemos que a compaixón ten algunhas extraordinarias cualidades. Por exemplo: unha persoa que traballa a compaixón, cando está en presenza de doentes, notan que sofren moito máis có resto da xente. Porén, retornan ao punto de partida axiña. A isto chámaselle elasticidade. Moitos de nós pensamos que a compaixón nos baleira, mais asegúrovos que é algo que nos fortalece.
Another thing about compassion is that it really enhances what's called neural integration. It hooks up all parts of the brain. Another, which has been discovered by various researchers at Emory and at Davis and so on, is that compassion enhances our immune system. Hey, we live in a very noxious world. (Laughter) Most of us are shrinking in the face of psycho-social and physical poisons, of the toxins of our world. But compassion, the generation of compassion, actually mobilizes our immunity.
Outra cousa sobre a compaixón é que mellora a chamada integración neural. Conecta todas as partes do cerebro. Outra que vén de ser descuberta por varios investigadores de Emory e Davis entre outros, é que a compaixón mellora o noso sistema inmunitario. Eh, vivimos nun mundo ben nocivo. (Risas) A maioría de nós botámonos atrás perante os velenos psico-sociais e físicos das toxinas do noso mundo. Pero a compaixón, a creación de compaixón, hoxe moviliza a nosa inmunidade.
You know, if compassion is so good for us, I have a question. Why don't we train our children in compassion? (Applause) If compassion is so good for us, why don't we train our health care providers in compassion so that they can do what they're supposed to do, which is to really transform suffering? And if compassion is so good for us, why don't we vote on compassion? Why don't we vote for people in our government based on compassion, so that we can have a more caring world? In Buddhism, we say, "it takes a strong back and a soft front." It takes tremendous strength of the back to uphold yourself in the midst of conditions. And that is the mental quality of equanimity.
Saben, se a compaixón é tan boa para nós, teño unha pregunta. Por que non lles inculcamos aos nosos fillos o sentido da compaixón? (Aplausos) Se a compaixón é tan boa para nós, por que non inculcarlla aos que nos achegan a sanidade para que fagan o que se supón que teñen que facer, que é transformar o sufrimento? Se a compaixón é tan boa para nós, por que non lle damos o noso voto? Por que non votamos a gobernantes que se baseen na compaixón, e así poidamos ter un mundo máis afectuoso? No Budismo, dicimos, "precísase dunhas costas fortes e dunha fronte suave". Cómpre dunha grande fortaleza nas costas para mantérmonos na adversidade. E esa é a cualidade mental da ecuanimidade.
But it also takes a soft front -- the capacity to really be open to the world as it is, to have an undefended heart. And the archetype of this in Buddhism is Avalokiteshvara, Kuan-Yin. It's a female archetype: she who perceives the cries of suffering in the world. She stands with 10,000 arms, and in every hand, there is an instrument of liberation, and in the palm of every hand, there are eyes, and these are the eyes of wisdom. I say that, for thousands of years, women have lived, exemplified, met in intimacy, the archetype of Avalokitesvara, of Kuan-Yin, she who perceives the cries of suffering in the world.
Mais tamén cómpre unha fronte suave... a capacidade de abrírmonos a este mundo tal e coma é, de termos un corazón aberto. E o arquetipo disto no budismo é Avalokiteshvara, Kuan- Yin. É un arquetipo feminino: ela que percibe os prantos de sufrimento no mundo. Ela conta con dez mil brazos, e en cada man, suxeita un instrumento de liberación, e na palma de cada man ten ollos, e estes son os ollos da sabiduría. Digo que, durante miles de anos, as mulleres viviron, exemplificaron, coñeceron na intimidade, o arquetipo de Avalokitesvara, de Kuan- Yin, aquela que percibe os prantos de sufrimento do mundo.
Women have manifested for thousands of years the strength arising from compassion in an unfiltered, unmediated way in perceiving suffering as it is. They have infused societies with kindness, and we have really felt that as woman after woman has stood on this stage in the past day and a half. And they have actualized compassion through direct action. Jody Williams called it: It's good to meditate. I'm sorry, you've got to do a little bit of that, Jody. Step back, give your mother a break, okay.
As mulleres manifestaron durante miles de anos a forza procedente da compaixón de xeito inalterado, sen mediacións percibindo o sufrimento tal e como é. Déronlle bondade á sociedade, e decatámonos disto a medida que unha muller tras outra subía a este escenario no último día e medio. E describiron a compaixón mediante a acción directa. Jody Williams chamouno: É bo meditar. Síntoo, tes que exercelo un pouco, Jody. Retrocede, dálle un respiro á túa nai.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
But the other side of the equation is you've got to come out of your cave. You have to come into the world like Asanga did, who was looking to realize Maitreya Buddha after 12 years sitting in the cave. He said, "I'm out of here." He's going down the path. He sees something in the path. He looks, it's a dog, he drops to his knees. He sees that the dog has this big wound on its leg. The wound is just filled with maggots. He puts out his tongue in order to remove the maggots, so as not to harm them. And at that moment, the dog transformed into the Buddha of love and kindness.
Pero o outro lado da ecuación é que tes que saír da túa cova. Tes que entrar no mundo como fixo Asanga, que quería acadar o Buda Maitreya logo de doce anos na cova. Dixo, "marcho de aquí". Baixou polo sendeiro. Viu algo. Viu un can e se pousou sobre os seus xeonllos. Viu que o can tiña unha ferida grande nunha perna. A ferida estaba chea de vermes. Sacou a lingua para quitar os vermes e non lastimalos. E nese momento, o can transformouse no Buda do amor e da bondade.
I believe that women and girls today have to partner in a powerful way with men -- with their fathers, with their sons, with their brothers, with the plumbers, the road builders, the caregivers, the doctors, the lawyers, with our president, and with all beings. The women in this room are lotuses in a sea of fire. May we actualize that capacity for women everywhere.
Penso que as mulleres e rapazas de hoxe deben de unirse de xeito poderoso aos homes... cos seus pais, os seus fillos, os seus irmáns, cos fontaneiros, os constructores de estradas, cos coidadores, os médicos, os avogados, co noso presidente, e con todos os seres. As mulleres nesta habitación son flores de loto nun mar de lume. Renovemos esa capacidade para as mulleres de todo o mundo.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)