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.
Želim da govorim o saosećanju. Saosećanje ima mnogo lica. Neka od njih su divlja; neka su gnevna; neka su nežna; neka su mudra. Dalaj Lama je jednom rekao, "Ljubav i saosećanje su neophodni. Oni nisu luksuz. Bez njih, čovečanstvo ne može opstati." Ja bih dodala da ne samo da čovečanstvo neće opstati već sva živa bića na planeti, kao što smo danas čuli. To su velike mačke i planktoni.
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.
Pre dve nedelje sam bila u Bangaloru u Indiji. To je bila velika privilegija da mogu predavati u domu za umiruće, na periferiji Bangalora. Rano ujutru otišla sam u bolničku sobu. U tom domu je bila 31 osoba, muškarci i žene, koji su aktivno umirali. Prišla sam jednoj staroj ženi koja je ubrzano disala, bila je krhka očigledno u kasnijoj fazi aktivnog umiranja. Pogledala sam njeno lice. Pogledala sam lice njenog sina koji je sedeo pored nje, njegovo lice je bilo smrvljeno od tuge i zbunjenosti.
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.
I setila sam se stiha iz Mahabharate čuvenog indijskog epa: "Šta je najčudesnija stvar na svetu, Judistara?" I Judistara odgovara, "Najčudesnija stvar na svetu je to što svuda oko nas ljudi umiru, a mi ne shvatamo da to može da se desi nama." Pogledala sam naviše. O tih 31 ljudi brinule su se mlade žene iz sela iz okoline Banagalora. Pogledala sam u lice jedne od tih žena i na njenom licu sam videla snagu koja se rađa kada je prirodno saosećanje zaista prisutno. Posmatrala sam joj ruke dok je kupala jednog starca.
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.
Moj pogled je odlutao do druge mlade žene dok je brisala lice jedne druge osobe koja umire. I to me je podsetilo na nešto čemu sam prisustvovala. Svake godine imam priliku da vodim medicinske radnike na Himalaje i na Tibetansku visoravan. Mi vodimo klinike u ovim veoma udaljenim regionima gde nema nikakve medicinske nege.
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.
Prvog dana u Simikotu u Humli na dalekom zapadu Nepala, najsiromašnijem delu Nepala, ušao je stari čovek držeći gomilu prnja. On je ušao i neko mu je nešto rekao i shvatili smo da je gluv, pogledali smo u njegovo prnje, i tu je bio par očiju. U prnje je bila zamotana mala devojčica čije je telo pretrpelo teške opekotine. Opet, oči i ruke Avalokitešvare. Mlada žena, medicinska radnica je očistila rane ovoj bebi i previla joj rane.
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.
Znam te ruke i te oči; i mene su takođe dodirivale. Dodirivale su me tada. I dodiruju me već mojih 68 godina. Dodirivale su me kad sam imala četiri godina i izgubila vid i bila delom paralizovana. Moja porodica je dovela ženu čija je majka bila robinja da se brine o meni. I ta žena nije imala sentimentalno saosećanje. Ona je imala neverovatnu snagu, I verujem da je njena snaga postala neka vrsta "mudre" i odobrenja koja je bila svetlo koje me je vodilo kroz život.
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.
Možemo da postavimo pitanje: Od čega se sastoji saosećanje? Postoji nekoliko aspekata. I postoji referentno i nereferentno saosećanje. Ali prvo, saosećanje se sastoji iz sposobnosti da se ima jasan uvid u prirodu patnje. To je sposobnost da budemo jaki ali da takođe znamo da nismo odvojeni od te patnje. Ali to nije dovoljno, jer saosećanje koje aktivira motorni korteks, znači da težimo da zapravo težimo da transformišemo tu patnju. I ako smo tolike sreće da učestvujemo u stvarima koja mogu da transformišu patnju. Ali saosećanje ima još jednu komponentu i ta komponenta je zaista esencijalna. Ta komponenta znači da ne možemo biti vezani za ishod.
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.
Ja sam radila sa ljudima koji umiru preko 40 godina. Imala sam privilegiju da šest godina radim sa ljudima osuđenim na smrt, u zatvoru sa maksimalnim obezbeđenjem. I jasno sam shvatila iz svog ličnog iskustva, radeći sa ljudima koji umiru sa negovateljima da bi svaka veza sa ishodom duboko poremetila moj lični kapacitet da budem potpuno prisutna u čitavoj katastrofi.
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.
Dok sam radila u zatvosrkom sistemu, sledeće mi je bilo vrlo jasno: mnogi od nas u ovoj sobi i kod skoro svih ljudi koji su čekali smrtnu kaznu i sa kojima sam radila, seme njihovog saosećanja nikada nije bilo zalivano. Da je saosećanje zapravo inherentni ljudski kvalitet. Ono je u svakom ljudskom biću. Ali uslovi koji aktiviraju saosećanje, koji ga bude, su posebni uslovi. Ja sam taj uslov imala, donekle, zbog svoje dečije bolesti. Iv Ensler, koju ćete kasnije čuti, aktivirala je ove uslove u sebi kroz razne vode patnje kroz koje je prošla.
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.
I fascinantno je da saosećanje ima neprijatelje, a ti neprijatelji su sažaljenje, moralna pokvarenost, strah. I znate, mi imamo društvo, svet koji je paralisan od straha. I u toj paralizi, naravno, naša sposobonst za saosećanjem je takođe paralizovana. Sama reč teror je globalna. Sam osećaj terora je globalan. Tako da naš rad, na neki način, pokušava da ispravi ovu sliku, ovu vrstu arhetipa koji obuzima psihu čitave planete.
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.
Zahvaljujući nauci znamo da saosećanje ima neke neverovatne kvalitete. Na primer: osoba koja gaji saosećanje u prisustvu patnje nekog drugog sama oseća tu patnju mnogo jače nego mnogi drugi ljudi. Međutim, oni se vrate u normalu mnogo brže. To se zove otpornost. Mnogi od nas misle da nas saosećanje iscrpljuje, ali verujte mi to je nešto što nas istinski oživljava.
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.
Još jedna stvar kod saosećanja je da ono pojačava ono što se zove nervna integracija. Ono spaja sve delove mozga. Još nešto što su otkrili razni naučnici na Imoriju i Dejvisu i tako dalje, je to što saosećanje poboljšava naš imuni sistem. Hej, mi živimo u veoma nezdravom svetu. (Smeh) Mnogi od nas slabe, suočeni sa psiho-socijalnim i fizičkim otrovima, toksinima ovog sveta. Ali saosećanje, stvaranje saosećanja, zapravo mobiliše naš imunitet.
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.
Ako je saosećanje dobro za nas, ja imam jedno pitanje. Zašto ne učimo našu decu da saosećaju? (Aplauz) Ako je saosećanje dobro za nas, zašto ne učimo naše negovatelje saosećanju tako da oni mogu da rade ono što treba da rade, što je zapravo da transformišu patnju? I ako je saosećanje tako dobro za nas, zašto ne glasamo za saosećanje? Zašto ne glasamo za ljude u vladi na osnovu saosećanja, tako da možemo da imamo brižniji svet? U Budizmu mi kažemo, "potrebna su jaka leđa i meko lice." Potrebna je neverovatna snaga leđa da se držite pravo u situacijama. I to je mentalni kvalitet smirenosti.
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.
Ali je takođe potrebno i meko lice - kapacitet da budete otvoreni prema svetu takvom kakav jeste, da imate nebranjeno srce. Arhetip ovoga u Budizmu je Avalokitešvara, Kuan-Jin. To je ženski arhetip: ona koja čuje krikove patnje na ovom svetu. Ona stoji sa 10.000 ruku, u svakoj ruci, je instrument oslobađanja, i na dlanu svake šake, su oči, i te oči su oči mudrosti. Ja mislim da već hiljadama godina žene žive predstavljaju se, susreću sa arhetipom Avalokitešvare Kuan-Jin, one koja čuje krike patnje ovoga sveta.
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.
Žene su pokazivale hiljadama godina snagu koja se rađa iz saosećanja na sirov, neposredan način osećaju patnju kakva jeste. One su nadahnule društvo dobrotom i mi smo to zaista osetili, kako je žena za ženom stajala na ovoj pozornici u proteklih dan i po. I one su aktuelizovale saosećanje kroz direktnu akciju. Džodi Vilijams je rekla: Dobro je posredovati. Žao mi je, morate učiniti malo više od toga, Džodi. Odstupite, pustite malo svoju majku, okej.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Ali sa druge strane morate da izađete iz pećine. Morate da uđete u svet kao Asanga koji je želeo da ostvrai Matreju Budu nakon 12 godina sedenja u pećinji Rekao je "Odlazim odavde." Onda je krenuo niz stazu i video je nešto Pogledao je i tu je bio pas, pao je na kolena Video je da pas ima veliku ranu na nozi. Rana je bila puna crva. Isplazio je jezik da bi sklonio crve tako da ih ne povredi. U tom trenutku pas se pretvorio u Budu ljubavi i dobrote.
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.
Ja verujem da žene i devojke danas moraju da uđu u moćno partnerstvo sa muškarcima - sa svojim očevima, sa svojim sinovima, sa svojom braćom, sa vodoinstalaterima, sa onima koji grade puteve, sa negovateljima, doktorima, advokatima, sa našim predsednikom i sa svim živim bićima. Žene u ovoj prostoriji su lotusi u moru vatre. Ostvarimo taj kapacitet koje poseduju žene svuda na svetu.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)