Roshi Joan Halifax Quotes

I’m helped by a gentle notion from Buddhist psychology, that there are “near enemies” to every great virtue—reactions that come from a place of care in us, and which feel right and good, but which subtly take us down an ineffectual path. Sorrow is a near enemy to compassion and to love. It is borne of sensitivity and feels like empathy. But it can paralyze and turn us back inside with a sense that we can’t possibly make a difference. The wise Buddhist anthropologist and teacher Roshi Joan Halifax calls this a “pathological empathy” of our age. In the face of magnitudes of pain in the world that come to us in pictures immediate and raw, many of us care too much and see no evident place for our care to go. But compassion goes about finding the work that can be done. Love can’t help but stay present

Buddhist teacher Roshi Joan Halifax talks about the importance of having a “Strong Back and a Soft Front.” We need a Strong Back—clarity, boundaries, courage, empowerment and the willingness to protect ourselves and others from injury. We need the capacity to be fierce, to speak truth and fight injustice. And we need a Soft Front—acceptance, tenderness and caring that includes all beings, even when their behavior is hurtful. By developing this mix of strength and openness, our lives become an active expression of love.

Grief can ruin or mature us. —CRYSTAL PARK and ROSHI JOAN HALIFAX