Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, PhD is the co-founder and executive director of the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University, and founder and spiritual director of Drepung Loseling. Last month he released his book, Engaged Compassion: Seven Practices to Cultivate Resilience, Connection, and a Joyous Life. It is a secular training manual in developing compassion, based on Buddhist principles, and reflects the work he’s been engaged in for the last 20-plus years: teaching compassion to all those who wish to learn. Publisher Paul Chen interviewed him about the book, and managing editor Diane Eaton edited.

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Chen: First, if you would, please define compassion for us.

Negi: Of course. Compassion can be understood in many different ways, and different scholars and people explain it differently. But in CBCT, cognitively based compassion training, or from the tradition that I come from, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, you can simply define it as a warm-hearted concern unfolding from witnessing the suffering of others and [the motivation] to alleviate it. … We don't really see compassion limited to action itself. It’s more of an inner state that leads you to a helping action.

Chen: Can you tell us a bit about your training in compassion as a Buddhist monk?

Negi: I was trained as a Buddhist monk from age 14 in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It’s an ancient Nalanda curriculum that our monasteries follow. In it, there’s quite an extensive study of what is called bodhicitta, which means the altruistic intention to attempt a wakeful awakening of the Buddhahood to help all beings. And of course, compassion is the root of such altruistic intention.

Chen: So, tell us what CBCT is.

Negi: It's basically an analytical approach to expanding and deepening compassion. … It is grounded in a model [that reveals that] your perspective—when it is not just borrowed or book knowledge, not just intellectual, but when it's met first with critical insights—then those perspectives lead to shifts in your emotions and feelings, and emotions and feelings are what shape your behavior and actions. … But how do we expand that to strangers, or perhaps even those who you don't agree with? …

There are two pillars for deepening and expanding compassion. One is … when you can see others—whether it's a stranger or even somebody whose behavior or attitudes you don't agree with—as someone like you, who is also a human being with basic needs, physical, emotional needs, just like [yourself]. … There's a different set of feelings [you have] when you bring your attention to those shared human conditions, the reality that they too, are beings just like [you], with certain human limitations, but also dreams, goals and the fundamental aspirations, to be happy and free from suffering—just like you. ... As the primatologist Frans de Waal says, identification is the primary portal for empathy.

Another major pillar is when we see that others make a difference in our own lives … that naturally unleashes gratitude. When someone even gives you a genuine smile, it leads to a certain feeling of warmth toward that person … and your relationship to this person changes. … This cognitive, analytical approach … is to make visible, first of all, our shared human reality, and secondly, to make visible the ways that we depend on others, that we are interdependent. …

As long as it remains just content knowledge, it would not change in your feelings. But when it becomes our personalized insight, … the “aha” moment when you get it, it's accompanied [by] a certain change in our feeling. [But,] that aha moment, felt awareness, that can remain only momentary unless you … repeat it, bring that conclusion home again and again. … By attuning to that awareness again and again, [it] can become more second nature.

Chen: Please briefly tell us how you came to develop CBCT.

Negi: In the 90s, His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Emory, and his talks focused on the need to educate heart and mind. … That really resonated with Emory leadership and led to the development of its close collaboration with the Dalai Lama. When they invited [him] in 1988 to deliver the commencement speech … one thing that particularly resonated with the community, and was picked up by media quite extensively, was his focus on compassion. …

Then, in 2003, I was offering courses [at Emory] in Tibetan Buddhism, and one of them was The Psychology of Enlightenment. … One of my students … encouraged me to develop a program that can be offered to the community and the students. And that was really the impetus for developing CBCT.

Chen: How far is its reach these days?

Negi: There are [now] instructors teaching in 27 countries. … And certainly, it would be at least half a million people around the world who have been exposed to these courses. … In 2019, we began to create the manuals and the related materials to scale it. Last fall, we launched a digital learning program called Compassion U, and it's still being developed in different languages.

Chen: About how many teachers do you have?

Negi: I would say at least 300 teachers.

Chen: Tell us about the benefits of CBCT.

Negi: I think that the top [one] would be managing our stress. … Our initial study was [launched] because of rising mental health problems and to see if CBCT can help buffer that by simply helping [freshman college] students cope with their challenges a little bit better. And that study with the students demonstrated that when students practice what we call the “high practice”—about 90 minutes per week on average— it showed that when they are subjected to some kind of social stress test, [they had] significantly lower IL-6, an immune stress marker, [which] is very highly correlated with modern day problems like depression, anxiety and so forth. But it also showed that when students who practiced are subjected to social stress tests, … of course [their cortisol] spikes, … but it drops down much faster than the [control] group. That is a measure of resilience. [There are also] measures showing that people have more compassion for themselves [from practicing CBCT]. In their ups and downs, they are more gentle with themselves, more kind, more compassionate, which, in today's society [is important because] so many people are struggling with self-blame, erosion of self-worth and more. … And then it is also shown that people who [practice CBCT] have a greater sense of gratitude. If social connection is an important predictor of our well-being, gratitude brings that sense of tender connection with others.

Chen: What’s important to know about outcomes of CBCT?

Negi: [There have been studies] measuring the actual biomarkers—like immune stress markers, … and also cortisol, the stress hormone. Those were quite significant…. One [published study] did what is called the Reading the Mind in the Eyes, where [participants] are shown just [someone’s] eyes, and then asked to figure out what emotion [the person is] experiencing. … By seeing someone's eyes, if you can pick up what they are experiencing, that means that you have better interpersonal skills, like that. So, in the comparison group, their accuracy was much higher than the control group. … But [more than that,] there are parts of the brain that are associated with empathy, [and the research] showed that in the compassion group, the brain circuits associated with empathy also had greater activity. So not only [are they reporting] which emotions [the other person was] experiencing, but also in their own brain, their empathy-related activation was also higher.

[In another study, one group of medical students] was given a 10-week course, and another group was waitlisted. … In medical school, it's been clear that second-year students’ compassion levels decrease… and the third year, it really tanks. … And depression and mental health issues begin to increase. So in this study, in the control [group], you see the decline. But in the compassion group, if anything, actually, there’s a slight increase. … It's very important, because [numerous studies have shown that] compassion does matter in the healthcare [industry] because greater compassion protects the healthcare practitioners from getting burned out. It leads to better patient outcomes. Even from the bottom of the organization, financially, it’s been shown [to increase] income. … Studies show that declining compassion in doctors and [others] really affects their quality of work and the quality of their own health.

Chen: Your book has many examples of people who have taken the course and have benefited from it. Can you share one of those with us?

Negi: Yeah. One of the most powerful experiences for me personally was when I visited a hospital in India called the Siddh Public Hospital. CBCT was introduced to [everyone there,] from the CEO to gatekeeper and parking lot manager, janitors and like that. It was the most moving experience for me to visit and see them speaking about what it meant for them. [Many had] tears in their eyes. … One doctor just really dreaded going to work. ... But then, after [CBCT,] he says that … even when he finishes work early, he stays there to see if other doctors need help. And then … instead of everyone just leaving, they created a room for their Kirat game. … It has improved their family dynamics as well.

Before this introduction of [CBCT], [the hospital] was ranked at the bottom in the state. But after two years … it received several awards, including the best hospital award. [But] what was most powerful for me was when the nurses, the gatekeeper, they're talking about how it has changed their experience at work. For me personally, hearing stories like that is very, very rewarding.

Chen: You’ve been teaching CBCT for about two decades. Why is the book just coming out now?

Negi: Yes, that's a good question. I mean, we do have the [CBCT] guidebooks for the general public, tailored for healthcare businesses and leadership and educators. But the book itself. … I was offering a course in CBCT in Michigan, and somebody who is in the publishing business said, “You got to write this book,” and gave encouragement. I'm not really a writer, per se, … but it's with the encouragement from friends that it’s finally coming out.

Chen: How would you respond Elon Musk, who said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” Or to the pastor of Grace City Church, Josh McPherson, who says that empathy is dangerous and toxic, and it will align you with hell?

Negi: I think you know that science shows the value of empathy. When you think about [the late] France DeVol, one of our colleagues from Emory, who has been an extraordinary primatologist, whose writings, whose works have transformed the way we understand human nature—he [brought] some real rigorous science to show how empathy is the key to our social life. We are special beings. If we are out of touch with other people's needs, feelings and so forth, how are we going to live together and interact in a meaningful way? … The new science is showing the old thinking—that competition is what has driven our evolution—is not [the case.] The research is actually showing that cooperation has been the key driver of our evolution.

… So empathy, compassion, it’s what promotes trust, and that trust promotes cooperation, and the cooperation is the key for us, as a society, as a group, as a community, to survive and flourish. So this idea that empathy is an obstacle for our progress, our well-being, I think that it comes from a misunderstanding of what compassion is. … Empathy is what moves you to help others. What moves you—whether it's emotional empathy, resonating with someone's pain, or cognitive empathy, that understanding what others may be struggling with—when it is grounded in our sense of meaningful connection, this tenderness, warmth, feeling towards others, that it will naturally draw our attention to others. … I would say that our human society is based on reciprocity. For us, this capacity to empathize with others is very important.

Chen: How can our Atlanta readers find out more about CBCT?

Negi: In Atlanta, we offer [in-person] CBCT courses every year. If they go to the website, [compassion.emory.edu], they can see when those courses are being offered. They can also subscribe to our mailing list. ❧

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Engaged Compassion: Seven Practices to Cultivate Resilience, Connection and a Joyous Life by Negi is now available at bit.ly/engaged-compassion.