Confusion about compassion
Chapter 7
Venerable Thubten Jigme 
An Open-Hearted Life 
May 6, 2018 A series of talks based on An Open-Hearted Life given at Sravasti Abbey’s monthly Sharing the Dharma Day starting in April 2017. Co-written with clinical psychologist Dr. Russell Kolts, the book offers practical Buddhist and Western psychological approaches to developing compassion.
- The difference between people pleasing and compassion
- Compassion does not involve fixing other people’s problems
- Compassion does not mean becoming a doormat
- Compassion may mean acting in way others don’t like or saying no
- Genuine compassion is a gift to others with no strings attached
An Open-Hearted Life: Confusion about compassion (download)
Venerable Thubten Jigme
Venerable Jigme met Venerable Chodron in 1998 at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center. She took refuge in 1999 and attended Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle. She moved to the Abbey in 2008 and took sramanerika and sikasamana vows with Venerable Chodron as her preceptor in March 2009. She received bhikshuni ordination at Fo Guang Shan in Taiwan in 2011. Before moving to Sravasti Abbey, Venerable Jigme (then Dianne Pratt) worked as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner in private practice in Seattle. In her career as a nurse, she worked in hospitals, clinics and educational settings. At the Abbey, Ven. Jigme is the Guest Master, manages the prison outreach program and oversees the video program.
