meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
10% Happier with Dan Harris

The Art and Science of Compassion | Thupten Jinpa

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.612.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2021

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It can be incredibly frustrating when life-changing, world-changing concepts such as compassion and kindness are often presented as cliches, because scientific research strongly suggests that learning how to practice compassion -- through meditation and other modalities -- can genuinely change your life. And enough of us did it, it could maybe change the world.  One of the people who is the best at getting this message out, in new and creative ways, is Thupten Jinpa. He is a former Tibetan monk who went on to go to Cambridge University, where he got a B.A. in philosophy and a Ph.D. in religious studies. Since 1985, he has been the principal English translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  In this conversation, we talk about developing a compassionate meditation practice, building kindness and empathy, the connection between intention setting and compassion, and identifying and regulating negative emotional reactions.  A few technical notes: This episode is a rerun. We do reruns when we have episodes that are amazing that we think our newer listeners might enjoy. We also do them to give our staff a break once in a while. We actually recorded this conversation live in front of an audience at the Asia Society in New York City a few years ago. It was the day after the school shooting in Parkland, so you will hear a few references to that.  Check out Joseph Goldstein's course on compassion in the Ten Percent Happier app: https://10percenthappier.app.link/CompassionWithJoseph Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/thupten-jinpa-repost

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Before we get started with today's show, I want to tell you about something very cool

0:04.7

that we have cooking here.

0:06.0

Well, I think it's cool.

0:07.4

You can judge for yourself.

0:09.5

Here it is.

0:10.5

Back in October, I had the opportunity to spend some time with his holiness, the Dalai Lama,

0:15.6

Nobel Peace Prize winner, leader of the Tibetan Nation and exile, and arguably the best known

0:21.4

meditator on the planet.

0:22.9

I went with a small team to his home base of Darum Sala India to interview his holiness

0:29.4

for this podcast.

0:30.4

Yeah, I knew it would be interesting, but frankly, I very badly underestimated the sheer

0:37.0

volume of fascinating stuff that would go down while we were on the ground.

0:41.8

We ended up spending two weeks in his or it during which time we saw the Dalai Lama be directly

0:47.5

challenged about whether compassion can cut it in a cold world.

0:52.5

We witnessed his holiness make a bold and surprising and unconventional move in the name of social

0:58.4

connection.

0:59.8

We talked with him about dealing with difficult people, the concept of wise selfishness,

1:05.2

the deity who he believes is in charge of his rebirth, and we got a fascinating guided

1:10.6

tour of his own meditation practice.

1:13.9

Along the way, there were emotional breakdowns, sacred cows, marauding monkeys, and even some

1:19.4

potty humor from the Dalai Lama himself.

1:23.3

So much stuff happened that we decided to produce a five-part audio documentary, which is

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from 10% Media, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of 10% Media, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.