Recorded on October 3, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY.
Rev. Doyeon Park, a minister of the Manhattan Won Buddhist Temple and Buddhist spiritual life advisor at Columbia and NYU, explores the complex nature of compassion in her Dharma talk at Brooklyn Zen Center drawing from personal experiences as a student and as a minister. True compassion, she explains, comes from the Latin for “to suffer together” and from the Buddhist concept of Karuna, the wish for all beings to be free from suffering, which is rooted in our interconnection. She describes a three-stage practice: first releasing ill will, then developing a neutral understanding of others’ conditions, and finally wishing genuine well-being even for difficult people. She concludes that “fierce compassion,” meaning strong words or action when needed, must be guided by wisdom and honest reflection on one’s intentions.
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