PrajnaVihara_Vol23_No2_P2.pdf 66 Vol. 23 no. 2 July to December 2022, 66-80 © 2000 by Assumption University Press COMPASSION AND ATTACHMENT: A COMPARISON OF Lammert Holger and John Giordano ABSTRACT This paper will explore how the concept of compassion is understood by the Western phenomenological tradition of Max Scheler, in contrast to how it is understood morality and ethical theory. Max Scheler combines his phenomenology with psychological approaches to consider how one individual can relate to the mental states of another other individuals. Scheler, distinguishes between empathy Buddhism, where emotional contagion is understood as a form of attachment. But Scheler unlike Buddhism, still emphasizes the autonomous subject of phenomenology with the feelings that arise. The individual sheds their attachments and this leads to a wholesome , as stated not only in the mind of the individual but of humanity in 67 . Keywords phenomenology Introduction In the Western tradition, the feelings of empathy and sympathy are rise to the feeling of compassion. Various theories explain their connection and act appropriately or ethically. Buddhist tradition. Yet in this approach, compassion is separate from the experiences of empathy and sympathy which would be for Buddhism a based less on intention and more on practical action, which is also linked to Buddhist practices such as meditation and dealing with fellow human beings. This article will show that knowing and understanding of the contrast between the Western tradition which emphasizes an ethics of compassion based upon a feeling with another and the Buddhist tradition which emphasizes a compassion which does not involve attachment is very and how they understand the ethical. 68 Max Scheler on Compassion Kant saw compassion as a duty which was based upon reason. But in the phenomenological tradition, Scheler was trying to revive the understood to contribute to ethical actions. Max Scheler describes the feeling of compassion as a case of sympathy as an ethically relevant basic than sympathy is a way of experiencing others, what Scheler calls “Nachfühlen” which is equivalent to empathy.1 Yet this idea of empathy is one term to describe the same phenomena. For example, ‘understanding Likewise, the descriptions of sympathy, empathy and compassion in Max whether compassion and the underlying feelings of empathy or sympathy are states that are positive, neutral or negative? Compassion, which is based on sympathy, it can be assumed that it involves a perception of pain, foreign is perceived by an inner experience which relates to the “I” in the same way as the I experiences itself. The distinction between inside and outside is dissolved. Or as Edith Stein would say: “in the beginning there what is from outside of it are “gradually crystallized out of it”2 Max Scheler does not think that the general understanding the emotions of the other person should be based on a strict reproduction of that emotion. For Scheler, inner perception is distinguished from outer perception and is directed toward acts. He makes a distinction between the modes of being (Wesensgesetzlich).3 It is important to distinguish within and the foreign experiences coming from the outside. 69 In the distinction between joy and pity, the principle is established that presupposes a certain knowledge of the quality of the experience in other people. It is not through pity that I learn about someone who is in pain, apprehending, understanding, and, in general, reproducing (emotionally) the experiences of others, including their states of feeling. These presuppose some sort of knowledge of the fact, nature and quality of experience in other people, just as the possibility of such knowledge presupposes, as its condition, the existence of other conscious beings. to a distressing situation with a feeling of pity (or any other kind of responsive psychological state). In the case of empathy, an “empathic” which provides the stimulus for it. Max Scheler writes, “knowing and as empathy.4 5 The experience of compassion, is also grounded in empathy, which involves 6 Max Scheler refers to self-consciousness as an inner perception through which the experiences of the other are made, thereby the inner perception is not focused on sensation, but is involves intention. As Matthias Schlossberger observes “the experiential ego does not always Compassion and sympathy are moral categories that unite people through the recognition that the other is someone equal. Compassion is pain.7 really recognized as pain through an act of understanding (through the recognition of both mutuality and otherness), and only then directed as 70 things from a phenomenological point of view and understanding. While this might be considered as a kind of egoism, Scheler argues that egoism it does not comprehensively explain the isolation of the perceiver. He focuses instead on the concept of eudemonism, as “the ethical behavior in which feelings of pleasure represent goals and purposes of striving with another person (empathy) does not necessarily say anything about 8 emphasizes compassion as an important, yet one that accepts that ultimately to self-interest.9 Compassion is understood as an act of a compassionate person that does not require the feeling of empathy – that they live the experience of the other. The psyche of the other person is not decisive. The only decisive factor is that the compassionate person is able to convey his feeling and is convinced of his action in a moral sense. This will accord with is an action according to moral virtue, and at the same time it stands in a relation to rationality. with others, feelings play a big role which can have a positive or of attachment to things, people, and ideas.10 So the goal of Buddhism is to develop a compassionate personality through practice, but not to let 71 of leaving the Buddhist path of practice.11 This practice is an active state, where the very idea of the passions is to be passive and to be moved by that which is outside of oneself. So this peculiar attitude of compassion without attachment is something that should be investigated in more detail. which includes the wish 12 Compassion ( ) is understood in that one is part of a greater whole and is dependent on and connected to that whole. Compassion is part of the four (abodes of Brahma, sublime attitudes, limitless states, divine states, and the immeasurable ( ), which is part of a series of Buddhist virtue and meditation practices. Compassion, however, should not be confused with (loving-kindness), which has as its goal the desire for the happiness of all beings. Compassion refers to the empathetic care for all this is an active approach to compassion and not a passive one. So in general, compassion in Buddhism has the goal of alleviating From various discussions in the Buddhist texts, compassion can also be it extends to all living beings. The Visuddhimagga Buddhagosa in advises that if a person is so evil that he or she has no apparent good points, compassion should still be felt for him or her of such evil (Vism. 340).13 While compassion arises only by knowing Compassion cannot be understood as an emotional attachment and this self). Attachment involves an attempt to control that which is outside of 72 sense objects, b) opinions and views, c) rites and rituals d) self-hood. In these are, besides the meditative practice, compassion, interdependence, accepting, and expansiveness. The desire for security and personal of changing phenomenal experience. Meditation is used as a tool to mental anchors which is in contrast to the false perception of security. ) for Buddhism, since it ranges from such states as perceived pain, sorrow, misery, and ), but also from attachment ( ) to emotions as well as to matter. Desire essentially refers to the function of not being able to let go, which consequently is leads to liberation. So compassion in the Buddhist understanding does not mindset can be countered with meditation. The Noble Eightfold Path, as ( ) of the Four Noble Truths. While compassion is not explicitly mentioned, a general idea of universal love and compassion for all living beings can be derived from the ethical principles of conduct. In this context, the development of wisdom ( ) and compassion are two inseparable qualities, and wisdom refers purely to qualities of mind.14 Part of the meditative practice of compassion is the personal attitude toward the ). 15 of tranquility meditation ( ).16,17 In this meditation 73 which is often weak and tends to be restless and wandering. or tranquility serves to purify non-peaceful states of mind, and leads the meditator towards the cultivation of peaceful states (Vism., 9.1).18 The term sympathy, if used in Buddhism, translates as ‘trembling along 19 true sense and is used because of its proximity to compassion. The Pali term or of the other as an inner attitude of the mind.20,21 From the Buddhist point of view, through the practice of meditation, metta is cultivated as one of its objects of mediation, creating the basis of a kindness extending to all beings, including oneself, while compassion acts as an activator to Brahmaviharas is directed towards self-acceptance and the overcoming of self-doubt and prejudice. Compassion is not directed towards the being be understood as compassion in the Western sense. It is closer to the attitude of care. From the Buddhist understanding, the feeling of empathy is a description of “feeling for the other and not feeling with him.” The sensation of empathy essentially consists of self-esteem, the relationship unit of measurement for perceived empathy. Daniel Goleman and Paul emotional, and compassion. The highest goal in Buddhism is to achieve enlightenment, which requires the development of two qualities: wisdom and compassion. Wisdom in the Buddhist context is understood as consciousness or discrimination and combines the principle of non-self. as it is understood in Western philosophy, is not as important in Buddhism. 74 Conclusion The comparison between the Western phenomenological approach certain interesting insights. In the Western tradition the connections his phenomenology with psychological approaches to consider how one individual relates to the mental states of the other individuals. In concerning with feeling what the other is feeling (as is the case with not necessarily identical. In other words, it is a matter of whether one of self-interest of the autonomous ethical subject. as a form of attachment and is considered to be counterproductive to the from attachment. So compassion in the Buddhist sense is not a feeling the emotions of the other, where it would be an attachment to the other be related to one meaning of the other. It is com-passion which is not passive ( ). It is an activity developed through habit and meditation. So the Theravada Buddhist the individual but of humanity in general. This approach to compassion . 75 ENDNOTES 1 Dan Zahavi, “Simulation, Projection and Empathy,” Consciousness and Cognition 17, no. 2 (2008): pp. 514-522, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2008.03.010. 2 Edith Stein, On the Problem of Empathy (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1989), 27-28. 3 Jens Soentgen, Das Unscheinbare (Bonn: VCH in Akademie Vlg Bln., 1997), 43. 4 Max Scheler and Harold J. Bershady, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013), 52. 5 Kendra Cherry, “Kendra Cherry, MS,” Verywell Mind (Verywell Mind, May 2020), https://www.verywellmind.com/kendra-cherry-2794702. 6 for a Multidimensional Approach.,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 44, no. 1 (1983): pp. 113-126, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113, 113. 7 Rodrigo Peñaloza, “Max Scheler on Compassion (Rodrigo Peñaloza, May 2013),” Medium (Medium, November 12, 2020), https://milesmithrae.medium.com/ max-scheler-on-compassion-rodrigo-pe%C3%B1aloza-may-2013-444650ef91d2. 8 Hans Bernhard Schmid, “Philosophical Egoism: Its Nature and Limitations,” Economics and Philosophy 26, no. 2 (2010): pp. 217-240, https://doi.org/10.1017/ s0266267110000209. 9 Rodrigo Peñaloza, “Max Scheler on Compassion (Rodrigo Peñaloza, May 2013),” Medium (Medium, November 12, 2020), https://milesmithrae.medium.com/ max-scheler-on-compassion-rodrigo-pe%C3%B1aloza-may-2013-444650ef91d2. 10 Peter Harvey, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). 11 Pannyavaro, “Loving-Kindness Meditation,” A Basic Buddhism guide: Loving-kindness meditation, by Ven. pannyavaro (Buddhanet, n.d.), https://www. buddhanet.net/e-learning/loving-kindness.htm. 12 Robert E. 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