Overview of CBCT®

Compassion is the urge to do something about the suffering of others. Just like learning to speak a language or make music, compassion is a skill, a basic capacity of the human heart that can be developed and expanded. Compassion that is responsive and wise can become an enduring habit that benefits both giver and receiver and contributes to a kinder and more just world.

“Compassion” can carry different meanings in different contexts, so here we would like to pause to clarify what it means for CBCT® (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training). Compassion is the warm-hearted concern that unfolds when we witness the suffering of others and feel motivated to relieve it. Though witnessing others’ suffering can also lead to responses like distress or overwhelm or even pity, compassion is unique. It is positive, proactive, and energizing. 

Compassion refers to the heartfelt wish for others to be free from dissatisfaction and distress. “Love” also refers to a heartfelt wish for others, specifically, the wish to see them flourish and be happy. To use a metaphor from the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition, compassion and love are two sides of the same coin. Genuine compassion and love can arise only when we relate to others with warm or tender feelings. This makes sense: As soon as you include someone within your sphere of tender or affectionate feelings, their wellbeing matters to you. You want them to be happy. You don’t want them to suffer. Compassion and love simply emerge.

CBCT® offers a comprehensive method for training compassion that draws on the ancient lojong tradition of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and is supported by current scientific research in fields such as evolutionary biology, psychology, and neuroscience. While CBCT has its roots in Tibetan Buddhism, it was developed as a secular program, one that introduces practices that can help any individual strengthen their inner skills of the heart and mind. Compassion does not belong to any one religion or tradition. It is a capacity of the human heart and one that we can strengthen through deliberate practice. 

In CBCT®, we cultivate compassion through meditation, which comes from the words bhavana in Sanskrit or gom in Tibetan, and literally translate as to cultivate or to familiarize. Meditation, thus, is about training the mind to cultivate qualities such as compassion and to familiarize ourselves with – to have intimate knowledge of – the various skills and perspectives that generate and sustain such qualities.

At this moment, you may be turning to compassion training to contribute to your own well-being, or because you want to create more trusting and harmonious relationships with friends or family. You may want to enhance your ability to focus in order to make better decisions. Perhaps you wish for a healthier culture at your place of work. You may engage in compassion training to find a path toward a more equitable and just world. What these goals have in common is one thing: flourishing. Flourishing is why any one of us will train in compassion, whether we seek it alone or together, or seek to extend it to individuals or groups. In this way, compassion training contributes to a healthier and more ethical world. 

“CBCT has given me a chance to reevaluate the purpose and current trajectory of my life. It has pointed my nose in a direction allowing me to become who I might hope to be – or at least give it my best shot!”   

-- CBCT Practitioner, 2022