Joan Halifax: Inside Compassion

This talk will explore perspectives on compassion that can be the foundation for those who care for the dying and who face the deepest suffering in caring for others.

We will also look at "edge states," definitions of compassion, a map of compassion, and a compassion intervention that is easily taught and practiced when working with others.

Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, is a pioneer in the field of end-of-life care field for over 50 years, a Buddhist teacher, anthropologist, author, and social activist. She trains health care professionals in many parts of the world in compassionate care of the dying.

She has lectured on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions, including Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Medical School, Duke University Medical School, Johns Hopkins Medical School, San Diego Hospice, among many others.

She also has taught at the Dalai Lama’s Foundation for Human Responsibility in Delhi, CanSupport (cancer medical support teams who work in the poorest neighborhoods in Delhi), Karunashraya Hospice in Bangalore, and in Thailand at the International Women’s Partnership for Peace in Justice in northern Thailand and Phuket International Academy.

Her various academic honors include a National Science Foundation Fellowship in Visual Anthropology (1972), appointment as an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University's Peabody Museum (1981), Rockefeller Chair at California Institute of Integral Studies (1993-1996) Harold C. Wit Chair at Harvard Divinity School (1996), Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress (2011); Humanitarian Award from the Charter for Compassion; recipient of an Honorary DSc from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.