Comparative Approaches to Compassion

Ramin Jahanbegloo develops the concept of compassion as a practical and ethical response to the problems of today's world. Examining the power of compassion through the lens of multiple world religions he explores <i>ahimsa</i>in Buddhism Jainism and Hinduism and <i>neighbourly love</i>in Christianity before synthesizing the two concepts in the Gandhian theory of non-violence and its impact on Muslim and Christian thinkers such as Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Martin Luther King Jr. Jahanbegloo considers the idea of a compassionate civilization based on the nonviolent democratic theory put forward by Gandhi with <i>Swaraj</i> and completed by Martin<b></b>Luther King Jr. with the Beloved Community.<br/><br/>By scrutinizing compassion in various religious and ethical traditions and exploring the relevance of <i>homo fragilis</i> Jahanbegloo's comparative approach enriches our understanding of nonviolence as a universal philosophy and practice for the 21st century. He shows that nonviolence is not only a mode of thinking and a way of life but also a powerful strategy of social and political transformation.<br/>