On Idiot Compassion
Buddhists are taught to be compassionate. Most people, including most of the Buddhists I’ve encountered, understand that to be compassionate is to always be nice. Being compassionate through this lens looks like giving money to a beggar whenever asked, or reacting neutrally to all situations. I do believe that many early Buddhists may have lived this way. There’s a purity and simplicity to this way of living. But it’s deeply impractical. Many of Ashoka’s Buddhists were slaughtered while practicing nonviolence. Contemporary Buddhists are taught more nuance to these teachings. One should generally practice nonviolence but situations like self-defense may necessitate violence, even the killing of other humans. Buddhists have armies too. Many credit the controversial Tibetan Buddhist monk Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939–1987) with coining the useful term “idiot compassion” which helps to distinguish between wise and unwise compassion.
In reading Rinpoche, it is clear the Buddhist notion of wisdom is crucial to discerning true compassion from idiot compassion. An example of idiot compassion would be a feel-good action, like giving money to a drug addict, that is actually enabling the problem rather than helping the person. What on the surface seems like a nice action, to give money to a man in need, is from the perspective of wisdom an unkind action as it doesn’t truly help the other person. Rinpoche would argue that such acts of purported selflessness are actually selfish acts. The person giving the money does it to make themself feel good, not to help the other person. To be truly compassionate, one be wise.
To be wise is to consider not just one’s immediate actions, but also the consequences of such actions. It is simple to always be nice. But it is far from selfless. What if one is witnessing an unprovoked act of violence against another? Should one be nice to the aggressor, and do nothing? Is that selfless? Buddhists aspire for peace, but it would be unwise to think pacificism would lead to peace. That is merely magical thinking. In practice, perfect actions are impossible. We must always do our best.
Unfortunately, one’s best varies from person to person. Different people have had different experiences, learnings, and understandings. Ignorance is not an excuse, but a reality for everyone in some domains. Wisdom is easy to see but hard to measure. We must have humility in passing judgments on others who may not see the folly or errors in their actions. Yet, the notion of idiot compassion challenges each person to individually think critically and not practice compassion as a trivial niceness.
It would be nice if we could follow simple rules to achieve enlightenment. That is not reality. Being truly compassionate requires not just being selfless, but being smart. Compassion requires discernment and won’t always look nice and pretty. This aligns with the idea of doing the hard right over the easy wrong, a teaching I heard repeatedly in chapel at my Episcopal high school. Perhaps some teachings are so true they are universal.
