Traditions of Compassion

Book excerpt: Throughout history, compassion has stood at the base of the radical cry to change the world order and remedy injustices. It has also been a political tool for society's power-wielders, who have exploited the sense of calling compassion arouses to hide the repressive, belligerent, and manipulative nature of society's power structure. This book analyzes four models of compassion, each representing manifestations of compassion in different cultures and eras: Judeo-Christianity, Buddhism, Modernism, and the author's alternative, a response to neocapitalist postmodernism-radical compassion and its imperative to take action.