This paper discusses the relationship between psychological resilience and
compassion. It will begin by looking at a particular set of techniques, drawn from the Tibetan Buddhist mind-training (lojong) tradition, in which the stresses, adversity, and suffering of the subject are the initial focus that eventually inspires empathetic identification with others. This type of compassion meditation training has been successfully implemented in several scientific studies in recent years. This kind of Buddhist meditation training brings up the possibility that compassion (empathetic identification with another and the wish to act on their behalf) and psychological resilience (a growing tendency to cope effectively with stress and adversity) are linked traits. This paper will consider the relationship between these two traits, and discuss why psychological resilience may be a critical component of compassion, and vice versa.

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