ABSTRACT
Compassion begins with a concern for and suffering with others, yet very easily pulls back to the self and self-interest, for instance, making us feel good about ourselves for helping others (Welland 2015). This chapter argues that the compassionate feeling structure surrounding an act of self-immolation by fire is powerful precisely because it involves the death of the physical body and egoistic self, and with it any notion of self-interest that is separate from others. When “right intention” is situated within the context of an ontological choice between an individualist and relational ontology, the distinction between an act arising from desperation, for example suicide, and a compassionate act becomes clear. In undertaking this emotional excavation, I reflect on the meaning of the 155 self-immolations that have taken place in Tibet since 2009. The concepts of “dependent origination” and “emptiness”, which form the heart of Mahayana Buddhism, provides the point of departure for understanding a paradoxical notion of “self” that is lacking in intrinsic identity, but nonetheless acts with intention. The emotional intention of compassion can be distinguished from an act of desperation or suicide. The fire, figuratively speaking, burns away the emotional-discursive net within which practices of harm are entangled, thereby shedding light on those who suffer.
