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Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

Approximate author period: c. 1936 AD · modern

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Pema Chödrön
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1936 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 1936; activity date not established; Wikidata Q442384, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q442384 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Contributor-provided quotation collection

Supplied reference C; CSV row 201742; supplied attribution, independently unverified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.