Hi,
My name is Adriana DeFazio and this is a 10-minute Tonglen meditation.
Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist compassion practice known as sending and receiving.
Start off by taking a comfortable seat,
Tall,
Uplifted,
And dignified.
Begin settling your mind and body on the sensation of your body breathing.
Feeling into the natural openness and tenderness of your heart.
From here,
I invite you to bring to mind some person,
Group,
Or being that's suffering right now.
Recognize whatever discomfort or pain you feel bringing to mind this person,
Group,
Or being is a representation of your compassion,
Your inherent awakened heart or bodhicitta.
You can begin to breathe in the suffering,
The pain that this person or group is experiencing,
Imagining as if this pain,
Suffering is a black,
Tarry texture and substance to it.
You're absorbing their pain and suffering on your in-breath.
And then through the mechanism of your breath,
That pain and suffering gets transformed.
And then on your out-breath,
Allowing a radiant white healing light emanate from all of your pores,
Transforming and helping relieve that suffering.
Continuing like so,
Your inhale,
Really giving yourself time to feel into the texture of this person or being suffering as if you can relieve them of their pain.
And then on your exhale,
Allowing yourself to emanate powerful and fierce compassion,
Sending healing rays outwards in all directions,
Pulsing.
If at any point of your Tonglen practice,
It feels like too much,
You can take a rest and simply rest your awareness on the sensation of your body breathing in and out.
And then when you feel ready,
Again,
Bringing your attention back to this person or group of people that are suffering,
Breathing in their pain and breathing out love and compassion.
Continuing like so just for a few more minutes,
Remaining very gentle with yourself,
Knowing that with each repetition,
You're expanding your capacity to hold not only other people's suffering,
But also your own.
Expanding your bodhicitta,
Strengthening your awakened heart.
And then at the bottom of your next exhale,
Gently letting go of your Tonglen practice.
And then simply allowing yourself to rest now with your body,
Spacious awareness,
Checking in with yourself to see how you may feel differently after this practice.
And then inviting a sense of appreciation for yourself,
For your exertion,
Discernment,
And choosing to cultivate your mind and heart in this way.
And then allowing yourself to now sit and rest in this sense of appreciation towards yourself.
We'll close with three deep breaths,
Taking an inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
Again,
Deep inhale and exhale.
One last time.
Inhale.
In your own time now,
You can begin to open your eyes or raise your gaze,
Bring movement back into your body and awareness back into your immediate being.
And then in your own time now,
You can begin to open your eyes or raise your gaze,
Bring movement back into your body and awareness back into your immediate being.
And then as you open your eyes,
You can begin to open your eyes to the world around you.
You
