Guided Tonglen Meditation

This guided meditation invites you to open to compassion for yourself and others, breathing through your heart into the boundless heart of the Buddha.

Transcript

Tonight I'm going to offer guided meditation on Tonglen,

Which is a compassion practice.

So many people are familiar with Tonglen.

It's actually from the Tibetan tradition.

It's not a Theravada practice.

The teaching on Tonglen comes from the lojong sayings,

A series of sayings or mottos,

Slogans,

Sometimes they're called,

Which are to train the mind.

Really lojong means training the mind and to train the mind in compassion.

And the verse on Tonglen is very short.

It says,

Sending and receiving rides on the breath.

And the word Tonglen means sending and receiving,

Or receiving and sending.

I can never remember which is which.

And so what we are receiving is the pain and suffering of ourselves and others.

And what we're sending is happiness,

Clarity,

Light,

Joy,

Anything good you have,

You send it out.

So the teacher that I follow most in how I teach Tonglen is Pemichudrin.

So if you're interested in pursuing this practice,

She has a lot of really wonderful teachings on Tonglen that you can easily find.

So she talks about this practice as a way of learning to care about people.

People who are fearful,

Angry,

Jealous,

Overcome by addictions,

Arrogant,

Proud,

Miserly,

Selfish,

Mean,

All kinds of afflictive states that makes it hard for us to care about people.

And so to have compassion and care for these people means that we need to recognize that all of these things are in ourselves.

And we need to care about them in ourselves,

First of all.

And that we learn in doing this practice to stop running from the pain of finding these things in ourselves.

And in fact,

Doing this practice can change our whole relationship to the experience of finding these characteristics in ourselves.

Instead of wanting to hide from them,

We can actually recognize that they soften our hearts,

To find them,

To open to them,

To recognize them,

And to have compassion for them within ourselves,

Within others,

Can open our hearts and can dissolve that solidified sense of self that we cling to so tenaciously and that creates so much suffering.

So she suggests,

First of all,

In the Lojong teachings,

The practice of tonglen is said in a context,

The first teachings of the Lojong are to open to a view of bodhicitta.

And bodhicitta is that unconditioned space of being which we all,

Which is who essentially we are,

And in opening our awareness,

Not identifying with the rising and passing of feelings and craving and clinging and all of the solidifying around ourselves,

But in cultivating and developing that space of awareness,

We are connecting,

Reconnecting with that essential nature of who we are,

That open,

Connected,

Aware,

Loving space.

And that is our essence.

And so those are the first teachings of the Lojong.

And then there are many teachings,

That's called the ultimate teachings,

And then the relative or the ultimate bodhicitta teachings,

And then the relative bodhicitta teachings are I think about 46 different slogans or sayings on how to live out of this compassion and connection and unconditioned being.

So Pema Chodron suggests to begin the practice of Lojong,

Of tonglen,

I mean,

By sounding a gong,

And she says that that kind of cuts through our discursive mind and kind of opens us to this presence of openness,

Traditionally called a flash of absolute bodhicitta.

And then there's just a kind of breathing in without connecting any particular object of compassion,

Just breathing in a kind of a density,

A sense of claustrophobia,

A sense of density,

A sense of being all caught up in something.

And then breathing out a sense of relaxation,

Spaciousness,

Letting go.

And we can do this with the,

You can do this with your eyes open or closed.

And so I have a little,

Just a little thing that I added on from my own practice to this,

Which helped me to connect with this breathing into the absolute and breathing out from the absolute.

And that's,

As I breathe in,

I imagine that I'm kind of breathing through my heart and that there's a little kind of,

What do you call it,

A little kind of window,

Like a shutter,

A hanging shutter that flaps open and closed.

And that behind me and all around me,

I'm breathing into the heart of the Buddha or breathing into space,

Open space,

Or breathing into an ocean,

An ocean of compassion.

So these are ways that I connect with the absolute,

That I'm not just breathing it into myself as a person.

I'm breathing it into the depth and the breadth of Buddha nature.

And then breathing out,

I'm breathing out from that same space.

And I'm breathing out to the pain and the suffering.

And then as Pemmachudran instructs,

You may have somebody that comes to mind,

Perhaps somebody who's suffering and hurting and we want to help that person.

And so we want to take their pain and we want to send them happiness.

And then we discover that as we bring that intention to receive their pain,

That all of a sudden we're in a state of fear,

We're in a state of resistance.

We don't want their pain.

We're afraid of it.

We don't want to be invaded or threatened.

And so then immediately we change the focus.

And so here we are.

We're dealing with our own fear,

Our own resistance,

Our own sense of separateness and wanting to distance ourselves from pain and suffering.

And so we're breathing in that and then we're breathing out compassion for ourselves.

I'll just read a couple of paragraphs from Pemmachudran.

People often say that this practice goes against the grain of how we usually hold ourselves together.

Truthfully,

This practice does go against the grain of wanting things on our own terms,

Of wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what may happen to the others.

The practice dissolves the armor of self-protection we've tried so hard to create around ourselves.

In Buddhist language,

One would say that it dissolves the fixation and clinging of ego.

Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure.

And in the process,

We become liberated from a very ancient prison of selfishness.

We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others,

And also we begin to take care of ourselves and others.

It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of reality.

It introduces us to the unlimited spaciousness that Buddhists call sunyata.

By doing the practice,

We begin to connect with the open dimension of our being.

At first we experience this as things not being such a big deal or as solid as they seem before.

We use what seems like poison as medicine.

We use our own suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.

So please take a comfortable posture.

Facingullah HD Bishop's House.

So opening to that sense of space around us,

Within us,

And breathing through the heart into that sense of space.

You might,

If you have a particular person who for you evokes that awakened mind,

That openness and spaciousness and compassionate being,

You could bring that person into and around you,

Into your heart or standing behind you,

Like the Dalai Lama or Tara or the Buddha,

Or perhaps somebody from another tradition such as Jesus.

And as you breathe in,

Imagine the breath going through you,

And as you breathe out,

Imagine the breath coming from outside you,

Behind you,

From the heart of the Buddha,

And breathing out.

And continue breathing in and out,

And as you breathe in,

Bring a sense of that the breath is a kind of a dense,

Perhaps hot quality,

Perhaps there's something which feels stuck,

A stuckness in the breath,

In the quality of the breath.

And as you breathe that,

Breathe it through,

So you're breathing it through,

And then breathing out,

Breathing out,

Lightness,

Clarity,

Peace,

Joy,

Cool,

Refreshing.

Feeling that there's a lot of room,

A lot of space in the heart and around the heart for welcoming in what's difficult,

What's painful,

What's stuck,

Dense,

And that there's a source which is an unlimited source of clarity,

Coolness,

And refreshment that you can breathe out.

And then bring to mind somebody that you know is suffering,

Or some situation where you know they're suffering.

And open your heart to that and breathe it in,

And receive it and welcome it,

And breathe it through,

And then breathing back out to that person,

Those people,

That situation,

Joy,

Refreshment,

Lightness,

Coolness,

Peace.

And then notice if in some way you're feeling,

Whether it's triggered or just fearful,

Or there are barriers coming up,

And then turn to that,

Recognizing that sensation,

How you experience it in the body,

How you experience it in the mind,

And then breathe that in,

Breathe that in in exactly the same way,

And then breathing out,

Filling the whole body and mind with this kind of light,

Clear,

Cool,

Refreshing breath.

We'll just spend a few minutes in silence,

Receiving,

Receiving from that person,

That situation of pain and perhaps alternating back into your own resistance,

Or if something within you is really needing attention,

Really needing compassion,

Really needing to be received and taken in,

And then responded to with kindness and lightness,

And acceptance and openness,

Then just at any point,

It's perfect just to turn that attention and focus your attention on where your own heart is hurting or is fearful or resistant or closed.

And then another dimension that we add to this is that whether we are working with the pain of another person or working with our own pain,

Whatever that may be,

As we work with it,

We're also bringing to mind that this is not just our pain,

This is not just our experience of fear or hurt or resistance or feeling separate.

It's all of humanity's,

It's all beings,

That we are unified in our struggles and our suffering,

That there's so much that we share,

And so whether it's the pain of the loss of somebody dear or our fear,

Our anger,

Whatever it is,

It's not just our own or a particular person's pain and suffering that we're breathing in and responding to by breathing out compassion and lightness.

It's everyone's,

It's everyone's,

So we bring that dimension of solidarity in connection with all of humanity.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

At some point you might want to bring in another person or a situation or a place,

Somewhere in the world perhaps,

Where there's a lot of violence,

War or famine,

A lot of suffering,

And opening your heart to that,

To that pain,

To the grief perhaps,

The struggle,

Breathing that in,

And feeling it,

You know,

You might visualize it as a kind of a dense,

Hot,

Perhaps smoky breath coming in.

And then as you're breathing out,

A light,

Open,

Airy,

Cool breath.

Breathing in and taking,

Lightening the load of those as much as you can,

And offering some relief,

Offering some peace.

Bringing this intention to relieve suffering.

And then if something arises within your own heart,

Mind,

Self-judgment,

Inadequacy,

Feeling fearful,

Whatever it may be,

And breathe that in and offer compassion and kindness and light to yourself,

Filling your whole being with this out-breath.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

You might want to bring to mind the difficult person from your metta practice last night,

Or any difficult person,

Person that you find hard to be with,

And open to their pain and their suffering,

Which might bring to mind your own difficulty in dealing with this person,

And then you could offer this compassion to yourself.

You might go back and forth.

Okay.

Okay.

You might bring to mind certain animals that you know are in difficult situations,

Suffering in some way.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

And opening our hearts with compassion for all beings,

No one excluded,

Including ourselves,

Especially ourselves,

Perhaps,

Not excluding ourselves.

Breathing with all beings.

Perhaps forming an intention that our lives and our practice may serve the happiness,

Well-being,

And liberation of all beings.

And so we'll continue in silence for a few more minutes.

If you wish to continue tong len,

You can do so,

Or if you wish to move back to vipassana practice,

You can do so.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Reviews

Wonderful. Many thanks 🙏 🤍

Thank you so much. Feels like I've found what I've been searching for and am feeling grateful.

Really appreciate the visualization you shared with us - breathing in through our hearts a dense breath only to exhale a lightness into a vastness greater than us. The Dali Lama stood behind me as breathing compassion and love into our world. Standing as one with our fellow women and men. Challenging myself as fears arose and subsided.
Namaste.

Very friendly non aggressive teaching