Radical Compassion - Tonglen, Karuna - Brahmavihara Series

Compassion Meditation is essentially called “Tonglen” — an ancient spiritual method of cultivating compassion for all sentient beings. Originating from Tibetan Buddhism, the word “Tonglen” is Tibetan for “giving and taking” (or sending and receiving). To practice Tonglen, one visualizes themselves taking in the suffering of others on the in-breath, and on the out-breath, sending out relief. The practise encourages us to discover our own humanness and to accept it.

Transcript

Namaskar.

I am Sameera Kamlikar.

Welcome to the second episode in the Brahma Viharas series.

Today we are going to be talking about Karuna or compassion.

For those of you who have joined us for the first time,

Please see links to the previous videos in the description box below.

So,

Karuna or compassion is a word we use so often all the time.

So let me substitute that with another word which is also the meditation practice we are going to be doing today.

The word is Tonglen.

Tonglen is Tibetan for giving and taking.

So what are we going to give and take?

We are going to take in the suffering of the world and we are going to give out relief and we are going to do this through the medium of our breath.

So with my breath I breathe in the suffering of the world and with my breath I give out relief,

Peace,

Joy to the world.

Sounds tricky?

Also sounds dangerous.

What if the suffering I am inhaling sticks to me?

It doesn't.

You are a medium.

You are the transformer.

All of us in our hearts have the capability,

The capacity and the inherent intuition to transform suffering into love and light.

And that's what Tonglen teaches us to do.

Tonglen also helps us to get over our very inherent fear of suffering.

After all when you learn to inhale suffering you are not afraid of it anymore.

So that's what we are going to be doing today.

Let's jump into the practice.

I will guide you through the four steps one by one.

Just follow the sound of my voice.

Settle down in a comfortable position.

Close your eyes and let us begin.

So please settle down in a comfortable position.

Gently close your eyes.

We will begin now by setting our intention or sankalpa to use our breath to convert darkness into light to convert suffering into joy or peace.

Please repeat with me in your mind.

May my practice bring relief to the ill.

May my practice bring joy and laughter to those who are suffering.

May every thought,

Word and deed of mine bring some benefit to the world.

And so it is.

So it is.

So it is.

We will now be starting the four steps of the Tonglen meditation.

The first step will be settling your mind.

In the second we will work with the texture of our breath.

And then we will start offering Tonglen to ourselves,

To others and in the fourth we will offer Tonglen to the whole world.

Like I mentioned earlier Tonglen means receiving and receiving.

So please remember that you will be sitting in this position for about 15 minutes so please make yourself as comfortable as you can.

Adjust yourself,

Adjust your pillow,

Your headrest if you are lying down.

Straighten your back.

Take a back spot if you need it.

And tune into your body.

It is very helpful at this time to remember that our intention is to be comfortable and yet aware.

Ease with awareness.

Comfortable but alert.

And yet if you go to sleep don't worry there is some part of you that is always listening.

So please envision yourself in a safe space because you will be taking in feelings such as grief and anger and anxiety so it is important to feel comfortable where you are.

Remember that if anything comes up that you are not able to handle you can always come back to your breath.

Don't fight the feeling,

The uncomfortable feeling.

Just breathe into it.

As you allow the body to come to a state of natural breathing,

Notice where the breath rests in your body.

It may be in the stomach or abdomen where you feel your breath rising and falling.

It may be in the chest where you feel the expansion and contraction of your breath.

Or it may be in your nostrils where you feel it coming in and going out.

You feel a slight tickle as the air comes in and the feeling of warmth as you exhale.

Now through the meditation we will stick to one spot in the body where we will keep coming back whenever our mind wanders.

So breathing in and out.

In and out.

Of course the mind wanders.

The mind's job to wander.

But when it wanders bring it back to your breath.

Every time you notice that your mind is wandering it is an opportunity.

An opportunity for you to strengthen your ability to focus on an object.

In this case your breath.

So treat this as an opportunity rather than a problem and just keep returning to your breath.

As your breathing becomes slower and deeper.

We will now begin the second stage of the practice which is establishing a rhythm of the texture of our breathing.

Now on your in breath I want you to imagine that you are inhaling heavy hot air.

And on your out breath I want you to visualize that you are exhaling cool light air.

So what goes in is heavy and hot what comes out is cool and light.

Lets do this together.

Inhale heavy hot air.

Exhale cool light air.

Inhale a suffocating heat and exhale a life giving lightness.

Inhale and exhale.

Continue with this pattern breathing in heaviness and breathing out lightness.

Till we are a little more comfortable with this for a few more breaths.

Breathing in heaviness and breathing out lightness.

Breathing in hot suffocating air.

Breathing out cool light air.

The heaviness that you breathe in is the suffering and the lightness that you breathe out is well being.

Now imagine that you are breathing through all the pores of your body.

Through every pore of your body on the in breath hot air enters and on the out breath cool light flows from everywhere pore.

Through your entire body you are breathing in hot heavy air and breathing out cool lightness.

Bring your awareness back to your breath and as you inhale visualize that you are inhaling pollution,

Dark smoke or dark cloud or just a general feeling of obstruction.

In a state of open awareness this negativity does not have anywhere to stick in your body because you are a transformer,

You are the processor of this energy of suffering,

Of this energy of darkness,

Of heaviness.

You are not absorbing it you are only processing it and transforming it and as you exhale imagine that you are breathing out bright pure nourishing air as though you are a plant receiving pollution and sending out clean energy.

Breathing in and out sending out beautiful nourishing clean energy through your breath and if your mind wander come back,

Come back to your breath and the textural rhythm of giving and taking this rhythm of tonglen.

We move to the next step.

Remember a time when you were in a difficult situation,

A time when you were hurt or angry or depressed or outraged or even afraid.

Try and remember that feeling as vividly as you can and breathe that feeling in as hot heavy polluted smoke.

Don't get caught up in the story of that event,

Don't start thinking of who is to blame for what happened to you.

No we are not interested in the story right now,

We are only interested in removing that suffering that is attached to you,

To your body,

To your soul because of this event that happened with you,

Because of this circumstance that happened with you.

And breathe in that heavy polluted feeling,

That raw feeling directly into you as the hot smoke of suffering,

Taking in it completely through every pore of your body.

Own the heat,

Own the rawness of that experience.

I know this practice takes a lot of courage and sometimes you may find yourself resisting but that's ok.

Breathe in the resistance as the hot heavy smoke.

The resistance or the avoiding of that pain is also something that you want to purge yourself of.

You can breathe in alienation,

Boredom,

Arrogance,

Confusion,

Grief or even clinking.

Whatever flavour you are suffering of the moment take,

Just take this all in with your breath into your vast and spacious heart and breathe out the sense of spaciousness,

Of openness,

Kindness and surrender that arises within you.

Breathe in your own suffering and breathe out peace and love and joy and compassion for yourself.

Shower these qualities on yourself like a drain of cool and healing light.

Sometimes releasing your suffering is threatening to the ego because who will I be without my stories.

That small tight self that habitually clings to these stories of anger or blame or shame,

Just don't get stuck in those stories.

Don't analyse what you are doing,

Don't try to figure it out,

Don't justify it.

Just do the practice.

Breathe in your own suffering and breathe out a cool light.

A cool light that showers you with relief and peace as the feeling and the story just melts away.

As you breathe in the heavy hot smoke of your own suffering,

Breathe out compassionate space.

As you breathe in the heavy hot tar like suffering,

Own it completely and then breathe out clarity and surrender,

Relief and kindness.

And just feel the relief coursing through your pores.

Staying with that feeling of relief for a few moments now.

Feeling that calm,

That peace,

That relief coursing through you.

Now bring to your mind some being with whom you feel a deep connection,

A parent,

A child,

A pet,

Your grandmother,

Your dearest friend,

Your beloved teacher,

Someone who you really deeply love and care about and someone who is suffering.

You would do anything to help this person.

Now be with this one person and feel what he or she is experiencing right now in this moment.

The pain,

The grief,

The anger.

Turning your whole being towards that suffering,

Just breathe it in.

Take in all the suffering of your beloved through your own breath.

This hot polluted smoke of their suffering.

And the instant that breath of suffering touches your heart,

That hot smoke instantly vanishes into the great space of your heart.

And from this space spontaneously arises an out breath of mercy and healing.

And with your out breath,

Then send a deep cool light and spacious healing breath to this person that you love so much.

You will do anything to help this person.

So you breathe in their suffering and breathe out healing and relief.

Breathing in and out and in and out and in and out.

And out.

Giving relief,

Giving peace,

Giving coolness,

Giving light,

Giving love.

Let this one person's suffering remind you of the many others who find themselves suffering in the same way.

This person is your connection to them.

This person is your connection to the suffering.

Let your heart break open and send them healing with your out breath.

Now as you continue this cycle of inhaling and exhaling,

Suffering and relief,

Let's try to visualize suffering beyond any individual person.

You might want to expand to people in your neighborhood,

In your city,

In your country.

You may also want to expand to groups of people who are suffering such as a particular community or a particular country.

Whichever way you choose,

Allow the size of the group to expand till you are taking in all the collective suffering within yourself from any and all directions and breathing out healing light to all directions.

Visualize yourself as you sit there breathing in heavy hot dark smoke and breathing out beautiful life giving light.

You are the transformer.

You are the alchemist.

You process the grief and the suffering of the world and convert it into beautiful life giving light.

Sending this beautiful life,

This beautiful light to the whole world.

Sending it out,

Covering the whole world with your love and your light with every breath that you take.

And so it is.

This was your sankalpa when you began to alleviate the suffering of all living beings,

Of all sentient beings and the Dalai Lama says it so beautifully with this prayer.

May I be a guard for those who need protection,

A guide for those on the path,

A boat,

A raft,

A bridge for those who wish to cross the flood.

May I be a lamp in the darkness,

A resting place for the weary,

A healing medicine for those who are sick,

A vase of plenty,

A tree of miracles and for the boundless multitudes of living beings.

May I bring sustenance and awakening,

Enduring like the earth and the sky until all beings are free from sorrow and all are awakened.

And so it is.

Tathastu.

Amen.

Take a few moments to let the words of this prayer resonate within you and slowly bring your attention back to your breath,

Resting in awareness,

Following your breath,

Releasing any tension that you may have felt or any tension that you may feel in your body,

Giving out a few deep breaths,

Even sighs if you feel like.

Relax and let it go.

Come into the present moment and whenever you are ready,

Open your eyes,

Smile.

Thank you for practicing donglen with me.

The next Brahma Vihara meditation will be up soon on my channel.

So please follow,

Like and please leave your comments.

I'd love to talk to you about how you felt during this practice.

I look forward to hearing from you till then.

I'm sending you all my love.

Reviews

What a lovely and powerful tonglen practice! The audio quality is a little echoey at the beginning but gets better and easier to hear not far into it. Don't let that stop you from trying this wonderful tonglen session! One of my faves for sure😃

So powerful. I definitely will come back to this meditation. In a time where there is so much turmoil in the world, this is the opportunity to transform suffering. Thank you so much.

As the air in Montana is filled with hot summer smoke, breathing in suffering was easily understood. Cool, Maine sea air, moss, mist and costal roses exhaled. I found this meditation powerful, with tears, and I end with a smile knowing I am a bridge. Thank you.

Beautiful all encompassing practice. Thank you for this lovely contribution. May you remain healthy, happy and free. 🌻💞

Thank you so much for your loving guidance ❤️❤️❤️

I always love Tonglen and this meditation was beautifully and compassionately guided! I loved the idea of 'pollution' I felt as if I was healing the Earth's suffering too and it has inspired me to spend some time specifically breathing that in and breathing out love for our mother! Thank you and I shall join you again for another in this series