Tonglen Practice: Taking and Giving

In this meditation you remove the suffering of others and grant them happiness and all their needs. It is the 2nd in the Tonglen teaching. Recorded live.

Transcript

Close your eyes.

And now pay attention to your posture.

The most important is that your back is straight.

That your chin is at the right angle,

Not lifted,

Not lowered.

Shoulders should be even.

You can hold your hands,

Put them either on your knees or in your lap,

One on top of the other,

Whichever is more comfortable to you.

The Tibetans,

They prefer the second way.

Right hand on top of the left and the palms touching lightly.

Now focus on your breath.

Try and count 10 breaths without losing the count and we always start on the out breath.

Don't let or hold your breath and don't let it slip away.

Don't let or hold your breath and just don't let it slip away.

You After lost the count,

Restart from 1.

Restart from 1.

Restart from 1.

Restart from 1.

Restart from 1.

First step is taking refuge and creating motivation.

And the way you do it is you focus your mind on your desire to find a way out of your own suffering.

And to help beings get out of their suffering.

Find a way to develop your compassion to this high level.

To develop your wisdom to this very high level.

And to find a way to accomplish these goals.

So you are taking refuge in your spiritual path.

In the wisdom and the compassion that will eventually be developed in your heart.

As a result of your spiritual path.

So your refuge is in the result that you will develop in your heart when you become enlightened.

And in the beings that can help you on your path.

Enlightened beings that are teaching you to reach those results in you.

And to help you develop a pure motivation.

Think of a person that you know who is suffering.

And that you want to help them.

And develop a wish,

Strong wish to help them to remove their suffering.

And so you have a wish to remove their suffering,

But you don't really know how.

So you need help.

So ask for help.

Ask for your spiritual guide,

A holy being to come and be with you throughout the meditation to help you.

So imagine in the air in front of you a holy being.

They could be male or female.

Somebody you know or somebody you have another connection with.

Who represents to you very high sublime qualities.

And see them sitting in front of you in the air at the level of your eyes.

Maybe two meters away from you.

If you wish you can also bring them closer.

And they are sitting on a beautiful throne.

And they themselves are perfect in every way.

In their appearance externally.

They are beautiful,

Glorious,

Radiant,

Shiny.

And in their internal qualities they have this exceptional love and compassion and wisdom.

They are totally pure.

And they look upon you with great love.

So now you bow to them mentally by picking one or two of their sublime qualities.

And you just appreciate and admire these qualities in them.

And that's a mental prostration.

And then you make offerings to them.

And you can imagine some beautiful object that you give them.

It could be something beautiful that you own.

And that you are very attached to.

That's a wonderful offering to give.

It could also be a beautiful sunset which you don't own.

You can still give it away in your meditation.

And see how they are delighted with your offering.

The next step is a step that is designed to remove any negativity that could get in the way of the meditation.

And we do it by thinking of something that happened maybe today.

Either by what you did or by what you said.

Or it could even be a thought that was not very kind or selfish.

And you confess this act in front of the Lama and just let it go.

Now do the opposite.

Think of something wonderful you said or did or thought today.

And see this act as a beautiful gift that you are offering to your Lama.

And ask them to help you.

Ask them to give you teachings.

Ask for their blessings.

Ask them to help you with your meditation so your meditation will be deep and effective.

Of course they agree.

So now focus on the person that you want to help.

It could be the same person that you medicated on yesterday.

It could be a new person.

So think who that person is.

Imagine that they are sitting maybe in their bedroom and they are alone in the room.

And you are this invisible angel that sits right in front of them but they cannot see you.

And you are wishing to help them.

So see them now and see how the problem that they are struggling with is affecting them.

How it is affecting their body,

How it is affecting their face,

Maybe their mind.

And develop a strong wish to remove their problem,

To help them be happy.

And now imagine that the problem they are struggling with,

Whether it is physical or mental,

You still imagine it as some black material throughout their body.

It could be like black smoke or like black tar and it is spreading throughout their body.

And you are going to use your breath now to remove it from them.

So you are sitting right in front of them,

They cannot see you.

And each time you breathe in,

Your breath acts as a pump and it pumps out,

It pumps that black material from their body.

And in the first stage,

The whole material collects into the center of their body,

Into a small black ball in the center of their chest.

So take a few breaths and imagine that your breath is sucking it out from the entire body into the center of their body.

So you are cleaning them with your breath.

And I start applying the power here.

So now their whole body is clean,

White,

Sparkling,

But they still have this black ball of tar in their heart.

And now you resolve to remove it from them completely.

And you again use your breath as a pump and you pump it out through their throat,

Out,

Through their nose,

Through their mouth,

And it all collects as like a black cloud in front of their face between you and them,

Not touching you,

Not touching them in the air.

So take a few breaths to do that.

And you can do that with your breath,

Again on spread If your breath is too long,

Then you're ill or your nose,

Again.

Now you are going to renew your intention,

Your willingness to take in their suffering so that they never have it again.

It can never come back to them.

And when I say now,

You're going to,

In one single big breath,

You're going to breathe in that black cloud.

But before you do that,

I want you to focus on the center of your chest and see that flame there,

That flame like a candle flame,

Yellow and red,

And it's very bright and it's the center of your own chest,

And it represents your own selfishness and your own misunderstanding,

Your own childishness.

And when you inhale that material,

After I say now,

You're going to see it in one breath coming through your nose,

Through your throat,

Down to the heart level,

And when it will touch the flame,

It will all evaporate.

And the flame will be extinguished and there's only a white wisp of smoke that goes away and it's all gone.

So take a deep breath and do it now.

So it's all gone now.

Your selfishness is gone,

Your ignorance is gone,

Their pain is gone,

And you are filled with a happy feeling in your heart.

Your body is filled with the light,

Which is the result of this extinction of these things.

And the light spreads throughout your chest and fills your body.

And it's a very beautiful,

Loving,

Sweet light that is coming out of the pores of your skin,

It's coming out through your nose.

And as you breathe out,

Imagine this light enveloping your whole body,

Making you very happy.

From the inside and from the outside.

You become very happy physically and mentally and emotionally.

And your light intensifies,

It grows,

Your love grows.

And the light envelops the person in front of you,

It surrounds them and gives them all their wishes or their desires.

And the light also enters their body through their nose and through their throat.

As you breathe out,

The light goes into their body and begins filling them with light on the inside.

And giving them all health,

All the physical benefits that they wish,

Gives them health and beauty and longevity.

And so now the outside light represents their mental needs that are being fulfilled and the light on the inside represents the physical needs that are being fulfilled.

And you are both very happy.

So look at them now.

Look at their expression.

Look how they look now,

How their body and face look now,

That the problems they had are completely gone because you burned them.

And you are giving them all the things they wish for.

So now rejoice in what you have done.

It is a great,

Great kindness,

Even if it is just in your mind,

It is a great,

Great kindness.

So rejoice in that.

See how happy they are now.

And it is wonderful karma that you planted now in your mind.

And you can reinforce that by giving out even more light,

And even more light.

And the light becomes very intense and it spreads even further out.

And it begins to cover the room and to go out and cover the city and then cover the whole world.

See you are giving away your kindness and your good karma and your love.

You are giving it to all beings,

All mother beings.

No exceptions.

Now ask the Lama,

Focus on the Lama,

They were with you all the time.

Thank them for their help because it is through their kindness.

Thank them for their kindness.

And ask them to always stay with you,

To never leave you.

Of course they agree.

Ask them to come into you.

And they agree to that too,

Happily.

So now see them lifting in the air,

Reducing in size,

Becoming small,

Tiny,

Maybe 5 centimeters.

They come and sit on top of your head.

They are made of beautiful light,

They are angels.

And they slide swiftly down through your head into your heart,

Into the center of your chest.

Just before your spine there is a little chamber and you make a little beautiful place for them,

Beautiful throne with cushions of lotus and moonlight and sunlight if you wish.

And see them sitting there in your heart.

They are very happy with you and they are very beautiful and wise and very loving.

They are always with you and helping you wherever you go and happy to do that.

So now you can open your eyes.

Reviews

I always come back to this Tonglen, thank you. Deep and authentic.

That was absolutely beautiful, thank you so much for sharing this meditation. 🙏🙏🙏 Very precious.

Very different. Very directed. I cam see the depth of wisdom here

Wonderful,thank you so much.

Thank you so much for this meditation!

I highly recommend this especially if you know someone who is having difficulties and you are feeling powerless to help. This will change that.

Well that blew my mind

Amazing Meditation. Thank you.

One of the best guided meditations I've ever experienced. Beautiful practice. Well spoken, enough space. Previous experience in Tonglen is not necessary.

Beautiful visualization. Very calming and radiant.

Really a powerful and needed meditation practice. Awesome. Recommend higher quality recording though. Thank you

Beautiful. Bookmarked.

Incredible, like the first part. As other reviews say, I suggest listening to these in sequence.

Beautiful and powerful. Thank you.

Her voice is authentic- natural- real- light.
This was such a natural gentle and bright meditation on a sometimes really difficult task of transformation.
Skilfully done.

Amazing! Just what I needed to deepen my meditation practice and incorporate the power and beauty of Tonglen.

Love love love.
Namaste

Beautiful visualisation. A new perspective on tonglen for me. Thank you

So so beautiful. Thank you no words to express my gratitude. Multitude of blessings Lama Dvora-hla.

For my beautiful Kim 🌕

Such a beautiful and much needed practice today. Thank you.