Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist meditative practice that involves taking the suffering of others while giving love, compassion, hope, and strength. It can be directed towards oneself or others and is similar to intercessory prayer. Practitioners can focus on the suffering of the world and exhale peace, love, compassion, understanding, and calm. It fosters good karma and helps with renunciation from pain caused by craving.
Tonglen is a meditative practice used in Tibetan forms of Buddhism. It is a practice that has been around for around 1000 years and is a form of meditation embraced by spiritual leaders such as the Dali Lama. Tonglen means give and take (or give and receive), and its main idea is to take the negativity or suffering of others (or alternatively yourself) while sheltering your mind in a meditative state to give love, compassion, hope and strength to those who suffer.
There are a number of Tonglen practices. One thing you can do after calmly meditating for a while is focus on a person’s suffering. Mentally, you remove that suffering from the person and at the same time you send the person as much positivism, love, empathy, and compassion as you can. Some criticize this practice, because what will happen if you receive someone else’s negativity?
Those who practice Tonglen say this need not be a concern. Christians may understand the practice as similar in nature to intercessory prayer, in which you carry someone else’s burdens and offer them your strength. Additionally, you can practice Tonglen towards yourself, by observing how your mind or soul suffers, receiving that suffering, and then “playing Buddha” as described by some, being able to lift that suffering and yourself from a position of suffering.
People who become proficient at meditating in this way can do more than focus on a person or themselves. They can focus on the nature of all who are suffering and absorb, as they inhale, the suffering of the world. As they exhale, they exhale peace, love, compassion, understanding and calm, giving this gift of all that is best in their nature to the world.
Many believe that extraordinary peace of mind is achieved after mediation in this form. If you work on yourself, you commit to loving yourself and breathing that love out to surround you. Some find the work particularly powerful, evoking a strong emotional reaction. Others simply feel purified by this work, which in Tibetan Buddhism also helps create a person who is more focused than self-obsessed.
Tonglen is also believed to personally foster good karma, and perhaps this karma can best be expressed as a feeling of peace and rightness with oneself if meditation is practiced regularly. In these circumstances, however, no one owes you for accepting their suffering. They may be completely unaware that you ever have.
Another thought if you practice Tibetan Buddhism is that Tonglen helps one gain renunciation from pain caused by craving of any kind. These are areas that people still struggle with, and many claim that this practice helps one release craving and, as a result, move into a place of joy and wisdom.
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