Tonglen is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

practice Practice or practise may refer to: Education and learning * Practice (learning method), a method of learning by repetition * Phantom practice, phenomenon in which a person's abilities continue to improve, even without practicing * Practice-based ...

that involves breathing in the suffering of others and breathing out peace and healing. Its purpose is to cultivate

compassion Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...

. ''Tong'' means "giving or sending", and ''len'' means "receiving or taking". Tonglen is also known as "exchanging self with other."

Practice

In the practice, one exchanges the self with other, sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath. As such it is a training in

altruism Altruism is the concern for the well-being of others, independently of personal benefit or reciprocity. The word ''altruism'' was popularised (and possibly coined) by the French philosopher Auguste Comte in French, as , for an antonym of egoi ...

. The function of the practice is to: * reduce selfish

attachment Attachment may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Attachment'' (painting), an 1829 work by Edwin Landseer * ''Attachment'' (film), a 2023 Danish horror film by Gabriel Bier Gislason * ''Attachments'' (novel), a 2011 novel by Rainbow Rowell * ...

* increase a sense of

renunciation Renunciation (or renouncing) is the act of rejecting something, particularly something that the renunciant has previously enjoyed or endorsed. In religion, renunciation often indicates an abandonment of pursuit of material comforts, in the inte ...

* purify

karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

by giving and helping * develop and expand loving-kindness and

bodhicitta In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind ( citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.Dayal, Har (1970). ''T ...

The practice of Tonglen involves all of the

Six Perfections 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

; giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom. These are the practices of a

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

Practical aspects

Patrul Rinpoche Patrul Rinpoche () (1808–1887) was a teacher and author from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Biography Patrul Rinpoche was born in Dzachukha, a nomadic area of Golok Dzachukha, Eastern Tibet in 1808, and was recognized as the reincar ...

(1808–1887), a prominent teacher and author from the

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

school of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

, gives the practice as starting on breathing out, with imagining

giving Giving may refer to: * Gift, the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return * Generosity, the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return * Charity (practice) Charity is the Volunteering, vol ...

(sending) happiness and the best. Then, as breathing in, imagine taking (receiving) in the sufferings.

Pema Chödrön Pema Chödrön (; born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936) is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa . Chödrön has written several dozen books and aud ...

, an American Tibetan Buddhist nun in the

Shambhala Buddhism Shambhala Training is a secular approach to meditation and a new religious movement developed by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his students. It is based on what Trungpa calls Shambhala Vision, which sees enlightened soci ...

tradition (2000), says Tonglen can start on the inhale and gives the instruction as follows: The intention of this practice is to work with habitual patterns of mind and "develop the psychological attitude of exchanging oneself for others," as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche writes in ''Training the Mind and Cultivating Kindness''. Taking onto oneself the suffering of others and giving happiness and success to all sentient beings seems a heavy task, especially for a beginner in the practice. It might be appropriate to start out with smaller issues, like working with oneself to increase one's own well-being, increasing harmony in the family, open one's own mind to communicate better with other people or just finding more peace in doing the necessary daily chores. This is an area where it might be easier to experience some success in order to be able to go on with taking on the unhappiness or conflicts among other people, even though the principal aim is to develop one's own selfless and empathic qualities more than or at least as much as creating a real difference for others. The principle of taking in the suffering or disharmony on the in-breath and spreading an antidote of joy, harmony or peace of mind (or whatever might be needed in the specific case) on the out-breath is the same as described above. It is also a good option to use a small pause after the in-breath to convert the suffering or disharmony to the positive antidote which is to be breathed out. Taking on suffering does not really mean to burden oneself with the misery of the world, but rather to acknowledge its existence and accept it. This makes it possible to increase one's own peace of mind at the same time as taking suffering or disharmony in, so there is less contradiction than there might seem to be. Tonglen is also part of the

contemplative In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with religious practices such as meditation or prayer. Etymology The word ''contemplation'' is de ...

practice of

Lojong Lojong (, 'mind training') is a contemplative practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition which makes use of various lists of aphorisms or slogans which are used for contemplative practice. The practice involves refining and purifying one's m ...

, in the

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

tradition.

History

This practice is summarized in seven points, which are attributed to the great Indian Buddhist teacher Atisha Dipankara Shrijnana, born in 982 CE. They were first written down by

Kadampa file:Portrait of the Indian Monk Atisha.jpg, 300px, Tibetan Portrait of Atiśa The Kadam school () of Tibetan Buddhism, or Kadampa was an 11th century Buddhist tradition founded by the great Bengalis, Bengali master Atiśa (982–1054) and his ...

master

Langri Tangpa Geshe Langri Thangpa (གླང་རི་ཐང་པ། ; wylie: glang ri thang pa) (1054–1123) is an important figure in the lineage of the Kadampa and Gelug schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in Phenpo, as Dorje Senge (རྡོ་ར ...

(1054–1123). The practice became more widely known when Geshe

Chekawa Yeshe Dorje Geshe Chekhawa (or Chekawa Yeshe Dorje) (1102–1176) was a prolific Kadampa Buddhist meditation master who was the author of the celebrated root text ''Training the Mind in Seven Points'', which is an explanation of Buddha's instructions on trai ...

(1101–1175) summarized the points in his ''Seven Points of Training the Mind''. This list of mind training (

lojong Lojong (, 'mind training') is a contemplative practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition which makes use of various lists of aphorisms or slogans which are used for contemplative practice. The practice involves refining and purifying one's m ...

) aphorisms or 'slogans' compiled by Chekawa is often referred to as the ''Atisha Slogans''.

References

Audio

* Chödrön, Pema. ''Good Medicine: How to Turn Pain into Compassion With Tonglen Meditation''. Sounds True, Inc, 2001. .

External links

Pema teaches Tonglen in these videos.
{{Buddhism topics Tibetan Buddhist meditation Tibetan words and phrases