tonglen

First, I would like to describe, in brief, the practice of tonglen. It is a meditation technique that involves breathing IN pain and breathing OUT peace. When I first heard of it it was counterintuitive to me. It is amazing. When I get stuck or upset at anything or anyone. I breath in that pain and breathe out peace. It is sometimes hard and took some time getting used to but it has been well worth it. We are all much less likely to pass around pain if we have to eat it. I believe this practice alone could change the world. It just takes being brave enough to find the places that scare or bother us. I would also love people to post here other meditation or ILP techniques because I am not really familiar with much else and just recently found out what ILP stood for. I would also like to explore how Tonglen or these other practices can help us tap into the universal conciousness which enables us to have spontaneous intelligence. Basically subduing our ego, so we can feel and see and hear and know what paths we are to take in this life. And let ourselves take them, even if they look different than expected. And how this relates to morphic resonance, Kinesiology, and Fractals….

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Wow… I'd never heard of Tonglen until I joined this pod, but it seems pretty cool. I tried it out, and it was amazing how charged I felt the first time.  I do wonder, though, what the effects of soaking up all that pain are.  It felt like I was just changing the shape and rebroadcasing the energy I was taking in, but I'd like to verify if it leaves any residual traces that would build up over time. 

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I'm fortunate to work as a psychologist.  So I have lots of opportunity for tonglen.  I think that when I conceptualized the world as a place with lots of negative energy that I had to ward off or fight, that I created more negativity.  Letting go of fighting it off was helpful, but the big breakthrough for me was in doing the opposite (since trying to fight it off was not working too well.)

Typically, I dreaded seeing certain kinds of clients; until I actually met them and it turned out I could always empathize with their struggle.  But when I really turned that around to welcoming their pain and suffering, to become a good host for it so I could send back positive energy, I got a great energy boost.

Now even on my most busy days, I find I am able to maintain compassion and connection much better because of my tonglen practice.

My question is:  Does anyone else find that tonglen actually increases (rather than decreases) his or her energy level?

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Kate!

     This is probably the most important pod on the entire site.  Thank YOU so much for starting it.  I have been using Tonglen as my main meditation for about five years now.  Pema Chodron is probably the biggest advocate for it and I don't think anyone has done more for teaching the cultivation of Bhodichitta than Her.  It was from Pema that I learned Tonglen.  I think it was in Her book, The Wisdom of No Escape, but She addresses it quite regularly in most of, if not all of Her work.

     I just wanted to Thank YOU again so much for this most precious, precious space to teach want can truly heal ALL hearts!

Namaste,

Erik 

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Thank you for the reminder that it is about the cultivation of Bhodicitta not just “doing the opposite” so I can feel better.   If practiced with the right attitude tonglen is at the core of cultivating right practice.

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Certainly Pat!

     And since so many Americans/Westerners are on the Go, Go, Go, I posted a variation on the theme if not the Spirit of Tonglen on my Pod.  It is combination of traditional Tonglen and some breathwork from an experiential guide of the Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield.  It works well for Those who have not yet learned to bring the quiet with Them.

Power Meditation!

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You know, one night I was doing an intense meditation session for about 12 hours or so and I did tonglen for a long time and felt so sad that I kept crying for half of the next day. I felt as if I had taken on too much. But later I felt very calm and okay with what I had faced and had enough energy to implement new healthy things into my everyday life. I think in the midst I felt like I took too much on but in reality I was just processing pain from my life and it opened up energy to move on and be a more compassionate sensitive person. My friend Martha has a technique that helps her if she is feeling saturated and that is to breath in peace and breathe out peace. That is her way of being kind to herself. It is a nice way to take care of you so you can have enough energy to take care of whoever( for us it's our families).

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Commenting on my two years of practice I can only say how powerfully tapped into the Matrix I feel now. Pop-culture ref aside … I’m studying and practicing as a Reiki II practitioner and it is completely an additive experience of personal transcendence.

Burning through karma, Tonglen practice gives me a rush of energy and support … and pumps karma with focused pain giving it an amazing release.

A realm nearly indescribable in words.

Tonglen and Metta

The great thing about Tonglen, I think, is it takes our conditioned attitudes that keep us comfortable and “siloed-in” and stands them on their head. In our conditioned mode we're always wanting to turn left or right, always wanting to label, seeking some kind of resolution to help us feel at ease, setting up territory in which we can feel safe. Why? Because deep down we are uncomfortable with situations of ambiguity and unformedness.

Pema Chodron once said that the decision to embrace Bodhicitta, or universal compassion toward all beings, is the decision to become a refugee, to abandon our territory, to let ourselves explore unfamiliar and even uncomfortable situations. As we do so, we realize that our dependence on our familiar habits is much like the medieval practice of splinting the legs of babies so their bones would grow straight: it's based on an unfounded fear, the fear that we're not good enough the way we are, and acting out this fear, far from protecting us, actually harms us and others.

But some people do better with the practice of Metta than with Tonglen. For the truly brave at heart, those who consider others more important than themselves (or are willing to entertain the notion), Tonglen really is the best medicine. But for those who aren't convinced that others are more important than themselves, Tonglen can be too big a step. For those people, Metta is a wonderful practice:

1. Start by visualizing yourself opening emotionally to the world and think, “If I have offended anyone, I ask forgiveness. And I also forgive everyone who has offended me.”
2. Start the practice of Metta with yourself. Think of your longing to be happy and free from suffering, and think, “May I be happy. May I be free from suffering.”
3. One by one, think of people you are fond of. Realize that they, like you, are beings who long for happiness and freedom from suffering. To each of them think, “May you be happy. May you be free from suffering.”
4. Next, think of people you are neither fond of nor dislike. Realize that they are essentially no different: they also long for happiness and want to be free of suffering. To each of them think, “May you be happy. May you be free of suffering.”
5. Finally, think of people you have a dislike towards. Realize that they, too, are like you in that they wish to be happy and free from suffering. To each of them think, “May you be happy. May you be free from suffering.”
6. Now realize that all beings that feel are united by these same desires, to be happy and to be free from suffering. Extend your good wishes outward toward all beings and think, “May you be happy. May you be free of suffering.”

Re: Tonglen and Metta

Metta is wonderful. It seems alot like tonglen. I have never heard of it before. Thanks.

Re: Tonglen and Metta

     Here is a recent posting on my blog and an oath that I swore before a statue of the Lord Buddha to do at least six days a week!

Cardio Tonglen!

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That concept rings very true for me.

An experience I'd like to share:
When I was still in high school, I went to one dance that was not the Senior Prom, and that was to man the espresso cart. I was mixing everybody their Italian sodas, when an acquaintance approached me. I seem to remember her as a feminine confection of round pink cheek and long blonde curl, but my memories of my classmates tend to mesh and meld, so I'm not sure. In any case, her…cousin? was there, and had personal troubles. This cousin, she told me with concern, was upset, and had a tendency to fall into black rages where she became a danger to herself and others. Having just learned that magic exists, this, I decided, would not do. I locked myself into a bathroom stall (this being both close and as near as I could come to privacy. I breathed in white light and charged it gold and pink in my lungs, then breathed it out and directed it towards her cousin. After a little of this I returned to my station. When I next saw her cousin, she was calm, but sad. I went back and repeated the process, but added sparklies on the exhale. Her cousin enjoyed the rest of the party.

I never thought of breathing in pain. How valid.

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     I thought this was beautiful and No One could have said better than one of My favorite Teachers, Pema Chodron.

ON-THE-SPOT TONGLEN PRACTICE

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Hi all,

I’m new to zaadz and love this pod group. I have just started doing meditation in my life. I love the books by Pema Chodron and am finding the postings really helpful. Thanks everyone!

Wendy

My self, my room my companions, my world

I sit, i breathe, i smile I love the whole world
I have taken stress out of rooms, around dinner tables and in train cars. I have made smiles form and shoulder relax all from my lil’ tong lenning.

pure intention, relaxed mind, and breathe breathe breathe my friends.

; )

luap

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Here’s a link that I found useful

Re: tonglen - oops

http://lojongmindtraining.com/Commentary.aspx?author=3&proverb=7

The Pathless Path and the Law of Mind and Experience

Enlightenment: The Pathless Path

     Here are some guidelines You can use that worked for Me in My realization.  Some of it might sound familiar and obvious and some of it might sound obscure and tedious.  I reiterate that these are some of the principles that I adopted over years of study and practice.  Maybe I can save some of You some time and unnecessary “back tracking”.  I do not look for any compensation by posting this information here.  It is in All of Our best interest to realize Enlightenment.  Changing the World is an internal process not an external one.
     So without further adieu, here is the Pathless Path.

1) Meditation 
    This is a process of meditation that incorporates several techniques.  I recommend using them in the order that I have written, but that is only a guideline and not a rule.  Remember, meditation is an “experiment”.  Do ultimately what works for You.  I am going to refrain from using titles and tags for the styles of meditation I list for the purpose of not having You memorize something that is irrelevant.  Not knowing the name of Dzogchen Buddhist Meditation and still using it does not lessen it's effectiveness.

a) Sit comfortably on cushions or a backless chair with hands in lap or on Your thighs.  It is important to note that if You use a chair with a back on it, to sit bolt upright and not rely on the back of the chair for Your posture.  This is a drowsiness preventive as well as a lesson in mindfulness.

b) Close Your eyes and begin paying attention to Your “out” breath.  Do not alter Your breathing pattern.  Just let Your tummy rise and fall naturally and focus on the “out” breath only.  

c) Thoughts will come.  No biggie.  They do that.  So We need something effective to think about.  With eyes still closed, keep track of Your bodie's sensations.  Notice Your feet, Your hands, etc.  At each part really allow Your attention to explore that part.  Now ask Yourself, “Who Am I?”, at each part.  Tell Yourself, “I Am not this”.  Do this throughout Your whole body and take roughly 20 minutes to do so.  

d) More Neti, Neti.  I am not this.  I am not that.  Make Your mind as a mirror or a reflective pond.  Try not to let anything “stick” to it.  Thoughts will come.  They do that.  Just let them come and go with no attention given to them.  Ask Yourself, “Am I My thoughts?” and then answer, “No I Am not”.  You are not a body.  You are not Your thoughts.  Ask Yourself Who is thinking.  Who is feeling?  

c) The Serene Unmoving Mountain.  Open Your eyes slightly.  Let the scene unfold before You.  Let the sounds fall on Your ears.  Let the smells come to Your nose.  Attach to none of it.  Again, mirror mind.  With Your gaze still slightly downward cast, ask Yourself Who is seeing this?  Who is hearing these sounds?  After several breaths with these questions riding them silently, make Your mind reflective once more.  Slowly cast Your gaze a little more forward.  Follow only the “out” breath.  Let the scene and sounds and bodily feelings unfold and enfold.  Let nothing stick to Your mind.  This takes practice but the end result I promise is eternal.  Stay with the breath.  Use the part of the mind that is not seeking.  Use the part of the mind that is not searching.  Rest in that.  Just melt into this moment.  If Your thoughts get to busy with Your eyes playing on the horizon, close them a little.  It You get sleepy with them in a close to closed position, open them back up.  Try not to blink alot.  Let Your vision fall on a spot anywhere and that is Your mandala.

d) The Vast Eternal Sea.  If You manage to keep Your eyes cast toward the horizon and continue to stay on the “out” breath, You may notice that the scenery begins to move in waves and flashes in and out from You.  Do not let this alarm You.  You are not hallucinating.  Far from it.  You are dissolving hallucinations.  You also see that You are the Source of all that You percieve.  The edges of everything begin to get fuzzy with a slight luminosity.  At this point You may no longer feel like You are on this side of Your face.  You are not.  You never have been.  Everything that You are witnessing is You witnessing it!  This is Your Original Face.  You may feel like You went through an entrance or door somehow but there is no door.  This is the Gateless Gate of Zen.  You are experiencing Satori. You are the Unseen Seer.  The Pure Witness.  Eventually all detail falls away and reveals a slow rhythmic wave of blackness with silvery-whitish luminosity to it.  You Are Home now.  Always have been.  The Veil of Forgetfullness is lifted and YOU ARE.  Just this….The Empty Seer wrapped around the ever arising and falling Form.  The Two are One and the Same.  Shiva and Shakti forever in a congress of bliss.  To finish Your meditation, close Your eyes again and envision someone close to You suffering.  Consciously breath in that suffering to Your heart and keep it.  All of the Peace You have generated in Your meditation goes out on the “out” breath as a release of that persons suffering.  Envision All of those in Your community suffering. Do the same.  Envision Those in Your State, Providence, or Country suffering.  Do the same.  Envision All those in the World suffering.  Do the same.  This eliminates the feeling of separateness and cultivates Bodhichitta or Compassionate Lovingkindness for All.  YOU ARE THE ALL.

2) Contemplation 
     I use contemplation to rewire My thinking when I think.  This is when I apply the below published Law of Mind and Experience.  I start to view everything as an experience.  I am not the experience.  Every thought I have is a creation.  I am not what I create.  I slowly ween Myself from concepts of specialness.  Nothing is special.  Nothing is sacred.  Nothing is profrane.  I am equally in all of it.  I Love all things equally.  I cannot be threatened by My creations.  It is a game.  A silly, silly game of Make-Believe that got a little outta hand.  I slowly ween Myself from the World of Opposites.  Dark and Light.  Good and Evil.  Life and Death.  I am in all of it equally therefore there can be no opposites.  No Us and Them.  Just I AM.  I AM YOU ARE ALL IS.  Once THIS is realized, the suffering, the pain, the misery no longer threaten You.  You are free.  You are liberated.  You always have been.

This is a quick lessen in re-membering and Enlightenment.  Let Me know how it goes!  K?

The Law of Mind and Experience

     Here is a little theory that is based on this phrase: 
 
 When Mind appears, things are made and thus experience is established/manifested.  

     There may be some minor holes in this, but the general idea is there.  Everything written is a lie anyway.  If a lie wakes You up, so be it.  What's more, You wrote this!  All of it!

Mind And The Law Of Experience

The 6 levels of experience are as follows:

1) Motion
     Mind is in a constant state of movement

2) Conceptualization
     Movement begets creativity.  Ideas and thoughts are then made manifest.

3) Judgement
     The thing created is categorized.  As long as Mind is percieved, Judgement is 
     impossible to escape.  And by disagreeing One has judged. 

4) Emotion
     A feeling is tagged to the category of thing created.  Emotion is always “attached to”
     and usually the “catalyst of” the thing created.

5) Hierarchy
     A level or order is given to the category of thing created.  By disagreeing One has
     established a hierarchy by way of thinking One's idea is either better or worse.

6) Time
     A sense of passage is applied to the over-all experience.  Using the information
     to establish events not yet transpired, thus chasing the Past with an uncreated
     Future.

     The Law of Experience is inescapable until the Mind is Witnessed as a concept in and of Itself at which point manifestation no longer occurs.  Mind is uncreated, thus Enlightenment.  The final barrier between the Seen and the Seer is dissolved.  Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form.

BE,

Erik

Re: tonglen

Kate, thanks for starting this pod!  I encountered tonglen when reading Start Where You Are, by Pema Chodron.  It's changed my life.  Before I began doing tonglen, intense emotions often felt like they would sweep me away.  It's great to be able to sit with them now, exchanging myself for others.

Karl

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Pema Chodron is also how I learned about Tonglen. I am very thankful..Kate

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Hi all,

Sogyal Rinpoche is how I learned Tonglen. I followed his instructions closely, I had one of the most intense experiences in a gentle way. i absolutely knew that the bodhisattvas were real. This was before I studied much Tibetan Buddhism, and had not heard the term bodhisatva, I called them “lords of compassion” in my mind. I knew right then as i was doing this practise that this is their practise,  and doing it makes you at-one with them. And moreso I knew that it was timelessly and eternally so, that they had always been there in my life, and in everyone's life. The magic of Tonglen is that it makes your ego fall away and your heart grow. It is one intense practise.

Here's a link tto the part of his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying that describes the preparation for and the practise of Tonglen.

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/A%20-%20Tibetan%20Buddhism/Subjects/Tonglen/Tonglen%20Practice-%20Sogyal%20Rinpoche/Tonglen%20Practice,%20as%20defined%20by%20Sogyal%20Rinpoche%20in%20The%20Tibe.htm

love,

Tamara