dharmatalks

Several people have asked me to elaborate more on what I meant by the word “tonglen”, in my request for students of the Dharma of Compassion, and all those who are sincerely interested in healing the violence and oppression in Tibet to join us each night for a minimum of one hour of undistracted sitting.

Tonglen literally means “giving and taking,” and is a spiritual, mind-training exercise, in which one mentally gives up one’s peace, in exchange for the suffering of another. It is not that we imagine that we literally possess the ability to do so, but the practice directs the mind toward healing, and generates genuine compassion. From the cultivation of this genuine compassion, one learns to generate the “Mind of Enlightenment”, Bodhicitta.

Ani Pema Chodron teaches that doing Tonglen “sweeps away the dust that has been covering over your treasure that’s always been there,” — we call this the Bodhicitta Heart. In the Eight Verses of Mind Training (Lojong), we are told to practice tonglen by “secretly taking on the suffering of others”. One does not announce to the person for whom they are engaging this practice that they will be taking on their suffering.

Tonglen can be practiced any time you perceive that a negative situation has arisen. Breathing in, you imagine yourself taking in the negativity, and breathing out, you send forth love-kindness, peace, calm and joy. The practice of Tonglen actually neutralises the dualistic tendencies of the mind, by refocusing on the true nature, which is Compassion.

When one commits to practicing tonglen, one moves beyond the self-absorption that lives in a sea of excuses, and imagines that there are more important things to do. One moves beyond fear and suspicion of others, and in fact, moves beyond the illusion of “otherness”.

I always openly share most of the dharma talks that I give to my students and fellow-monks with readers of my blogs, because I am mindful that we are all seeking happiness and freedom from suffering. As a spiritual leader, I might specify a particular aspect of practice, or instruct my monks to engage in that practice at a particular time of day, as I did in my recent post. It is important for them to do so, because of the structure, continuity and unity of the monastic satsang (sangha). But for readers, it should always be understood that if you feel comfortable enjoining your practice to ours, you would do so in the context and within the confines of your own circumstances and lifestyle.

In 1992, I was living at a monastic house in West Palm Beach, Florida, and working as a chaplain at a hospice, about an hour north of there. One of the other chaplains with whom I worked lived a few blocks from me, and at the beginning of the day, we would often have a staff meeting with the social workers, nurses and coordinator, to discuss the cases we were following that day.