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{{Short description|Meditation practice of Tibetan Buddhism}}
'''Tonglen''' ({{bo|t=གཏོང་ལེན་|w=gtong len}}, or '''tonglen'''<ref>Asoka Selvarajah. . Mystic Visions. Retrieved 2010-10-21.</ref>) is Tibetan for 'giving and taking' (or sending and receiving), and refers to a ] practice found in ].<ref name="views"></ref>
'''Tonglen''' is a ] ] that involves breathing in the suffering of others and breathing out peace and healing. Its purpose is to cultivate ].


Tong means "giving or sending", and len means "receiving or taking".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Drolma |first1=Lama Palden |title=Love on Every Breath: Tonglen Meditation for Transforming Pain into Joy |date=May 28, 2019 |publisher=New World Library |isbn=978-1608685769 |page=4}}</ref> Tonglen is also known as exchanging self with other.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trungpa |first1=Chogyam |title=The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Three |date=April 8, 2013 |publisher=Shambhala |isbn=978-1590308042 |page=701}}</ref> It's the seventh slogan, under Relative Bodhichitta, in ]. And is aspirational Bodhichitta precepts training in the ] ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rinpoche |first1=Patrul |title=Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism |date=July 12, 2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300165326 |page= |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/kunzanlamaishelu0000orgy/page/222 }}</ref> ''Tong'' means "giving or sending", and ''len'' means "receiving or taking".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drolma |first=Lama Palden |title=Love on Every Breath: Tonglen Meditation for Transforming Pain into Joy |date=May 28, 2019 |publisher=New World Library |isbn=978-1608685769 |page=4}}</ref> Tonglen is also known as "exchanging self with other."{{according to whom|date=September 2024}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trungpa |first=Chogyam |title=The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Three |date=April 8, 2013 |publisher=Shambhala |isbn=978-1590308042 |page=701}}</ref> It's the seventh slogan, under Relative ]{{importance inline|date = September 2024|The phrase "relative bodhicitta" is not a term the average Wiki user will be familiar with, and, considering it is undefined and the link to the ''Lojong'' is also given, the phrase is likely to confuse readers more than help them understand something new}}, in ]. And is aspirational Bodhicitta precepts training in the ] ], to see others as equal to self by exchanging self and other, where applying Bodhicitta begins with ]. {{Incomprehensible inline|date=September 2024|reason=This sentence reads as both a fragment and devoid of readily-apparent meaning.}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rinpoche |first=Patrul |url=https://archive.org/details/kunzanlamaishelu0000orgy/page/222 |title=Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism |date=July 12, 2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300165326 |edition=Revised |page=}}</ref>


==Practice== ==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 ].<ref name="quiet"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501160102/http://www.pcddallas.org/Tonglen_Meditation.htm |date=2010-05-01 }}</ref> 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 ].<ref name="quiet">{{Cite web |title=Tonglen Meditation: Increasing Compassion For All Beings (Including Self) |url=http://www.pcddallas.org/Tonglen_Meditation.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501160102/http://www.pcddallas.org/Tonglen_Meditation.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2010}}</ref>


The function of the practice is to: The function of the practice is to:
* reduce selfish ] * reduce selfish ]
* increase a sense of ]<ref name="views" /> * increase a sense of ]<ref name="views">{{Cite web |title=Tonglen - Giving and Taking Meditation |url=https://viewonbuddhism.org/Meditations/tonglen_taking_giving.html |website=viewonbuddhism.org |access-date=2024-02-18}}</ref>
* purify ] by giving and helping<ref name="views"/> * purify ] by giving and helping<ref name="views" />
* develop and expand ] and ]<ref name="views" /><ref name="quiet" /> * develop and expand ] and ]<ref name="views" /><ref name="quiet" />


The practice of Tonglen involves all of the ];<ref name="views" /> giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom. These are the practices of a ].<ref name="views" /> The practice of Tonglen involves all of the ];<ref name="views" /> giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom. These are the practices of a ].<ref name="views" />


⚫ ==Practical aspects ==
The Dalai Lama offers a translation of the Eight Verses{{clarify|date=August 2019}} in his book ''The Path To Tranquility: Daily Meditations''.


⚫ ] (1808–1887), a prominent teacher and author from the ] school of ], gives the practice as starting on breathing out, with imagining ] (sending) happiness and the best. Then, as breathing in, imagine taking (receiving) in the ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rinpoche |first=Patrul |url=https://archive.org/details/kunzanlamaishelu0000orgy/page/223 |title=Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism |date=July 12, 2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300165326 |edition=Revised |page=}}</ref>
⚫ ==Practical aspects on this meditation==


⚫ ], an American Tibetan Buddhist nun in the ] tradition (2000), says Tonglen can start on the inhale and gives the instruction as follows:
⚫ ] (1808–1887), a prominent teacher and author of the ] school of ] gives the practice as starting on breathing out, with imagining ] (sending) happiness and the best. Then as breathing in, imagine taking (receiving) in the ]. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Rinpoche |first1=Patrul |title=Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism |date=July 12, 2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300165326 |page= |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/kunzanlamaishelu0000orgy/page/223 }}</ref>
⚫ {{blockquote|"On the in-breath, you breathe in whatever particular area, group of people, country, or even one particular person... maybe it’s not this more global situation, maybe it’s breathing in the physical discomfort and mental anguish of chemotherapy; of all the people who are undergoing chemotherapy. And if you’ve undergone chemotherapy and come out the other side, it’s very real to you. Or maybe it’s the pain of those who have lost loved ones; suddenly, or recently, unexpectedly or over a long period of time, some dying. But the in-breath is... you find some place on the planet in your personal life or something you know about, and you breathe in with the wish that those human beings or those mistreated animals or whoever it is, that they could be free of that suffering, and you breathe in with the longing to remove their suffering.


⚫ And then you send out – just relax out... send enough space so that peoples’ hearts and minds feel big enough to live with their discomfort, their fear, their anger or their despair, or their physical or mental anguish. But you can also breathe out for those who have no food and drink, you can breathe out food and drink. For those who are homeless, you can breathe out/send them shelter. For those who are suffering in any way, you can send out safety, comfort.
⚫ ], an American Tibetian Buddhist nun in the ] tradition (2000), says Tonglen can start on the inhale and gives the instruction as follows:
⚫ {{quote|"On the in-breath, you breathe in whatever particular area, group of people, country, or even one particular person... maybe it’s not this more global situation, maybe it’s breathing in the physical discomfort and mental anguish of chemotherapy; of all the people who are undergoing chemotherapy. And if you’ve undergone chemotherapy and come out the other side, it’s very real to you. Or maybe it’s the pain of those who have lost loved ones; suddenly, or recently, unexpectedly or over a long period of time, some dying. But the in-breath is... you find some place on the planet in your personal life or something you know about, and you breathe in with the wish that those human beings or those mistreated animals or whoever it is, that they could be free of that suffering, and you breathe in with the longing to remove their suffering.

⚫ And then you send out – just relax out... send enough space so that peoples’ hearts and minds feel big enough to live with their discomfort, their fear, their anger or their despair, or their physical or mental anguish. But you can also breathe out for those who have no food and drink, you can breathe out food and drink. For those who are homeless, you can breathe out/send them shelter. For those who are suffering in any way, you can send out safety, comfort.


So in the in-breath you breathe in with the wish to take away the suffering, and breathe out with the wish to send comfort and happiness to the same people, animals, nations, or whatever it is you decide. So in the in-breath you breathe in with the wish to take away the suffering, and breathe out with the wish to send comfort and happiness to the same people, animals, nations, or whatever it is you decide.


Do this for an individual, or do this for large areas, and if you do this with more than one subject in mind, that’s fine… breathing in as fully as you can, radiating out as widely as you can."<ref>{{cite web|title=Pema Chödrön "Tonglen Meditation" |publisher=]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwqlurCvXuM|date=Jul 24, 2009|accessdate=September 10, 2015}}</ref>}} Do this for an individual, or do this for large areas, and if you do this with more than one subject in mind, that’s fine… breathing in as fully as you can, radiating out as widely as you can."<ref>{{Cite web |date=Jul 24, 2009 |title=Pema Chödrön "Tonglen Meditation" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwqlurCvXuM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/QwqlurCvXuM |archive-date=2021-11-18 |url-status=live |access-date=September 10, 2015 |publisher=]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}


While this might seem like an outrageous thing to do – breathe in suffering and breathe out joy, part of the practice is to work with habitual patterns of mind and "develop the psychological attitude of exchanging oneself for others," as ] writes in ''Training the Mind and Cultivating Kindness''. The intention of this practice is to work with habitual patterns of mind and "develop the psychological attitude of exchanging oneself for others," as ] writes in ''Training the Mind and Cultivating Kindness''.<ref name="n964">{{cite book | last=Trungpa | first=C. | last2=Lief | first2=J.L. | author3=Nalanda Translation Committee | title=Training the Mind & Cultivating Loving-kindness | publisher=Shambhala | series=Shambhala Library | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-59030-252-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D703ICbu5O4C | access-date=2024-05-13 | page=}}</ref>


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.<ref name="views"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tonglen|url=http://www.interluderetreat.com/meditate/tonglen.htm|publisher=Interlude: An Internet Retreat|accessdate=September 10, 2015}}</ref> 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 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.<ref name="views" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tonglen |url=http://www.interluderetreat.com/meditate/tonglen.htm |access-date=September 10, 2015 |publisher=Interlude: An Internet Retreat}}</ref> 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 as there might seem to be.<ref name="quiet" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/tonglen1.php|title=The Practice of Tonglen|publisher=]|accessdate=September 10, 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref name="quiet" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Practice of Tonglen |url=http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/tonglen1.php |access-date=September 10, 2015 |publisher=]}}</ref>


==History== ==History==


This practice is summarized in seven points, which are attributed to the great Indian Buddhist teacher ],<ref>{{cite book|last=Trungpa|first=Chögyam|authorlink=Chögyam Trungpa|title=Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness|publisher=]|year=2003|page=xi|isbn=9781590300510}}</ref> born in 982 CE. They were first written down by ] master ] (1054–1123). The practice became more widely known when Geshe ] (1101–1175) summarized the points in his ''Seven Points of Training the Mind''.<ref name="learn">{{cite web|last=Lief|first=Judy|url=http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/59-lojong-slogans?offer=dharma|title= Learn to Train Your Mind: The 59 Lojong Slogans with Acharya Judy Lief|publisher=]|accessdate=September 10, 2015}}</ref> This list of mind training (]) aphorisms or 'slogans' compiled by Chekawa is often referred to as the Atisha Slogans.<ref name="learn" /> This practice is summarized in seven points, which are attributed to the great Indian Buddhist teacher ],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trungpa |first=Chögyam |title=Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness |publisher=] |year=2003 |isbn=9781590300510 |page=xi |author-link=Chögyam Trungpa}}</ref> born in 982 CE. They were first written down by ] master ] (1054–1123). The practice became more widely known when Geshe ] (1101–1175) summarized the points in his ''Seven Points of Training the Mind''.<ref name="learn">{{Cite web |last=Lief |first=Judy |title=Learn to Train Your Mind: The 59 Lojong Slogans with Acharya Judy Lief |url=http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/59-lojong-slogans?offer=dharma |access-date=September 10, 2015 |publisher=]}}</ref> This list of mind training (]) aphorisms or 'slogans' compiled by Chekawa is often referred to as the Atisha Slogans.<ref name="learn" />


==See also== ==See also==
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==External links== ==External links==
*
* *


{{Buddhism topics}} {{Buddhism topics}}


] ]
] ]
]

Latest revision as of 17:58, 10 October 2024

Meditation practice of Tibetan Buddhism

Tonglen is a Buddhist practice that involves breathing in the suffering of others and breathing out peace and healing. Its purpose is to cultivate compassion.

Tong means "giving or sending", and len means "receiving or taking". Tonglen is also known as "exchanging self with other." It's the seventh slogan, under Relative Bodhicitta, in Lojong. And is aspirational Bodhicitta precepts training in the Longchen Nyingthig Ngöndro, to see others as equal to self by exchanging self and other, where applying Bodhicitta begins with giving.

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.

The function of the practice is to:

The practice of Tonglen involves all of the Six Perfections; giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom. These are the practices of a Bodhisattva.

Practical aspects

Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887), a prominent teacher and author from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, gives the practice as starting on breathing out, with imagining giving (sending) happiness and the best. Then, as breathing in, imagine taking (receiving) in the sufferings.

Pema Chödrön, an American Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Shambhala Buddhism tradition (2000), says Tonglen can start on the inhale and gives the instruction as follows:

"On the in-breath, you breathe in whatever particular area, group of people, country, or even one particular person... maybe it’s not this more global situation, maybe it’s breathing in the physical discomfort and mental anguish of chemotherapy; of all the people who are undergoing chemotherapy. And if you’ve undergone chemotherapy and come out the other side, it’s very real to you. Or maybe it’s the pain of those who have lost loved ones; suddenly, or recently, unexpectedly or over a long period of time, some dying. But the in-breath is... you find some place on the planet in your personal life or something you know about, and you breathe in with the wish that those human beings or those mistreated animals or whoever it is, that they could be free of that suffering, and you breathe in with the longing to remove their suffering.

And then you send out – just relax out... send enough space so that peoples’ hearts and minds feel big enough to live with their discomfort, their fear, their anger or their despair, or their physical or mental anguish. But you can also breathe out for those who have no food and drink, you can breathe out food and drink. For those who are homeless, you can breathe out/send them shelter. For those who are suffering in any way, you can send out safety, comfort.

So in the in-breath you breathe in with the wish to take away the suffering, and breathe out with the wish to send comfort and happiness to the same people, animals, nations, or whatever it is you decide.

Do this for an individual, or do this for large areas, and if you do this with more than one subject in mind, that’s fine… breathing in as fully as you can, radiating out as widely as you can."

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.

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 master Langri Tangpa (1054–1123). The practice became more widely known when Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje (1101–1175) summarized the points in his Seven Points of Training the Mind. This list of mind training (lojong) aphorisms or 'slogans' compiled by Chekawa is often referred to as the Atisha Slogans.

See also

References

  1. Drolma, Lama Palden (May 28, 2019). Love on Every Breath: Tonglen Meditation for Transforming Pain into Joy. New World Library. p. 4. ISBN 978-1608685769.
  2. Trungpa, Chogyam (April 8, 2013). The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Three. Shambhala. p. 701. ISBN 978-1590308042.
  3. Rinpoche, Patrul (July 12, 2010). Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (Revised ed.). Yale University Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0300165326.
  4. ^ "Tonglen Meditation: Increasing Compassion For All Beings (Including Self)". Archived from the original on May 1, 2010.
  5. ^ "Tonglen - Giving and Taking Meditation". viewonbuddhism.org. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  6. Rinpoche, Patrul (July 12, 2010). Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (Revised ed.). Yale University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0300165326.
  7. "Pema Chödrön "Tonglen Meditation"". YouTube. Jul 24, 2009. Archived from the original on 2021-11-18. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  8. Trungpa, C.; Lief, J.L.; Nalanda Translation Committee (2005). Training the Mind & Cultivating Loving-kindness. Shambhala Library. Shambhala. ISBN 978-1-59030-252-1. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  9. "Tonglen". Interlude: An Internet Retreat. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  10. "The Practice of Tonglen". Pema Chodron. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  11. Trungpa, Chögyam (2003). Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness. Shambhala Publications. p. xi. ISBN 9781590300510.
  12. ^ Lief, Judy. "Learn to Train Your Mind: The 59 Lojong Slogans with Acharya Judy Lief". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved September 10, 2015.

Further reading

Audio

External links

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