Tonglen - Sending and Taking
The practice of taking in suffering and sending out happiness.
Tonglen is a powerful Tibetan practice where one breathes in the suffering of others and breathes out compassion and relief. This reverses self-cherishing and develops profound compassion.
Breathe in what is painful, breathe out what is helpful.
Tonglen transforms our natural tendency to avoid pain into compassion.
Seven Point Mind Training
Written about in
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about compassion
On the in-breath, take in someone's pain; on the out-breath, send them relief. The practice reverses what the body wants, on purpose.
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about grief
Atisha's instruction is to breathe in what is painful and breathe out what is helpful. Applied to grief, tonglen turns you toward everyone else burying someone today rather than away from your own pain, and it is close to the only direct instruction this tradition gives for the feeling itself.