30/08/2026
The GREAT Practice of THONG LEN.
In the light of the tragedy which is currently unfolding in Nepal and Tibet, as well as the great sufferings in many other parts of the world, we share this teaching from Jetsunma on the practice of Tonglen:
Many of you, I'm sure, know the practice of Tonglen: the sending and receiving practice which is attached to the Lojong or mind-training teachings, where we absorb the sufferings of others, and we give out our own wellbeing to them in return.
Now, common sense tells us that we should expel all the darkness from ourselves and absorb all the goodness and light. I mean, a lot of Tibetan practices but also for example New Age practices are dealing with expelling darkness and invoking light. But of course, the Lojong teachings are not common sense; they are Enlightenment sense. So therefore we reverse the whole process. The purpose is to invoke compassion in ourselves towards the pain of others and at the same time overcome our inherent egoistic self-protection.
For example, if we are sitting with a loved one who is very sick, then of course we want them to get well but usually there is also something inside us which doesn't quite verbalise but is nonetheless thinking, “I am glad it's them and not me...“ One time, when we were going through Tonglen with a group, somebody voiced it very well, as she said: “Yes, it is a really good meditation but it doesn't really work, does it?“ So it’s this thing inside us, which says, “It's lovely to sit here doing this but let's hope it is not too effective.“
For the practice itself, you think of somebody who is sick or suffering. It helps if it's someone that you have a natural attachment or feeling of love towards, because then we can evoke more easily a compassionate feeling towards them. This person can be actual. You could be sitting there with them, or you can simply visualise or think about them very strongly.
In the centre of one's own heart one visualises something like a small black pearl, or a small black bead, which represents that dark core of one's self-cherishing mind. And then with the inbreath one visualises, like a vacuum cleaner, that we suck up the sickness and any suffering and the karma which created that suffering and sickness. One visualises sucking all that up with the inbreath and it comes to us in a form of dark light or smoke or some very dark kind of energy. And then that is absorbing into that little dark pearl of self-cherishing.
So as one is breathing, one has this very strong desire to take that suffering. It's not just a visualisation, but really from one's heart, one is thinking how joyful one would feel if one could take in all this misery and pain of the other into oneself and then they will be released. Because unless one is really thinking that, it doesn't really hit the self-cherishing, right? If you're just automatically thinking of dark smoke and light, dark and light, but not really emotionally engaging in the fact that you wanted to take all the pain and suffering in yourself, then you won’t meet this little Me inside going, “Uhhh, are you sure?” And that’s what we’re working at. It's about breaking through this very hard crust of our self-protecting mind, which is sorry someone else is suffering but nonetheless at least it's them, not me.
So then this dark light is sucked up with the ingoing breath, goes down, hits this little knot of egoistic self-cherishing, and then that immediately transforms into like a pure crystal or a pearl of light which represents our inner Buddha-nature. The Buddha-nature, no matter how much darkness is absorbed, is never polluted. And so from our Buddha-nature radiates forth with the outgoing breath, this brilliant light of health, happiness, endless positive energy which then radiates out and merges and completely encompasses the person we are visualising or sitting in front of.
And so then one sits alternately absorbing the darkness and giving out one's light. But as I say, the effectiveness of this ultimately depends on the genuineness of one's aspiration.
So this practice is considered to be very very precious in the Tibetan tradition. It's something which is cultivated in older traditions from the lowest to the highest practitioner. Everybody knows about it and they use it, they use it a lot.
Because, as I say, not only might it bring benefit to the person one is trying to help, but it also very much directly faces our own egoistic concerns.
Many people find it a very useful practice, for example when they go to visit people who are sick or people who are dying, and you know, you sit there and you don't quite know what to do, then it's very nice just to sit there quietly and practise Tonglen. It might not necessarily on a physical level remove their sickness, but usually people remark that somehow inwardly they are feeling so much better and they don't know why.
I mean, our thoughts have a tremendous power as has been now proven scientifically. They have a great influence outside of our little brains and so this practice of Tonglen, if one does it really from the heart, can be very powerful.
