Tonglen

Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice that imagines taking in others’ suffering and sending them happiness. It cultivates compassion and challenges self-centeredness.

Bodhicitta: The aspiration to attain awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Tonglen cultivates the compassionate aspiration that motivates the bodhisattva path.
Atisha: An eleventh-century Indian Buddhist master who helped transmit and reform Buddhism in Tibet. Tibetan accounts associate Atisha with the transmission of lojong teachings that include tonglen.
Pema Chödrön: An American Tibetan Buddhist nun and author known for teaching lojong and compassion practices. Her books and teachings have introduced tonglen to many English-speaking practitioners.
Metta: A Pali term for loving-kindness, cultivated through wishes for well-being toward oneself and others. Metta emphasizes sending benevolent wishes, while tonglen pairs giving with imaginatively taking in suffering.
Compassion: Concern for suffering that includes the wish to relieve it. Tonglen trains compassion by imaginatively receiving suffering rather than turning away.
Lojong: A Tibetan Buddhist tradition of mind training using contemplative instructions to transform self-centered habits. Tonglen is a central practice within lojong mind training.
Shantideva: An eighth-century Indian Buddhist philosopher and poet, author of the Bodhicaryāvatāra. His teachings on exchanging self and others illuminate tonglen’s challenge to self-centeredness.
Tummo: A Tibetan Buddhist completion-stage practice involving inner heat, subtle-body methods, and meditation. Tummo also uses breath and visualization, but pursues a different tantric aim and method.
Loving-kindness: A benevolent wish for the happiness and well-being of oneself and others. Tonglen’s sending phase extends wishes for happiness to those experiencing pain.
Seven-Point Mind Training: A Tibetan Buddhist system of lojong instructions traditionally associated with Chekawa Yeshe Dorje. Its instructions include the classic practice of taking and sending.

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