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In this chapter Toni talks about Tonglen practice. I imagine that most people here know what this practice is and have probably tried it. It doesn’t resonate for everyone but, similarly to her, it has been such a really important part of my illness practice that Jundo asked me to lead the Tonglen sessions here that Washin and I share every Sunday.
So, while you can read what Toni has to say, I will just give a little of my own history with the practice.
After I had a major illness crash in the early 2000s, I asked for a local spiritual healer to come to my house. At the time I didn’t know that she was (and still is) the co-ordinator for Canterbury Tibet Link which is a Tibetan Buddhism practice group under the auspices of Tibetan teachers. To be honest, the healing itself did nothing but as a passing comment on leaving she said I needed to read Pema Chödrön’s book When Things Fall Apart. It was from there that I first met with Tonglen.
As Toni says, Tonglen practice twists the normal kind of healing meditation (breathe in health, breathe out all the negative stuff) on its head so that we breathe in the suffering of others and send them loving kindness. Often, we work with kinds of suffering we experience ourselves, such as the pain and grief of illness, so that we see our suffering is part of a wider web of experience and we feel for those people and beings who are going through what we are going through. And although here at Treeleaf we have a formal practice of Tonglen (here), the most useful part of the practice is that it can be used any time we encounter suffering in our daily life, whether it is our own or other people’s, and as most of us know encountering suffering happens a lot in chronic illness.
I practiced for a time with Buddhist teacher Ken McLeod, a Canadian who studied with and translated for the Tibetan master Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989). Ken became ill during a three year retreat and would just lie in bed doing Tonglen, so the practice became very important to him. He went on to translate one of the most important commentaries on mind training and Tonglen and teach it to others, of which I was a grateful recipient.
When we are sick, it is easy to feel alone and isolated. It is also easy to feel helpless and filled with negative thoughts. It may seem counterintuitive but, for me, including the suffering of others and generating loving kindness in Tonglen practice takes me out of the immediate focus on myself and whatever is happening for me. Similarly, at times when I am faced with the incredible suffering of others, such as on the news, it gives a way of staying with that suffering without feeling overwhelmed.
As ever, feel free to respond to the following questions or anything else in chapter eleven which stood out for you.
Have you tried the practice of Tonglen and, if so, have you found it useful in dealing with your illness or the illness or a person you care for?
If you haven’t tried Tonglen, do you think it might be something you could find useful? Do you have other practices that work in the same way for you?
The Treeleaf Tonglen Practice Circle meets each Sunday at 8pm UK time (3pm East Coast USA, 12pm West Coast) in the Scheduled Sitting Room (SSR) so feel free to join us or sit along with the latest recording: https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/foru...RACTICE-CIRCLE
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
In this chapter Toni talks about Tonglen practice. I imagine that most people here know what this practice is and have probably tried it. It doesn’t resonate for everyone but, similarly to her, it has been such a really important part of my illness practice that Jundo asked me to lead the Tonglen sessions here that Washin and I share every Sunday.
So, while you can read what Toni has to say, I will just give a little of my own history with the practice.
After I had a major illness crash in the early 2000s, I asked for a local spiritual healer to come to my house. At the time I didn’t know that she was (and still is) the co-ordinator for Canterbury Tibet Link which is a Tibetan Buddhism practice group under the auspices of Tibetan teachers. To be honest, the healing itself did nothing but as a passing comment on leaving she said I needed to read Pema Chödrön’s book When Things Fall Apart. It was from there that I first met with Tonglen.
As Toni says, Tonglen practice twists the normal kind of healing meditation (breathe in health, breathe out all the negative stuff) on its head so that we breathe in the suffering of others and send them loving kindness. Often, we work with kinds of suffering we experience ourselves, such as the pain and grief of illness, so that we see our suffering is part of a wider web of experience and we feel for those people and beings who are going through what we are going through. And although here at Treeleaf we have a formal practice of Tonglen (here), the most useful part of the practice is that it can be used any time we encounter suffering in our daily life, whether it is our own or other people’s, and as most of us know encountering suffering happens a lot in chronic illness.
I practiced for a time with Buddhist teacher Ken McLeod, a Canadian who studied with and translated for the Tibetan master Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989). Ken became ill during a three year retreat and would just lie in bed doing Tonglen, so the practice became very important to him. He went on to translate one of the most important commentaries on mind training and Tonglen and teach it to others, of which I was a grateful recipient.
When we are sick, it is easy to feel alone and isolated. It is also easy to feel helpless and filled with negative thoughts. It may seem counterintuitive but, for me, including the suffering of others and generating loving kindness in Tonglen practice takes me out of the immediate focus on myself and whatever is happening for me. Similarly, at times when I am faced with the incredible suffering of others, such as on the news, it gives a way of staying with that suffering without feeling overwhelmed.
As ever, feel free to respond to the following questions or anything else in chapter eleven which stood out for you.
Have you tried the practice of Tonglen and, if so, have you found it useful in dealing with your illness or the illness or a person you care for?
If you haven’t tried Tonglen, do you think it might be something you could find useful? Do you have other practices that work in the same way for you?
The Treeleaf Tonglen Practice Circle meets each Sunday at 8pm UK time (3pm East Coast USA, 12pm West Coast) in the Scheduled Sitting Room (SSR) so feel free to join us or sit along with the latest recording: https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/foru...RACTICE-CIRCLE
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
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