How to Tonglen: Practicing Bodhichitta and Metta Meditation with Zasep Rinpoche

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How to Tonglen: Practicing Bodhichitta and Metta Meditation with Zasep Rinpoche

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Among the best known — and yet most mysterious — practices in Tibetan Buddhism is the kindness Metta meditation known as Tonglen. Described as a Bodhichitta practice, "a wonderful practice!" especially for healing, Venerable Zasep Rinpoche teaches why it is important, the merit of the practice, and how to actually perform Tonglen visualization meditation. (Guided video below.)

"You send out your love to all sentient beings," says Zasep Rinpoche. Tonglen is a recommended practice for developing Bodhichitta, and creating merit for yourself — and helping others with healing. Tonglen is often practised for people who are sick or dying to relieve their suffering.

The Tibetan practice of "giving" love and healing energy, and "taking away" the suffering of others, visualized as a meditation. The act of generosity, of giving your best, and taking into yourself the darkness, is an act of Metta kindness.

This beautiful, short teaching ends with the wonderful Om Mani Padme Hum compassion mantra, magnificently chanted by Yoko Dharma.

Make yourself comfortable, think kind thoughts, and listen as Venerable Zasep Rinpoche teaches Tonglen and guides you through visualizing "sending out your love and healing”, then “taking in the suffering of others."

For a transcript and more details on this practice, see the original feature on Buddha Weekly.

Citation

Zasep Tulku. "How to Tonglen: Practicing Bodhichitta and Metta Meditation with Zasep Rinpoche." Produced by Buddha Weekly Mar 21, 2018. Video, 16:02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoDyf-0Vl9Y.

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Mettā - The unconditional wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness. It is a form of universal, selfless love and is one of the four immeasurables (or sublime abodes). Skt मैत्री  Tib བྱམས་པ་  Ch 慈  

Go to the page with the definition of 'kindness'

Mettā - The unconditional wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness. It is a form of universal, selfless love and is one of the four immeasurables (or sublime abodes). Skt मैत्री  Tib བྱམས་པ་  Ch 慈  

Go to the page with the definition of 'kindness'

Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

Go to the page with the definition of 'merit'

Mettā - The unconditional wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness. It is a form of universal, selfless love and is one of the four immeasurables (or sublime abodes). Skt मैत्री  Tib བྱམས་པ་  Ch 慈  

Go to the page with the definition of 'love'

Mettā - The unconditional wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness. It is a form of universal, selfless love and is one of the four immeasurables (or sublime abodes). Skt मैत्री  Tib བྱམས་པ་  Ch 慈  

Go to the page with the definition of 'love'

Vīrya - Diligence is the joyful and consistent effort applied to virtuous actions and spiritual practice. It acts as the engine that drives progress and prevents laziness or discouragement on the path. Skt वीर्य  Tib བརྩོན་འགྲུས་  Ch 精進  

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Karuṇā - The profound wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. It is a core virtue in Buddhism and, in the Mahāyāna tradition, develops into 'great compassion' (mahākaruṇā), the driving force behind the pursuit of enlightenment for the benefit of others. Skt करुणा  Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་  Ch 悲  

Go to the page with the definition of 'compassion'