A miracle practice
to soothe your nervous system and work with suffering
I’ve been obsessed with this Buddhist practice for the last several months. You know how pharmaceutical ads have a certain tone that insinuates, “This drug is a miracle!”…You know the vibe. That is how I feel about this practice. It’s a miracle! I hope you’ll practice with me. The more you practice the easier it gets. You can sit and meditate for many minutes or you can practice it in small doses anywhere and anytime you are noticing someone suffering. There is no shortage of this. Suffering is everywhere.
A few months ago I opened up The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and turned to the pages on compassion. Compassion has become one of those words that exists in the mind, but I really don’t think many of us feel it, unless we slow down and really intend to get there. We can find sympathy on occasion, and for me, that’s easier than compassion. Because compassion is the place of true unconditional love for another human being without pity; without the judgement of circumstance. It’s a feeling that transcends sympathy and empathy and moves us toward loving action.
How do we get there?
Watching the news or hearing it from others can definitely get us to places of sympathy or anger possibly fueling advocacy, but most often they lead us to helplessly swirling and looking for relief from the pain. We become dis-regulated and lost in a sea of sorrow or anger. Ignoring world affairs completely or bypassing another’s discomfort will also not bring us to compassion. How do we find the healthy middle-path paved with the smooth stones of right and true compassion?
There is a way! It’s 100% neutral, unbiased and nonpartisan. It’s 100% free and nurturing to the self and to other. Maybe it’s even a little rebellious, because you undoubtedly have to slow down, while everything else is asking you to speed up.
Drum roll please! This is Tonglen. A practice I learned 25 years ago but never fully grasped until I started practicing it more recently and more consistently.
Rather than explain this practice of which I am very much a humble student, I leave you with a gifted beautiful teacher, Pema Chödrön to take you into this peaceful practice which for me, allows me to witness and experience suffering, while breathing, expanding and offering compassion from my heart.
May all of us, all beings, be happy and free.