Tonglen

There are certain practices that I do.

I mean, meditation in general, and then certain types of meditation I like doing occasionally, like Tonglen.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

And then some of the visualization exercises that have been discussed in some of the books I've read.

And that's why

Lojong and Tonglen practices are so important for us.

And he said, this is really these practices are great for us beginners.

And he even

However, if we don't have some stability in our minds, it can lead to excessive emotion and attachment.

And we have to be very careful because that can overwhelm us and then burn us out.

I've been doing Tonglen for a long time.

I watch the news and it's just never ending.

That's self-focusedness, the opposite of Bodhisitta.

There are methods like Tonglen and certain Chenrezig practices that make it open faster and stay open more.

Someday you can request those.

Not today's teaching.

There's nothing there to be overwhelmed if you do that right.

Don't forget to thwap it.

It's an important part of Tonglen.

In fact, I think it's what Tonglen is for.

So there are a number of ways of doing Tonglen.

Many Tibetans like to do Tonglen visualizing the six realms and the hell realms and things like that.

But for Westerners, just with the way we've been brought up and with our past, that never feels very real to us.

We can come to believe, except maybe to Catholics.

But for most of us, it's really hard to emotionally believe in the hell realms as the Tibetans describe them.

And for Tonglen to work, you actually have to invest yourself in it.

So for that reason, we generally work with animals.

Animals that we see with our eyes, bugs, birds, fish.

I will not be teaching that full practice online, I don't think.

I think I want people around when we do that, but I will teach the practices up to the final part of that online, which would be Tonglen, which I will teach online, but as a limited retreat And there will be circumstances and prerequisites.

It took me to

really get that practice working about a year of concerted work on it in my cave.

Now, to decide on one thing is the second vital point, is to decide that this is the practice you're doing.

However, if you have the experience of a big dead old nothing, if it seems dark, not vital, your view, then you can do some Chenrezig practice, which I've already taught, or some Tonglen, together, not at the same time, in different sessions with your Zogchen, because that will lead you through symbols, through your unconscious mind, to directly perceive the vitality.

of open awareness.

The vitality of open awareness is Bodhisitta.