Meditation: Awakening Compassion With Tonglen

Today's practice will be awakening compassion.

The opening that happens with the compassion practice is the suffering that we contact shifts from being my pain,

My fear,

My grief,

To the pain,

The fear,

The grief.

And as we'll practice today,

The Tungling practice which I really love and find really powerful very explicitly will take us from reflecting on a place of suffering within our own being and then opening out to include all those others who suffer in the same way so we can really in a very direct,

Visceral way start learning to feel this heart-space that includes all of our suffering,

The suffering,

The pain.

So a way to begin and to let you know there are many styles of compassion practice and many versions even of Tungling.

So as with everything this is one particular style and the invitation is to experiment.

Even as you practice today if let's say I describe breathing and feeling certain things and you decide the breath isn't really useful to you just drop it,

Experiment.

Let's begin with the breath.

And a way to begin that is very much part of the classic training in Tungling is to sense with the breathing in that what you are breathing in is the substance and grit,

The darkness,

It's almost got a kind of granule texture that you are actually breathing in the earthy stuff of the world that is easy to get stuck on,

To get collected around,

It's this willingness to breathe in the stuff of life,

Breathing in and sensing the substance and texture.

And the breathing out is a sense of perhaps coolness,

Space,

Relaxing out into more openness.

You might think of it as breathing in and contacting form and breathing out and sensing and dissolving into space.

To reflect some and sense if there is any part of your experience that is asking for a healing attention,

Any place where you have been feeling stuck,

You feel like you have contracted or gotten reactive,

That you would like to bring the healing presence of Tungling to in this sitting.

And just to help you get in touch a bit more because,

Again,

The beginning of really arousing compassion is this willingness to fully contact the dimensions of where we are identified and stuck just to let whatever situation or outer circumstance might be a trigger,

If there is one,

Bring that to mind.

And if it's certain thoughts that go on in your mind,

That's the trigger to let them be there.

So this is actually we are inviting the story line for a little bit.

Sensing the context for what triggers you,

Thoughts about the future,

What's going to go wrong,

Conflict with another person,

Something that feels unacceptable in yourself,

Just bringing it right close in so you can sense the worst part of this for you,

What's most painful or most difficult to be with.

When you are stuck just if you are aware of it what story you are telling yourself just to mark that in mindfulness,

What the leaf or story is there.

It might be something like I am going to fail or I always fail or I am not lovable or I have hurt those I love,

In some way I am bad,

I am wrong,

Something is going to happen that I can't handle.

Just sense what the story or belief might be.

And as if you are fully trying it on just sense what it is like to live inside that,

To really believe that.

Just take your time to invite whatever places in your body feel most vulnerable,

Most in pain,

Most afraid,

Most ashamed.

It helps you can actually let your face take the expression of what that vulnerability feels like.

It will help you contact it.

Feel your throat,

Your chest,

Your belly so that your breathing in now begins to contact where you most feel vulnerable,

The breathing in as a way of saying,

Yes,

I am willing to touch this,

Feel this,

Receive this.

And then as you breathe out still feeling the contraction or tightness or whatever it is,

Put sense within it,

Around it,

Just sense the space that is here.

So you are breathing in and directly contacting the felt sense of vulnerability.

But with the out-breath you are remembering and contacting the space that is actually inside it and around it.

It is fine to just imagine that for the time being with the intention of offering space,

Of connecting to something larger.

If you find that you are spaced out then emphasize the in-breath,

Asking what wants attention in your body and heart.

If it feels very large,

Intense,

Overwhelming then emphasize the out-breath,

Sensing the space that is in the room,

Beyond.

So you get… you ventilate,

You let it float a bit in something larger.

Breathing into the depth of where the vulnerability is,

Sensing its deepest need,

What it is wanting.

With the out-breath,

Sensing that space,

The interior space within even the most vulnerable part of you,

The space around.

With the out-breath,

Sense that that space is filled with tenderness,

Kindness,

Love.

So you are breathing in and contacting the vulnerability and breathing out and sensing the space within and around that is unconditionally tender.

Breathing in and contacting the fear,

The hurt,

The shame.

Breathing out and sensing it can float in a space,

A heart-space of kindness.

The more deeply with the in-breath you contact the poignancy of vulnerability,

The more fully with the out-breath you will sense the space it is arising out of,

An incredible tenderness in the space that holds it.

You might start sensing with the in-breath that that loving presence is still here.

And the out-breath that that vulnerability can unfold itself can rest in the loving presence.

Widening the attention now to imagine and bring to mind others who might be struggling with the same domain of suffering.

And if you can you might bring to mind real,

Live individuals you know.

And also to sense the multitudes,

How so many of us have the same current of shame or fear,

Of hurt.

So you are breathing in for all of us now.

It is a brave kind of inviting the truth and fullness of this version of suffering to be felt.

And with the out-breath sensing the vastness,

The unlimited space of tenderness that it can bathe in,

Be healed in,

Be transformed in.

Breathing in and contacting the suffering,

The shared suffering.

And breathing out and sensing that continuous heart-space that is interior within each of us and fills all space everywhere.

We continue by taking some moments to bring to mind one person in your life that you would like to offer some particular healing presence to,

One person that you sense is suffering that you would like to bring into your awareness right now in a close-in way.

And as you do imagine and sense you could look through this person's eyes at the world,

Feel with this person's heart,

Really sense what story this person might be living inside that is causing suffering.

And it is fine just to imagine,

Just to imagine.

And to allow yourself to feel what is it like so that as you breathe in you again willingly contact in a very visceral way in your body the felt sense of that suffering.

As you breathe out sensing the space that can hold it.

Breathing in and feeling the vulnerability in your own throat,

Chest,

Belly,

And your body.

Breathing out and sensing the space right interior to all the sensations and feelings that the experience arises from,

The space that surrounds,

Let it be tender,

Kind,

Infused with,

So you sense that person floating in your heart.

And as you do sense the need within that vulnerability,

What does this person most need?

And sense yourself offering with the out-breath the essence of what is needed.

It might be the simple message like Thich Nhat Hanh puts it,

Darling,

I care about the suffering.

Or I am keeping you company.

Or I am sorry and I love you.

Feeling that person floating there in your heart-space and then including all those that might be suffering in this very same way,

Enduring the same deep loss or fear or hurt,

And breathing out offering that space that is infused with compassion that can hold the suffering world.

And then letting go of any thought of another particular kind of suffering.

And spend these last few minutes just resting as loving awareness,

Letting whatever arises be touched with care.

May we discover the heart-space where everything that is is welcome.

May we recognize that heart-space in all beings,

That continuous heart-space,

That it is our shared essence and may we live from it.

Namaste.