Chapter 5. Practice Lojong with Tonglen

5. Practice Lojong with Tonglen

Whatever numberless wealth you have, whatever numberless enjoyments you have, however many hats you have, however many trousers you have, however many coats you have (for wintertime, for summertime, and for springtime), however many shoes you have (for outside, for inside, and for parties), however much money you have in the bank, make charity of all these to every sentient being—to the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, and suras. Think that these things also become wish-granting and that they receive whatever they want and whatever they need. Then, think that the numberless hell beings become enlightened, the numberless hungry ghosts become enlightened, the numberless animals become enlightened, the numberless human beings become enlightened, the numberless asuras become enlightened, and the numberless suras become enlightened.   (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the actor Richard Gere at Root Institute, 2017 (photo by Ven. Losang Sherab)

POINTS FOR REFLECTION

As you read this chapter of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and watch the video excerpts keep the following points in mind and reflect on them:

1. What is one of the benefits of tonglen?
2. What should you do when you are sick and dying?
3. What should you write down to do when you are dying?
4. What should you study and why before doing tonglen?
5. What is the motivation for taking others’ suffering upon yourself?
6. What is the motivation for giving them your happiness?
7. How should you visualize your body when giving it away?
8. What else can you visualize giving away?
9. What do sentient beings receive from you?

Once you have finished reading this chapter, do the related meditations and mindfulness practices. 

Colophon for the Points for Reflection

The points for reflection were compiled by Ven. Joan Nicell, FPMT Education Services, August 2017. 

Tonglen is the Most Powerful Bodhichitta Practice

Please let me tell you about tonglen. I already explained that the purpose of lojong is not to stop the problem but to use the problem, to make it useful, like making kaka into gold or making poisonous food into medicinal food for a healthy body, a healthy mind, and a long life, but you also need to understand [the practice of tonglen]. Tong means to dedicate your happiness and virtue to other sentient beings and len means to take other sentient beings’ suffering and its causes on yourself; that is tonglen.^[1]

A long time ago, in Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, there was a kind of young man, whose name I don’t remember now. When he went to Dharamsala for the first time and stayed there for a little while, he met a very high lama, Rato Rinpoche, who was my root guru’s sort of heart disciple. Rato Rinpoche was a very good lama whose way of speaking and manners were like those of my root guru, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. The man from Singapore met his guru, Rato Rinpoche, there and then went back to Singapore where he got AIDS. He asked his guru what to do and Rato Rinpoche advised him to do tonglen, the practice of taking other sentient beings’ suffering upon oneself and of giving one’s happiness and merit to other sentient beings. Rato Rinpoche explained how to do tonglen meditation through his translator, an English lady, who translated his letter. So he did tonglen, as Rato Rinpoche had explained, due to which he recovered from AIDS. I thought he must have done the practice very strongly for many hours over many weeks but he told me that he only did it for a short time, not for weeks, not even for days. I think he did it four times, but even that took just a minute or something like that.

Please listen and understand this. When he did tonglen, even though he did it for only four minutes or something short, he did it with unbelievable compassion arising for sentient beings. Each time he did it for only a minute, but with so much compassion arising, wow, and so many tears coming out that it made him recover from his AIDS. It is the same thing that I told you happened to Getsul Tsembulwa; out of unbelievable compassion he sacrificed himself for an ordinary lady who was so filthy dirty that there was no way to touch her. Similarly the man from Singapore generated so much compassion for others that tears came to his eyes and, even though he did the meditation for such a short time, his AIDS recovered. That happened and he survived for quite a few more years but then he died quite a long time ago now.

So please understand that [recovering from an illness] is one of the benefits of tonglen. This story also shows how powerful tonglen meditation is; it is the best and most powerful bodhichitta practice. Like a hero running to fight an enemy, tonglen runs toward your enemy, the self-cherishing thought, to destroy it. [Tonglen practice] is the real hero.

Another thing is that maybe two years ago, a student from Lama Yeshe’s time, Ueli, who is from Switzerland but lives in Mongolia, had very high blood pressure when he was in Nepal. I did a divination and it came out good for him to do tonglen, so he did tonglen. Every time he did tonglen his blood pressure came down. You understand? That is how powerful it is. It was just his mind, the way of using his mind, for bodhichitta practice and it just took him a half hour each time, but his blood pressure came down without any medicine, just meditation.

I haven’t noticed yet that mindfulness—making the mind not busy, just controlling the mind, the mind watching the breath, or the mind watching the mind—brings the blood pressure down. Mindfulness should bring the blood pressure down because it doesn’t keep your mind active and busy, nor is your mind negative since it doesn’t have any kind of poison, such as anger or attachment, present, and instead you are keeping your mind calm on the breath or watching the mind, but I haven’t heard any proof yet that somebody recovered from high blood pressure by doing it. That could be an experiment as there is quite a bit of advertisement for mindfulness done on TV.

Also after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where there was so much fighting and killing, when the soldiers who survived came back to America, because they had seen all kinds of violence, their minds were kind of like lost, they could not see any purpose in life, and many of them became very disturbed and even suicidal. So the American government introduced mindfulness meditation to the army. In this meditation one stops thinking about the past and stops thinking about the future, and only thinks about now. That’s kind of the nature of the meditation. It helps them. It makes them better. Their minds are not as crazy and sick. So now they use mindfulness meditation in the American army after soldiers come back from Iraq, for example.

But it has been proven that tonglen is beneficial for high blood pressure. And sorry but just to take the example of myself, when I had a pain in my stomach, I thought maybe it was cancer, and when I had pain in my eye, even though I didn’t actually begin to do tonglen but just thought about doing it, the pain went away. Even though I didn’t do tonglen strictly, just kind of loosely, or I just thought about doing it, the pain went away. The thought of good heart, the power of bodhichitta, is like that. It’s not that I have a realization of bodhichitta. No way. It takes many eons to collect the merit. But even just thinking to do tonglen, the pain went away.

So I suggest to do tonglen for cancer or whatever problem you have. Even if it doesn’t go away right away, you collect the highest merit and purify the heaviest negative karma. So even if the disease doesn’t go away right now, it makes your life so worthwhile and rich, due to the merits and purification. Each time you do tonglen you become closer to enlightenment. I hope that you can remember this, if I say it very strongly, so that it stays in your heart or brain: for any disease, any obstacle, any depression, for anything, tonglen is the best! It is the best!

Tonglen is also the best meditation to do when you are dying. When you die, if you do that meditation, wow, it is the best way of dying. You make your death beneficial for all sentient beings, the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless sura beings, and numberless asura beings. Your death is made beneficial for every sentient being to achieve enlightenment. You understand? So keep that in mind [instead of wondering,] “I’m dying, what should I do? Should I go to hospital?”

So write down in your diary book [that tonglen is the best meditation to do when you are dying] so that you will remember that. In Singapore, I told people to write down in a book what they want to do and what they want to meditate on when they are dying. Besides your will, write down the meditations that you are going to do and how you are going to think when you die. You must write it down. In Singapore I told the students there to write this down now to prepare their minds. It is very important!^[2]

If you are a Dharma practitioner, you have to prepare like that so you have no worry or fear about being born in the lower realms and all those other things, such as separating from your family and friends, your girlfriend or boyfriend, from your possessions, and even from the body that you have cherished most among the sentient beings. Even leaving this body, you will have no worry. Your mind will very happily leave it and your consciousness will transfer from this body to a pure land and so forth. Although Kadampa Geshe Chekawa always prayed, sincerely from his heart, not politically, to be born in hell for sentient beings, the day he was going to die a vision of a pure land happened around him. So he told his attendant, “I didn’t succeed at what I wanted” because he was going to be born in a pure land but what he had always prayed for was to be born in hell.

Even if you die alone in a cave somewhere and nobody knows where you are, do tonglen. You have that incredible freedom. I’m not sure if you can do that in hospital because there are so many machines moving your heart. But alone in a cave, you can do meditation, you can do refuge practice, and you can do tonglen. Wah! Amazing. You have total freedom. You can do meditation on bodhichitta, so that when you die, you die with bodhichitta. That is the best death. To die with bodhichitta is the best death. It is the best quality death. It is the most beneficial, as I said before. So if a doctor says you have cancer, do that! It’s the best. You understand?

Tonglen is the Best Puja

Video 5: Tonglen is the Best Puja

(duration: 11 minutes)

(You can read the transcript of the video below. Alternatively, you can read the same transcript alongside the video by clicking here to download it or view it in a separate window.)

I should explain that although there are more details about tonglen, the essence is that by generating compassion for suffering sentient beings, you take their sufferings on yourself. But first you have to read and study the lamrim, especially all the detailed sufferings [explained in the context of] kyebu chungwa, [lower capable beings], otherwise you won’t have any idea of the sufferings of the lower realms. Then you take the oceans of suffering of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals on yourself. Then you take both causes of suffering, delusion and karma, on yourself. Then, you take all the sufferings of human beings, asuras, and suras and their causes on yourself. To do this you must also read the lamrim, the essence of the Buddhadharma, to understand the sufferings of suras, asuras, and human beings. Otherwise, you will have no idea of all their sufferings and there will be no way for you to develop compassion for them.

[Visualize] taking these sufferings in your heart. When America is fighting in Afghanistan or somewhere else, from far away they throw a missile right at a place marked with a cross where the enemy army is and, boom, destroy it into pieces. Like that, you receive the suffering and it destroys the self-cherishing thought. What didn’t allow you to achieve enlightenment from beginningless rebirth up to now, what didn’t allow you to achieve even nirvana, liberation from samsara, and has caused you to suffer in the six realms, and what also will not allow you to achieve enlightenment in the future and free the numberless sentient beings from samsara and enlighten them, is your selfish mind. The suffering hits that and destroys it totally. It also eliminates the real I, the object of ignorance, and then you see that the real I is nonexistent as it is nonexistent there, right there. So your ignorance, your root of your samsara, is eliminated. Meditate on that.

Then generate loving kindness for sentient beings and first dedicate your body to them. My root guru, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, said that you should not do the visualization that comes in the Chod practice,^[1] where there is the white distribution and red distribution. The “red distribution” means that you visualize your body as mountains of skin, blood, and bones and invoke the spirits who eat it and that same minute it is gone. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche said that here in the lamrim you should visualize your body as a wish-granting jewel, such as the eight-sided wish-granting jewel, the Tibetan wish-granting jewel. You think of a wish-granting jewel, which becomes numberless wish-granting jewels filling the whole sky. Then offer these to the numberless hell beings. Each one receives skies of wish-granting jewels. Then do the same for the hungry ghosts; every hungry ghost receives the skies of wish-granting jewels that your body has become. Then every animal—those in the ocean, in the ground, and in the grass—receives your numberless bodies in the form of wish-granting jewels. Then the numberless human beings, numberless sura beings, numberless asura beings, and numberless intermediate state beings receive skies of wish-granting jewels.

They get whatever they think of and whatever they need, including enlightenment. They get everything—whatever they want and whatever they need. What they need is Dharma, a virtuous friend, and the realizations up to enlightenment, so they get these. They also get whatever they want, such as temporary happiness. Everyone—the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, and suras—becomes enlightened.

That is just in short. In some of the lamrim teachings many more details are explained, but here, just in short, they become enlightened.

Then, make charity of your numberless wealth and numberless enjoyments—however many hats you have, however many trousers you have, however many coats you have (for wintertime, for summertime, and for springtime), however many shoes you have (for outside, for inside, and for parties), however much money you have in the bank—to every sentient being, the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, and suras. These also become wish-granting, so they receive whatever they want and whatever they need from them. Then, the numberless hell beings become enlightened, the numberless hungry ghosts become enlightened, the numberless animals become enlightened, the numberless human beings become enlightened, the numberless asuras become enlightened, and the numberless suras become enlightened.

Then, dedicate all your merits—the virtues collected in numberless samsaric rebirths, in the past from beginningless rebirths, those you are collecting now, and those you will collect in the future—to them. Dedicate all that merit, past, present, and future, to the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, suras, and intermediate state beings. From it they get whatever they want and whatever they need—this life’s happiness, next life’s happiness, ultimate happiness (freedom from samsara), and peerless happiness (the cessation of obscurations and completion of realizations). They get everything. The numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, suras, and intermediate state beings get everything up to enlightenment. It’s incredible. This is the best puja you can do in your life. It’s the best puja; you collect the highest merit and it is the greatest and most powerful purification. Each time you do tonglen, you become closer and closer to enlightenment. It’s like that. It’s amazing, amazing, amazing.

(End of Video 5: Tonglen is the Best Puja)

The Meditations

When you have finished reading this chapter and watching the videos, do the following meditations by reflecting on the quotes drawn from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings. During the meditation session, you can re-read the related section of the chapter to refresh your memory. Try to make the meditations as personal and meaningful as possible.

To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, each meditation session should last a minimum of half an hour. Start the session with a short bodhichitta motivation and, if you like, do some preliminary prayers. End the session with some dedication prayers. Spend at least 20 minutes of the session doing the actual meditation.

View or download:

• instructions for meditation posture
• preliminary and dedication prayers

To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, keep track of the meditations you do using the Personal Log. Then, when you finish the entire module, tick them off in the Checklist for the Certificate of Achievement.

Meditation 9: Dedicate Your Body to Others

By generating compassion for suffering sentient beings, take their sufferings on yourself. Take the oceans of suffering of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals on yourself. Then take both causes of suffering, delusion and karma, on yourself. Then, take all the sufferings of human beings, asuras, and suras and their causes on yourself.

[Visualize] taking these sufferings in your heart. You receive the suffering and it destroys the self-cherishing thought that doesn’t allow you to achieve nirvana, liberation from samsara, and has caused you to suffer in the six realms. It also hits and totally destroys the selfish mind that also does not allow you to achieve enlightenment in the future and free numberless sentient beings from samsara and enlighten them. It also eliminates the real I, the object of ignorance. Meditate on that a little bit.

Then generate loving kindness for sentient beings and begin by dedicating your body to them. Visualize your body as numberless eight-sided wish-granting jewels filling the whole sky. Then offer these wish-granting jewels to the numberless hell beings and each one receives skies of wish-granting jewels. Then do the same for the hungry ghosts, every hungry ghost receives skies of wish-granting jewels. Then every animal, in the ocean, in the ground, in the grass, receives your body numberless times in the form of wish-granting jewels. Then the numberless human beings, numberless sura beings, numberless asura beings, and numberless intermediate state beings receive skies of wish-granting jewels. They get whatever they want and whatever they need. What they need is Dharma, a virtuous friend, and the realizations up to enlightenment, so they get these. They also get whatever they want, such as temporary happiness, and then everyone—the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, and suras—becomes enlightened.   (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Meditate on tonglen: motivated by compassion take others’ suffering upon yourself, and motivated by loving kindness give your body to other sentient beings. 

(To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement do this meditation at least one time.)

The Mindfulness Practices

Dedicate an entire day to one mindfulness practice. As you go about your normal activities, try to bring that mindfulness practice to mind as often as possible by reflecting on the words of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

To help you remember to do the mindfulness practices, print the Mindfulness Cards, cut them into the form of cards, and put them in places where you will see them easily and often throughout the day. 

To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, keep track of the mindfulness practices you do using the Personal Log. Then, when you finish the entire module, tick them off in the Checklist for the Certificate of Achievement.

Mindfulness Practice 7: Do Tonglen for Any Problem

So I suggest to do tonglen for cancer or whatever problem you have. Even if it doesn’t go away right away, you collect the highest merit and purify the heaviest negative karma. So even if the disease doesn’t go away right now, it makes your life so worthwhile and rich, due to the merits and purification. Each time you do tonglen you become closer to enlightenment. I hope that you can remember this, if I say it very strongly, so that it stays in your heart or brain: for any disease, any obstacle, any depression, for anything, tonglen is the best! It is the best!   (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Do tonglen throughout the day whenever you encounter any kind of problem or suffering yourself and when you see someone else experiencing any kind of problem or suffering.

(To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement do this mindfulness practice as much as possible for two full days.)

Colophon for the Mindfulness Practices

The mindfulness practices were compiled by Ven. Joan Nicell, FPMT Education Services, August 2017, for Living in the Path.