#30 Pema Chodron - Tonglen Meditation

Pema Chödrön is an American-born Buddhist nun and the author of books including When Things Fall Apart, Taking the Leap, and Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better. She serves as resident teacher at Gampo Abbey Monastery in Nova Scotia and is a student of Dzigar Kongtrul, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and the late Chögyam Trungpa.
This special feature of the Meditation Summit is an excerpt from an archival recording with Pema Chödrön on Good Medicine: How to Turn Pain into Compassion with Tonglen Meditation. Tonglen literally means “taking and sending” and is a Tibetan Buddhist practice for relieving suffering of ourselves, others, and the world. Pema illuminates:
• The “tonglen attitude,” an attitude we can use on the spot in order to soften our hearts and connect with our shared humanity
• Holding a tonglen attitude toward pain and also toward pleasure (what she calls “sharing the wealth”) in both small and big moments of our lives
• The formal practice of tonglen meditation-in this guided experience of tonglen, we select as the focus of our practice a family member who is suffering, and then we universalize our practice for all who suffer in a similar way