
Tonglen, as Judy Lief explains in the coming July 2012 issue of the Shambhala Sun, is a meditation practice in which “we breathe out what we normally cling to and breathe in what we usually avoid” to connect with suffering and change our relationship with others. In the following piece, Emily Strasser visits with a Tibetan monk in India who’s putting tonglen into practice to help the children in his community.
Ten years ago, a young Tibetan monk, Jamyang, sat outside his room in Dharamsala reading about the tonglen practice. The day was sunny, and above him the clouds played in the mountain peaks. From the Tibetan words tong, “to give,” and len, “to take,” tonglen describes a meditation in which the practitioner visualizes breathing in the suffering of the world in the form of thick black smoke, and breathing out his own joy and comfort, as clear and luminous air. Continued

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has announced that he will 



Time now for a little meditation inspiration, by way of
What does it mean to be in the moment? What does it mean to be mindful?
Making its television premiere on 


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