20th Feb 2006
Taking in Poison as Medicine
We spend much of our lives avoiding suffering, turning away from connecting to pain and sorrow. We often act as though the darkness is the exception to the rule rather than an important part of the wholeness of life. Darkness, that is pain, suffering, hurt, tragedy, is the gateway to developing compassion within ourselves.
The Buddhist practice of tonglen is a method to connect to suffering. Briefly, the practice entails breathing in suffering, pain, and hurt, and breathing out light and joy. That’s it. You breathe in pain into your heart and breathe out clarity and light. Often people envision taking in a dark stormy cloud into their heart and then radiating light as they expel air. Rather than turning away from suffering, you embrace it.
You can do this as a meditation with your eyes closed for a coworker, your boss, or someone you supervise.
In a panel discussion, Good Medicine for this World, Alice Walker and Pema Chodron give their insight into how this practice is helpful.
Alice Walker: I was surprised how the heart literally responds to this practice. You can feel it responding physically. As you breathe in what is difficult to bear, there is initial resistance, which is the fear, the constriction. That’s the time when you really have to be brave. But if you keep going and doing the practice, the heart actually relaxes. That is quite amazing to feel.
Pema Chödrön: When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we’re supposed to live up to. We feel we’re supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain—breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are—heightens your awareness of exactly where you’re stuck. Instead of feeling you need some magic makeover so you can suddenly become some great person, there’s much more emotional honesty about where you’re stuck.
