Luke 9:23: Then [Jesus] said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“Tonglen for Others: Imagine…someone who is suffering and in pain. As you breathe in, imagine you take in all their suffering and pain with compassion, and as you breathe out, send your warmth, healing, love, joy, and happiness streaming out to them.” – The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, p. 208. Over the centuries, Christians have often understood Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross as the work of Jesus taking on the suffering of others, even taking on the suffering of all of humanity.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying continues, “Practicing Tonglen on one friend in pain helps you to begin the process of gradually widening the circle of compassion to take on the suffering and purify the karma of all beings, and to give them all your happiness, well-being, joy, and peace of mind. This is the wonderful goal of Tonglen practice, and in a large sense, of the whole path of compassion” (p. 209). Luke’s Jesus proclaims, “If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (9:23). In all three synoptic gospels, Jesus declares that his followers must “take up their cross” (Matthew 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27). The Lukan text in chapter 9, however, includes the word “daily,” clearly pointing to something beyond literal martyrdom. The task of “taking up the cross” is an event repeated day after day after day.
If Jesus is our teacher, our model, and our exemplar, then our work as his followers is to try our best to follow his lead. It may seem frightening or overwhelming to visualize taking on the suffering of others, but the Tibetan Buddhist tradition offers us the visualization practices of Tonglen whereby we are invited to imagine the suffering of someone else as a dark cloud within them. We are invited to breathe in this dark cloud and use it to crack open the fortress of ego that so often keeps our heart from truly feeling the pain of the other. We are invited to use that darkness to split open our hearts so that the bright rays of love within us can flow out to others who are suffering and in need.
Some people may fear that “breathing in the suffering of others” will bring harm to themselves. The Tibetan Book states, “Know for certain…that the only thing Tonglen could harm is the one thing that has been harming you the most: your own ego, your self-grasping, self-cherishing mind, which is the root of suffering” (p. 212). The practice of Tonglen gives us a fresh meaning to Jesus on the cross and invites us each to “take up our cross” as often as possible, perhaps eventually following the full dictate of Luke 9:23 and practicing Tonglen daily.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
It is recommended that you begin Tonglen practice on yourself, allowing the caring, compassionate part of your self to purify and heal the angry, fearful, sick, embittered, and/or hurt parts of yourself. Breathe in the dark clouds of your pain and suffering, give to yourself the healing bright joy of your loving kindness. Begin with yourself, expand to friends and loved ones, then practice Tonglen for those you feel neutral toward, and later offer healing to people you dislike or those who have caused you pain. Offer ever-widening circles of healing. Be a follower of Jesus, our teacher on healing. Take up the cross again and again through your Tonglen practice.
(Music: Courtesy of Adrian Von Ziegler, “Circle of Life.” )