Tonglin - Breathing Meditation from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition

Tonglin is a very simple practice of breathing in blackness and breathing out pure white light – at least this was my first impression of it as gathered from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Many folks are initially put off by the idea of breathing in blackness, and stop their process with it there. This is a loss, for it is the basic power of transformation that is accessible by each individual that creates everything in our world. Why should we not enable transformation intentionally in this way? There is no reason.

It is important to recognize that we are not amazing healers because we can do this; we are simply acknowledging our position in the universe, welcoming the connection to every other part. We swim within the same soup that was touched by Buddha, Christ and other compassionate beings that are able to transform and heal. It is love that allows us access to each other, and it is through our intention and breath that we have access to something greater than ourselves; something that may have such a powerful impact as the transformation we seek.

Since that first introduction, I have learned that there are many variations on this meditation – breathing in what is suffering and breathing out what is healing. The reciprocal relationship between these two phenomena – dark and light, suffering and healing – means that the precise nature of one is directly variable in relationship to the other. Every suffering can be met with healing, every dark obliterated with lightness, and vice versa.

The way I have practiced Tonglin, is just as simple as I stated previously. On the Inbreath I take in all of the blackness, and on the Outbreath I breathe out pure white light. This may be hard to imagine, our minds may get the best of us and try to hold in some bits of what is dark, not breathing out a purity but a mixed blend. Practice guides us to consistency and within a few breaths you will see that it comes more easily. This can be done for a few breaths at a time, when waking, waiting, or working. Or it can be a dedicated practice for 20 minutes at a time, or more.

When learning, give yourself a chance to fully experience this practice. Take a comfortable seat in a quiet space, alone or with a group, near a person/situation you want to help if applicable or at a distance if necessary – either way works. Close your eyes and begin to breathe from your belly, allowing your navel to move out and away from your spine on the Inbreath and to fall back in towards your spine on the Outbreath. We call this baby belly breathing, as it is the way we breathe when we are born, and before we move all up into our heads and chests.

I feel the need to bring up Love once more. When embraced fully, this is one of the most powerful forces we have. It is ultimately expansive. Focus on that if you find trouble with the imagery of pure white light.

Tonglin can be more directed or more basic, the target can be very specific or very general. For example, the blackness can be drawn from an illness, a hurt feeling, a fearful thought – all either within a friend or yourself, from the suffering of the world or as a means of transforming the energy in a space. On the out breath, again, just breathe out pure white light (or Love), which is directed at any of what was mentioned before.

In case my words are not as clear as I had hoped, here is another way of stating a description. In The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Soygal Rinpoche, writes that Tonglin is breathing in what is to be healed or transformed through your heart and beyond it to the heart of the Buddha. On the exhale, you breathe the healing or transformation from that heart beyond yourself through your own heart to the heart of others.

Importantly, Soygal says that if you think you are doing the "work" (the healing, the transformation, etc.), you will get sick. If the inhale stops with you, the toxicity will stop with you. He says the practice should constantly remind us that our intention and breath are just a vehicle to connect us to something beyond.


· ** The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying was written by Soygal Rinpoche and was first published in the U.S, in 1992. Additionally, Chapter Five of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, which gives a detailed presentation of meditation, was published separately by Harper Collins under the title Meditation, ISBN 0-06-251114-9
· ** For another quick link to learn more about Tonglin - http://www.innerself.com/Meditation/weiss_andrew_60604.htm
· ** For more information on Basic principles of mutual interdependence in YIN-YANG theory, try http://www.tcmbasics.com/basics_yinyang_theory.htm