Tonglen · giving and taking
A compassion practice of imagining receiving suffering and offering happiness and well-being, often coordinated with the breath.
Training in compassion
Tonglen (Tibetan gtong len) brings the wish to relieve suffering into meditation. Practitioners imagine taking on suffering and its causes, and giving happiness and the conditions for well-being. This is a contemplative practice of compassion and bodhicitta, not a claim that breathing literally transfers another person’s illness.
Within mind training
Chekawa’s Seven Points of Mind Training connects giving and taking with the breath. Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains it as a way to loosen self-centered habits and strengthen concern for others. Tonglen is one practice within the wider lojong tradition; the two names do not mean exactly the same thing.