Tonglen

Years ago I informed my grandson, Kyle, that adults continue to learn all of their lives.  I remember his sweet little face looking up to me in astonishment because I'm sure he thought I already knew everything.  LOL!!  Oh the innocence of the young!

I just read a blog written by my niece in which she mentioned a Budhist meditative activity called tonglen.  The idea is that you breathe in all the pain of those you wish to help and breathe out peace and serenity for them.  I hope I got that right but that's what I took from it.

I have a deep belief in faith healing, that you can heal yourself with prayer or positive thoughts.  From there, my firm belief is that we can send healing thoughts to those in need and it will work for them.  I guess it's all part of how I think that all humans are single components of what most call god.  This is as close as I can get to even beginning to understand our existence here on earth.

Tonglen seems to reinforce that belief, that we are capable of physically influencing the wellness of another with our thoughts.  But it also must mean that we can influence either positively or negatively.  Gosh, just when I thought I'd found something nice, it turns out that maybe it can be used for evil, too.

Anyway, I do know that meditation (filling your mind with kind and peaceful thoughts) will change your character for the better.  The mind is a supremely powerful thing whether we use it for our own benefit or for the benefit of others.