lojong, training in compassion and kindness, tonglen
i've recently taken a more direct interest in lojong. it's a practice that helped me a lot with g'mah, and it goes hand in hand with zazen or other types of meditation and practice as well.
specifically i enjoyed tonglen, which is a practice of sending and receiving by meditation. the meditation is to use the deep and slow inward breath to take in suffering and transform it into joy and on a deep and slow exhale we radiate joy back out. it's a practice that focuses specifically on raising our capabilities for compassion
the practice is used to strengthen resolve in normally uncomfortable situations. something like being in the presence of someone on their death bed and feeling uncomfortable so you don't know how to behave or what to say. or like me dealing with g'mah and her dementia.
there's some cool reading about lojong and tonglen around the internet. i ended up picking up a book from the library that was decent, but the language felt alienating sometimes, so i didn't finish it. but i kept reading around the internet and watched a few talks by pema chodron.
