Videos hosted by Michael Erlewine

NEW E-BOOK
TONG-LEN: THE ALCHEMY OF REACTIONS

Note: I am taking a few days off for some Buddhist practice, so I might be off-blog for a while. Meanwhile here is another free e-book for those interested in mind training.. I have often written about Tong-len and have meant to make some of these articles available in a booklet for a long time. Recently inspired by some writings on this topic by a friend, I finally have this available. You can find it at:

http://dharmagrooves.com/e-Books.aspx

Tong-len was the first Tibetan Buddhist mind-training practice that I instinctively understood and warmed to. It is easy to do and we can practice it anytime and anywhere; it is portable.

Somehow Tong-len is intuitively American. We just get it. Perhaps the whole world does. If there is a vaccine that is the antidote for inflated ego, this is it. And like the perfect diet, we can eat all want we and still loose the weight of our mental attachments.

Instead of denying the self, as so many techniques tend to do, Tong-len's genius is just the opposite. Instead of rejecting, it gradually identifies for us more and more of our negative territory and makes them our friend (part of our self) until the Self implodes by inclusion instead of denial. It's like blowing up a balloon until it bursts of its own accord.

In other words, Tong-len uses the self's natural tendency to become attached to defeat itself. IMO this is a miracle cure for the egocentric, a natural vaccine and method for reducing our attachments. I use this technique all day long, not just on the cushion but as I work through my day.