Tonglen — The Tibetan practice of breathing in suffering, and breathing out relief — and the wider mind-training that grew around it.

When somebody is suffering, most cultures answer: distance yourself. Tibetan Buddhism answers: breathe them in. Tonglen, the practice of giving and taking through breath, is the most counterintuitive meditation in any tradition — and the most powerful. This page is its working bench, plus the wider Tibetan mind-training (Lojong, Maitri, the Four Immeasurables, Bardo) that grew around it.