The ceremony continued with Pema introducing a form of meditation called tonglen, practiced by bodhisattvas. “It can guide your bodhisattva practice.” She explained that tonglen is breathing in another person’s pain and then breathing out what can benefit—comfort or help—them. Then we breathe out healing energy through the air we share with them. “Normally you’re told you want to get rid of pain—breathe out pain. In this meditation we take in others’ pain. It’s the essential practice of a bodhisattva.”
