This spiritual exercise is known in some gnostic circles as the prayer for the irradiation of love, a direct means for awakening, developing, and empowering bodhichitta. Such an exercise can be practiced any time to inflame and inspire the consciousness towards alleviating humanity's suffering. It is also a remedy for reducing one's own pain, because by focusing on others, we develop genuine virtue and strengthen our best qualities (because if we are blinded by our passions and desires, we are less effective in serving our communities). Learn how to develop concentration, imagination, and prayer in combination to produce a profound synthesis: the rare virtue of impactful, divine compassion in service of others' wellbeing.

This exercise accompanies the lecture Cultivating Bodhichitta Through Intention and Practice from The Way of the Bodhisattva course.

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Tonglen (Tibetan: "giving and taking") is an exceptional practice within Mahayana Buddhism. Meditators can visualize, assimilate, and transform another person's illness through conscious love. Afterward, the practitioner sends the patient light, love, and healing at no cost to oneself. This exercise is complemented by the Biblical or Aramaic mantra Talitha Cumi (Mark 5:41), whereby the Christic force of enlightened compassion radically expedites convalescence and spiritual empowerment. By healing others, we gain divine favor.

​Resource:

• ​Tonglen Meditation with Mantra Talitha Cumi PowerPoint

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