How do we hold the suffering in the world? As Spring Washam suggests, I can bring it into my heart. I can breathe it into my heart.
This is a simplified version of tonglen, and I have enjoyed exploring it today.
I find that this one is easier while I am in activity in daily life, and tonglen requires a few moments of undivided attention although is a bit more thorough. They complement each other.
Isn’t it dangerous to breathe in the suffering of the world? If I could, then maybe or maybe not.
What’s really happening is simpler than that. I am breathing in my own suffering. I own it. I relate to it with kindness.
The suffering I see in the world happens within and as what I more fundamentally am. To me, it happens within and as the consciousness I am. What I am forms itself into it.
So I may as well breathe it in, welcome it, own it, and relate to it with kindness.