Deep Ecology Practice: Compassion
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Pain for the suffering in this world is a sign of deep connection with it. When you feel sorrow for fires in the Amazon, for refugees, for loved ones suffering with ill health, it is because your heart is with theirs, beyond the illusion of separation. Compassion, meaning ‘feeling with’, recognises this, and is part of healing, because it opens the heart into greater connection. This is the beginning of powerful, sustainable action for life.
The ancient Buddhist Tonglen meditation guides practitioners through a process of healing attention to the pain in the world, acknowledging it, and moving it through our hearts to a place of greater refuge.
** For people struggling with trauma or depression or serious mental illness, practices that seek to heighten compassion might be inappropriate, because of the risk of being flooded with emotions and not having a healthy way to deal with them. Meditation will affect each of us differently, even simple breath practice, so it’s important to proceed with awareness and seek the guidance that works best for you, perhaps from a teacher or within a group. **
Before doing a compassion meditation for the first time, I recommend that you already have experience in breathing meditation and loving-kindness meditation. Having a memory in your body of what loving-kindness feels like is valuable. With practice, you can bring it to mind in times of stress through simply thinking the words loving-kindness.
Many activists struggle with grief, anger and a sense of isolation because of their deep caring and commitment to life. Meditation practices of loving-kindness and compassion can help them. On a simple level, it is a practical tool for training and coping with emotions. On a deeper level, it creates change in the heart and in the world.
Practice: Tonglen
First, notice something in the room or place where you are that you appreciate. It can be something very simple, like a glass of water or your own hand. It could be something you find beautiful or that connects you with a loved one. Notice this, pause in gratitude, and know that if this meditation ever becomes too much, you can return your attention to this thing that is here with you, now in this moment.
Next begin to turn inwards, focusing attention on your body and your breathing. Become aware of the inflow and outflow of breath. Listen to its gentle rhythm. Feel where your feet touch the ground, or where any other part of your body receives the Earth’s support. Try to relax in any places where you are carrying tension: belly, shoulders, jaw, eyes, hands.
Bring to mind a person you care about, who is suffering. Thinking of this person begins to invoke compassion. As you breathe in, invite their suffering in, and as you breathe out, you release a wish to send this person relief and wellbeing. Imagine their suffering passing through your heart as you breathe in, and leaving as you breathe out, with healing and loving-kindness, into the Earth’s life energy. Don’t try to hold onto the suffering. Simply let it pass through.
Open your attention now to include your own suffering. Notice pain that you may be feeling in your heart, and simply recognize that suffering is there. Continue the rhythm of the breathing, allowing the fullness of the suffering to move through your heart on the inhale, and to flow out into the Earth’s refuge on the exhale. Trust that the great web of life accepts it, with loving-kindness.
Now as you breathe in, attend to the other suffering in the world, whatever comes to your mind. We know of the suffering of refugees in camps, of prisoners, of destroyed rainforests, of animals led to slaughter, of rivers polluted and people going hungry. Through our interbeing, these stories and images come easily to us. Allow the suffering to enter your heart as you breathe in, and let it go, releasing, without clinging, as you breathe out, as the greater whole accepts your compassion and loving attention. Take as long as you wish at this stage.
You might notice a sensation of tenderness and openness at the heart. Allow your heart to grow, in interbeing with all life. Notice any other sensations you have in your body. Continuing with the gentle breath, offer yourself a physical gesture of care and compassion. This might be placing a hand over the heart, or on the belly, or perhaps covering the face, or hugging your own arms around you with the hands on the shoulders. Give yourself a gesture of love, as a mark of compassion to yourself. You have been with suffering. Suffering is present. You deserve love. You belong and are held in the true refuge of this world.
Having practiced Metta, you could evoke the feeling of loving-kindness at this moment. Offer kindness to yourself, to the Earth and the living beings here with us. You might put this into words: May we be happy. May all beings live in peace and be free.
When you are ready, open your eyes if they were closed, let go of the meditation and return to the present moment, in the place where you are. Perhaps find the object you noticed at the beginning of the meditation. If you can, press your feet firmly into the floor, as an act of grounding.
If you would like to balance compassion (Tonglen) with a calming meditation, you might enjoy this equanimity practice (Upekkha).
Please remember not to hold onto the pain, nor to take it upon yourself in isolation. It is within the greater whole, as are you. Any action you choose to take next also belongs within that whole.
You do not have to solve the world’s problems alone. The question What should I do? feels urgent because we live in an individualistic society. But you are not acting alone; we are together. People around the world practice Metta and Tonglen every day, or they live it in their actions; we are joining with them through our practice and actions.
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More deep ecology practices are listed at the end of this article. Follow me on Medium for updates.
