How to Cross an Indian Road

By Digital Drifter.

For all the greenhorns out there in the vast blue yonder, this is the secret which may save your life. Not!

Title image provided by Jorge Jr.

The chicken crossed the road to get to the other side, but can you?

No amount of reading on Indiamike.com or even practising in your own country will prepare you for first real test and proof that there is indeed a God who will not let a sparrow fall (unless it’s mean’t to roasted and eaten). Notice the large number of fellow countrymen who turn spiritual upon returning from India. You think that was because of the effect of all the Swamis, Yogis et al. Nahhh, think again. They’re spiritual exactly because God showed them how easy he could have made them a pancake in an Indian road.

So here then are the observations, rules and methods of crossing the road.

“No amount of reading on Indiamike.com or even practising in your own country will prepare you for first real test.”

You will see a zebra crossing, ignore that. You might see a traffic light which may or may not work (power cut, sorry) AND you might see a traffic cop who may or may not be on the job. You may also see dividers, cat eyes and their ilk.

Rule 1: Do not under any circumstance go stand under the lights, wait for it to turn green and then use the striped markings to guide you to cross the road. Did you see anyone else do it? No, right? So, why did you? I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO IT, DIDN’T I? That marks you as a newbie tourist fit to be mobbed by all the hawkers of useless wares.

On busy roads, you will see a cluster of people inching into the traffic like marathon runners before the starting gun. Join them. It does not matter which side of the road you want to cross, a higher intelligence decides that.

Rule 2: In a group, you’re harder to get run over, so join them EVEN if you don’t want to cross a road.

Occassionally you might be dumbstruck to see a man, his wife with a kid in her arms in the middle of a 2/3 lane busy road, trying to cross. Watch them carefully, see how they cross. watch them lean into, walk a few steps up the road, then across, then up again till they reach the divider.

http://www.indiamike.com/india-articles/7_how-to-cross-an-indian-road/

Grown Woman Eaten by Python [Very Graphic]

*Warning…! The below content contains graphic pictures and is not suitable for all readers. Read further at your own risk!*

Luo, a local villager from Hanshan, China, did not return home from work during lunch as she does on a daily basis.

Her husband, worried for her safety, went to some cotton fields nearby where Luo worked.

While looking for his wife, the husband noticed a large snake trail and immediately became nervous that his wife might have been attacked by a snake.

A few minutes of searching later he came upon a large Python with a belly so full it could not move.

The husband knew immediately that his wife had been eaten by this snake and he ran off to find some local villagers to help.

They returned moments later and shot the snake in the head. They quickly cut the snake open and found Luo inside the snakes stomach.

Unfortunately they did not find her in time and she did not survive the ordeal.

Pakistan's new menace: Wild boars

By Aijaz Maher BBC News, Islamabad

Pakistan has declared the boar public pest number one

The authorities in Pakistan's capital Islamabad have launched a major cull of wild boars after they broke into a high security zone.

Dozens of the animals have been shot or poisoned so far in the ongoing campaign, which is centred around the grounds of the presidential palace.

Boars inhabit the thickly-forested areas around Islamabad.

The city is located in a valley in the foothills of the Himalayas which provides them with perfect cover.

The animals have become a public nuisance in recent years, causing serious accidents and property damage.

'Population boom'

"We started the campaign after the boars infiltrated the green zone around the presidential palace," Raja Mohammad Javed, director of the Capital Development authority, told the BBC.

"Eighteen have been killed in the grounds of the presidential palace alone so far.

"The population has really boomed, and there are many hogs in the prime minister's residence as well," Mr Javed added.

At the moment though, he says the clean-up campaign is focused on the presidential palace.

Mr Javed said local citizens were responsible for the "spiralling hog population" as they threw rubbish in empty plots, which attracted them.

"We have hired hunters to track and kill the hogs, and they are sent out whenever a complaint is received," the director explained.

Mr Javed said special permits had also been issued to concerned local citizens and some foreign diplomats to hunt the boars.

It was not possible to put a figure on the numbers of boars in the capital as no survey has yet been conducted, he said.

Deadly blasts rock Indian state

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta

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Local television shows fire fighters dousing vehicles

At least 64 people have been killed in a series of bomb explosions in India's north-eastern state of Assam, the police say.

More than 160 others were injured in at least 18 blasts, the majority of them in the state capital, Guwahati.

The separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) denied any role in the blasts and blamed Indian "occupation forces" for engineering them.

Security forces have been fighting separatist rebels in Assam for decades.

The explosions in Guwahati and the towns of Kokrajhar, Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon occurred within an hour after 1100 local time (0530 GMT).

A huge blast hit the bus just before the one I was travelling in Zinnia Brahma, eyewitness In pictures: Assam bomb blasts

Four of the explosions ripped through busy markets in Guwahati while three others went off in the western town of Kokrajhar.

Fourteen people were killed in the first explosion in front of the deputy commissioner's office in Guwahati. Twenty-two others were killed in the second explosion at Ganeshguri near the state secretariat and four in Panbazar in central Guwahati, police say.

They say that 17 people died in the three explosions at Kokrajhar and five more in another explosion at Barpeta Road 130km (81 miles) from Guwahati in the west of the state.

Another blast was reported from near the oil refinery at Bongaigaon, between the towns of Kokrajhar and Barpeta Road.

Angry crowds

Most of the bombs were planted in cars, police say.

"A huge blast hit the bus just before the one I was travelling in. The bus got burnt at the front and pedestrians pulled out a lot of people hit by splinters and some suffering burns as well," said engineering student Zinnia Brahma, an eyewitness in Guwahati.

A witness in Kokrajhar, Sanchaita Chakrabarty, told the BBC that a bomb went off just after she had bought vegetables from the local market.

Assam violence Q&A

"It happened as I walked away," she said. "The man I had bought the vegetables from was dead, many others around him were seriously injured. Just see how lucky I am to be alive."

Angry crowds attacked the police with stones after the blasts in Guwahati. Dozens of people were injured in the clashes, Reuters reports.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in the upper house of the Indian parliament, is going to the state on Friday.

Intelligence officials blamed Ulfa for the blasts.

But a statement issued by self-styled "lieutenant" Anjan Borthakur on behalf of Ulfa's "Military Council" said that the group was in no way connected with them.

The statement said Ulfa had been blamed as part of a "disinformation campaign" against the separatist group.

Most fighters in one of Ulfa's "strike battalions" have announced a ceasefire with the government - but two other battalions have not laid down their arms and the security forces have attacked and killed many of them in recent weeks.

"So the Ulfa is striking back in a massive way by taking on soft targets," Assam police chief RN Mathur said.

"No other group can trigger so many blasts in so many places in such a co-ordinated fashion."

He said most of the bombs had been planted in cars.

For the past 10 years, Ulfa has been blamed for bombings targeting gas and oil pipelines, oil depots and areas populated by migrant workers.

Assam police intelligence chief Khagen Sharma told the BBC that the latest bombings proved that Ulfa was "desperate for survival and does not mind killing even local people indiscriminately".

Failed peace talks

The group began an armed rebellion against what it describes as colonial rule by Delhi in 1979. Thousands of people have died in the violence.

An effort to start peace talks between the rebels and the Indian government broke down in 2006.

The rebels are seeking a separate homeland for the Assamese people and demanding that non-indigenous people, particularly Hindi and Bengali speakers, leave Assam.

There have been a number of major bomb attacks in India in the past few months, many of them blamed on local Islamist groups.

But local separatists have been held responsible for recent explosions in north-eastern cities.

Two north-eastern state capitals - Agartala in Tripura and Imphal in Manipur - saw serial explosions this month.

At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the blasts.

watch video:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7699200.stm

'Anni' heralds new era in Maldives

By Olivia Lang in Male

Mr Nasheed argues the Maldives needs to change

The man who has won the election to become the next president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, is arguably the country's most famous political activist.

He has now also earned a place in the history books as the person who brought an end to the 30-year rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Asia's longest serving leader.

Mr Nasheed - a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience - is known locally as Anni. He has been a constant critic of the regime of Mr Gayoom over the years and has spent long periods in jail for his political activities.

To his supporters Mr Nasheed is a latter day Nelson Mandela, overcoming the hardships of prison to secure an inspirational election win against the odds.

But his critics say that he has little policy-making experience beyond his direct action campaigns against the government.

His more strident detractors during the campaign accused him of trying to spread Christianity to the Islamic nation.

They argued that Mr Nasheed - a Sunni Muslim - enjoyed close links to foreign organisations such as Britain's Conservative Party which undermined the country's faith. He has strenuously denied the allegations.

Drugs culture

The 41-year-old now finds himself on the verge of leading a tiny nation - made up of about of 1,192 islands off the tip of India - whose very existence is under threat from global warming.

He argued throughout the presidential campaign that the Maldives also faced other grave challenges: maintaining its lucrative tourist trade, ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth and tackling the drugs culture among bored youths.

We really need to change... We should be able to have a better life here Mohamed Nasheed

Depicting himself as a harbinger of change throughout the campaign, Mr Nasheed has pledged economic prosperity through privatisation once he was in power.

Educated in the Maldives and then the UK, Mr Nasheed was one of the earliest and boldest dissidents in the islands, pursuing an early career as a journalist until he was persecuted for his writing.

In the early 1990s he established a reputation for his political commentaries in the Sangu magazine at a time when vocal criticism of the government was almost non-existent.

Sangu was later banned, and he was put under house arrest and imprisoned after giving an interview to the international press about his ill-treatment in detention.

Mr Nasheed spent 18 months in solitary confinement, alleging torture at the hands of the then National Security Services (NSS), which has since been split into the police and armed forces.

Punishments included severe sleep and water deprivation, being fed food with crushed glass and being chained to a chair outside for 12 days.

After spending some time abroad upon his release, Mr Nasheed was later jailed again for political writing, becoming an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience in 1997.

Mr Nasheed's supporters say he is a breath of fresh air

During periods spent in jail, he studied and later wrote three books on Maldivian history both in English and the local Dhivehi script.

Elected as an MP in 1999, he was later forced from his seat following a theft charge which was widely condemned at the time as politically motivated.

He was prosecuted for taking files from outside the former residence of ex-President Ibrahim Nasir, an action classed by the state as theft.

In 2001 he unsuccessfully tried - along with other dissident politicians - to register the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Mr Nasheed now lives in the capital island of Male with his wife, who works for the UN, and two daughters.

In September 2003, he intervened when 19-year-old Hassan Evan Naseem died in the country's largest prison, asking a doctor to see the body before the death certificate was signed.

It was later found he was tortured to death in by eight NSS officers.

The event marked a turning point in the country's history, sparking mass street and jail riots which resulted in the shooting of three prisoners.

Grassroots activists

Along with other reformists, Mr Nasheed finally managed to register the MDP on 26 June 2005.

But two months later he was arrested again after staging a sit-in in Male's Republican Square in protest over police handling of "Black Friday" demonstrations a year earlier.

It was the first major vote in the Maldives for 30 years

In frustration at the slow pace of reforms, the MDP was close to calling for a revolution in November 2006.

That resulted in the defection of some of its senior members who argued that that the party should be pursuing a path of diplomacy and negotiation instead.

But grassroots activists remained loyal, and the MDP continued to lobby for freedom of speech and assembly.

Between then and now, Mr Nasheed oversaw the evolution of his party from an anti-Gayoom group into a government-in-waiting, successfully rebranding its identity.

In July, he and other party leaders visited Delhi to foster relations with the Indian government, which has previously had a close relationship to Mr Gayoom.

Mr Nasheed argues that his party seeks to offer a vision of a new Maldives, with campaign materials showing petals of white flowers representing pledges, including better transport, education and housing.

'Tiger air attacks' in Sri Lanka

The fire at the power station was quickly extinguished

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have carried out air strikes on oil tanks near the capital, Colombo, and in north-western Sri Lanka, the army says.

The attack in Colombo led to the sound of anti-aircraft fire reverberating across the city, parts of which were blacked out as a precaution.

The army says that a "terrorist aircraft" dropped two bombs near the military base in the town of Mannar.

The Tigers have not claimed responsibility for either attack.

The group has boasted air strike capability since the first mission of what they call their Tamil Eelam Air Force, or TAF, in March 2007.

Setbacks

The army says that a fire in the Colombo power station - near its oil storage tanks - was quickly extinguished and there were no injuries.

They say that the Mannar attack was on the military headquarters and one soldier was injured.

No damage was done, they added, saying that anti-aircraft guns returned fire at the plane.

The Tamil Tigers are on the defensive in the north

Shortly afterwards the Colombo strike the sound of heavy guns was heard throughout the city - 250km (155 miles) to the south - as people stood in the streets watching.

"The aircraft dropped bombs in Colombo near the oil storage tanks," a military source said.

Analysts believe an air attack by the rebels last year opened a new dimension in Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war.

At the time, a Tigers spokesman described it as "a measure to protect Tamil civilians from the genocidal aerial bombardments by Sri Lankan armed forces".

The military says the Tigers' air wing has three two-seater Czech-made Zlin-143 aircraft fitted with homemade bombing equipment.

The BBC's Sri Lanka correspondent, Roland Buerk, says the latest air raids come as the Tigers are seen to be facing setbacks on the ground.

In recent months they have been driven from many towns and villages along the coast in the north-west and their stronghold of Killinochchi is under attack from the army in the north.

At least one senior government figure has talked of defeating the rebels militarily within two to three years.

The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for a quarter of a century and about 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Czech collector skips India bail

By Amitabha Bhattasali BBC News, Calcutta

The two men were arrested in June (Photo by Mrinal Rana)

A Czech man who was sentenced to three years imprisonment by an Indian court for collecting rare insects has fled the country after jumping bail.

Emil Kuchera confirmed through an e-mail to acquaintances in India that he has "safely" reached his home country.

Mr Kuchera and his colleague, renowned entomologist Peter Svacha, were arrested near Singalila National Park, some 100km from the town of Darjeeling.

They had been collecting rare beetles and moths without permission.

The court found that Mr Svacha was a "victim of circumstance" and spared him a jail sentence, but Mr Kuchera was sentenced to three years in prison.

He had appealed to a higher court over his conviction and a hearing was scheduled to have been heard next week.

Mr Kuchera's lawyer, Taranga Pandit, told the BBC that when he enquired about him a couple of days back, he was surprised to know that he had left the north-eastern town of Darjeeling on the night of 22 October. He had left his belongings at the hotel.

"The court granted him conditional bail and he was not supposed to leave Darjeeling till the proceedings are over. This is a serious breach of the Indian law and I am going to appeal to the court that an arrest warrant be issued against my client," Mr Pandit said.

The Indian foreign ministry should treat this case seriously and follow it up with the Czech Embassy, he added.

Police say that Mr Kuchera might have used India's open border with Nepal to go to Kathmandu and then fly to the to Czech Republic. Mr Kuchera had three passports with three different names - two of which were seized by the court.

Police and forest sources both say that Mr Kuchera visited Darjeeling at least five times and ran websites in which rare insects were offered for sale.

All Small-Chested Drivers Banned from Motorbikes

If you happen to be a motorbike rider living in Vietnam, you better hope your not too short, thin, or skinny.

Vietnam is considering new regulation that would ban anyone with a chest smaller than 28 inches from operating a motorbike.

“The new proposals are very funny, but many Vietnamese people could become the victim of this joke,” said Le Quang Minh, 31, a Hanoi stockbroker. “Many Vietnamese women have small chests. I have many friends who won’t meet these criteria.”

Many people see the regulation as silly and have joked that “from now on, padded bras will be best-sellers.”

It in unclear how this new ban is expected to help some of the most dangerous streets in the world.

A travelogue on Kolkata, the birthplace of Satyajit Ray

By theyyamdancer.

Here is my travelogue for Kolkata India, birthplace of Satyajit Ray, or the City of RAY-diance as I like to call it. First impressions of Kolkata: it is so green; it seems to be part of nature as well as a city. Later on we were to marvel at the sanctuaries built into trees (what are they called?) and the seamless integration of the rural with the cityscape.

photo by mousourik We arrived at Netaji Subhash Bose a.k.a. Dum Dum airport, and it was immediately apparent that we were in a very polite and civilized place, as there was no pushing at the luggage arrival carrousel. A taxi had come to meet us as arranged and drive us to Sudder Street, which was very welcome after the long trip.

Anyway, we arrived at our hotel in the midst of chaotic traffic because the roads were being dug up. A blessing actually since the last few yards had to be taken on foot, meaning a lot less traffic noise. We were opposite the India museum and a stone’s throw away from New Market. All along Free School Street there were roadworks but the neighbourhood is friendly and welcoming.

Day One in Kolkata India

photo by Vishaka Our most urgent task was to secure the permits for Sikkim, so we headed off to Sikkim House on Middleton Street, where we were made very welcome. In fact (perhaps due to the recent bandh in the Hills as this was beginning of March of 2008), we were the only ones there! They asked for our itinerary and said come back in a couple of hours. We wanted to know where would be a good place for a chai, so they indicated the way to the "Punjabi Dhaba", a couple of blocks away. Indeed it was so delicious that we had two of them. Then back to Sikkim house where we took eager possession of our permits along with a couple of posters of orchids, advertising the Flower Festival.

Flushed with success, we sauntered over to Music World to look for DVDs of Satyajit Ray films. Again, a huge thank you to Jyoti, Brishti and Scandojazzbuff for all their help. We visited Flury’s and wondered at the Parisian ambiance in this Kolkattan institution. Fired up by excellent coffee, we decided spontaneously to head straight to the Book Fair in Salt Lake, even though we were supposed to be meeting up there with IndiaMikers on the following day - we are a disgrace - I know that Somnath has forgiven us. Anyhow, jetlag notwithstanding, taxi driver not having a clue how to get there and shouting at us (?) for not knowing the way, we made it in one piece to the Book Fair. It was great! We had a wonderful day.

Day Two in Kolkata India

photo by Indranil_Dutta We woke up bright and early (TOO bright and TOO early), and some traders on the pavement next to the Maidan asked me "Why so happy Madam?". We tried to walk in the park at Eden Gardens while waiting for the museum to open, but were told by the wardens that it was shut. And then we visited the Museum. After asking the curator for permission we were allowed to view the "Buddha Bones" kept under lock and key. It was impressive. I particularly liked the anthropological section where you could see different parts of the Seven Sisters and the tribal folks of the North East with their regional costumes and artefacts. We met some girls who are students of anthropology at the University of Kolkata and chatted a while.

Later we took a cab to visit the Jain Temple, Sheetalnathji Mandir, also known as the Palace of Jewels, built in 1867, as well as the adjacent Jain Temple, Dadaji Jain Mandir, built in 1810. They are exquisite.

I was so overawed by the beauty that I left my camera (an old autofocus) on a bench in the garden. Returning with the same cab to Sudder Street, about 20 minutes into the journey, I reached for my camera to take a picture, and realizing I had mislaid it, we returned... it was still on the bench! Talk about good karma!

That evening we enjoyed the mouth-watering Bengali cuisine.

Day Three in Kolkata India

I call this the "Great B.B.D. Bagh Adventure" since we spent absolutely ages looking for the Black Hole of Calcutta and other landmarks such as the Tank. We couldn’t understand any of our maps (we had at least 3). At some point we asked a group of young men, “Which way is it to BBD /Dalhousie Square?”. One pointed left, one pointed right, the other pointed straight on. It was very funny.

The bottom line is that (in my blinkered English way) I was expecting something like a London square, not a pond of water! Well, you live and learn. If I were to do it again, I would take a guided tour because I think we were so busy trying to understand where we were going that we saw nothing.

The street with the typewriters was fascinating. I had also purchased "Ten Walks in Calcutta" which is a great book but so hard to follow when you have a million people trying to sell you:

1. umbrellas (sun parasols?);
2. gentleman’s underwear;
3. bangles;
4. school books;
5. T-shirts and salwar kameez;
6. plastic kitchenware etc. etc.

On top of that you are trying hard not to step on the produce on the pavement while crooking your neck upwards to read the non-existent street sign, which even if you could read it is different to the name on the map which dates from the previous century...!

Recovery came in the welcome form of coffee at Barista on Park Street. Then we visited the Nagaland Emporium and admired the stripey blankets. The Crossword Bookshop was OK but not as good as the Oxford Bookshop.

After a hard day’s sightseeing we popped into the Fairlawn for a Kingfisher and regretted that the next day we were leaving for Darjeeling, having been beguiled by Kolkata.

Day Four in Kolkata India

Following our wonderful interlude in Darjeeling/Sikkim we returned on the day of Holi to Kolkata.

photo by chief61 We were hiding indoors so as not to get hit with paint, then belatedly realized that Holi had been yesterday, when we were travelling down from Bagdogra. We had wondered why the roads from the airport were so empty... actually, we saw masses of coloured faces with purple, pink, green, yellow paints, and thought it had all started a bit early.
So, we ventured out, noticing how many people had unsuccessfully tried to rid themselves of the coloured powders!

Our visit to the Tagore Museum in Kolkata India

This is an oasis of calm in the chaos of Kolkata. The former family home of Tagore on Rabindra Sarani, ex Chitpur Street, is fascinating. Afterwards we walked the length of Chitpur through the souk of perfume sellers, fruit wallahs, etc. It started to rain, so we took refuge in a coffee shop.

Day Five in Kolkata India

photo by India Edge We had our first and last experience of a hand-pulled rickshaw. We had great views of the street, but we feeling too sorry for the rickshaw-wallah. We got a little confused looking for it, but finally found the Indian Coffee House near the book stalls. It’s a great place to while away an hour or two. We started to feel like real Kolkata inhabitants!

Then we tried to follow the "Ten Walks in Calcutta" book to seek out some of the architectural marvels of the area. We chatted with an informative and interesting gentleman, but failed to find anything mentioned in the book. It was also very difficult to locate the Asutosh Museum, but it was well worth it. We were the only visitors and spent several hours there.

Last evening in town: the high life at Peter Cat for Chelo Kebabs.

The places I failed to see that I would visit next time around:

• Obviously, Kalighat. Hopefully without a severe attack of agoraphobia (joke).
• The flower markets, the Hooghly bridge.
• The New Market (we just ran through it, trying to avoid the eyes of the touts).
• Tollywood!
• The Park Street cemetery.

Actually, all the walks in "Ten Walks".

Original Link

http://www.indiamike.com/india-articles/a-travelogue-on-the-kolkata-india-the-birthplace-of-satyajit-ray/

	THE PRACTICE OF TONGLEN In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves. In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish, mean —you name it— to have compassion and to care for these people, means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves. In fact, one's whole attitude toward pain can change. Instead of fending it off and hiding from it, one could open one's heart and allow oneself to feel that pain, feel it as something that will soften and purify us and make us far more loving and kind. The tonglen practice is a method for connecting with suffering —ours and that which is all around us— everywhere we go. It is a method for overcoming fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness of our heart. Primarily it is a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us, no matter how cruel or cold we might seem to be. We begin the practice by taking on the suffering of a person we know to be hurting and who we wish to help. For instance, if you know of a child who is being hurt, you breathe in the wish to take away all the pain and fear of that child. Then, as you breathe out, you send the child happiness, joy or whatever would relieve their pain. This is the core of the practice: breathing in other's pain so they can be well and have more space to relax and open, and breathing out, sending them relaxation or whatever you feel would bring them relief and happiness. However, we often cannot do this practice because we come face to face with our own fear, our own resistance, anger, or whatever our personal pain, our personal stuckness happens to be at that moment. At that point you can change the focus and begin to do tonglen for what you are feeling and for millions of others just like you who at that very moment of time are feeling exactly the same stuckness and misery. Maybe you are able to name your pain. You recognize it clearly as terror or revulsion or anger or wanting to get revenge. So you breathe in for all the people who are caught with that same emotion and you send out relief or whatever opens up the space for yourself and all those countless others. Maybe you can't name what you're feeling. But you can feel it —a tightness in the stomach, a heavy darkness or whatever. Just contact what you are feeling and breathe in, take it in —for all of us and send out relief to all of us. People often say that this practice goes against the grain of how we usually hold ourselves together. Truthfully, this practice does go against the grain of wanting things on our own terms, of wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what happens to the others. The practice dissolves the armor of self-protection we've tried so hard to create around ourselves. In Buddhist language one would say that it dissolves the fixation and clinging of ego. Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure and, in the process, we become liberated from a very ancient prison of selfishness. We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others and also we being to take care of ourselves and others. It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of reality. It introduces us to the unlimited spaciousness that Buddhists call shunyata. By doing the practice, we begin to connect with the open dimension of our being. At first we experience this as things not being such a big deal or so solid as they seemed before. Tonglen can be done for those who are ill, those who are dying or have just died, or for those that are in pain of any kind. It can be done either as a formal meditation practice or right on the spot at any time. For example, if you are out walking and you see someone in pain —right on the spot you can begin to breathe in their pain and send some out some relief. Or, more likely, you might see someone in pain and look away because it brings up your fear or anger; it brings up your resistance and confusion. So on the spot you can do tonglen for all the people who are just like you, for everyone who wishes to be compassionate but instead is afraid, for everyone who wishes to be brave but instead is a coward. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.

THE PRACTICE OF TONGLEN In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves. In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish, mean —you name it— to have compassion and to care for these people, means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves. In fact, one's whole attitude toward pain can change. Instead of fending it off and hiding from it, one could open one's heart and allow oneself to feel that pain, feel it as something that will soften and purify us and make us far more loving and kind. The tonglen practice is a method for connecting with suffering —ours and that which is all around us— everywhere we go. It is a method for overcoming fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness of our heart. Primarily it is a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us, no matter how cruel or cold we might seem to be. We begin the practice by taking on the suffering of a person we know to be hurting and who we wish to help. For instance, if you know of a child who is being hurt, you breathe in the wish to take away all the pain and fear of that child. Then, as you breathe out, you send the child happiness, joy or whatever would relieve their pain. This is the core of the practice: breathing in other's pain so they can be well and have more space to relax and open, and breathing out, sending them relaxation or whatever you feel would bring them relief and happiness. However, we often cannot do this practice because we come face to face with our own fear, our own resistance, anger, or whatever our personal pain, our personal stuckness happens to be at that moment. At that point you can change the focus and begin to do tonglen for what you are feeling and for millions of others just like you who at that very moment of time are feeling exactly the same stuckness and misery. Maybe you are able to name your pain. You recognize it clearly as terror or revulsion or anger or wanting to get revenge. So you breathe in for all the people who are caught with that same emotion and you send out relief or whatever opens up the space for yourself and all those countless others. Maybe you can't name what you're feeling. But you can feel it —a tightness in the stomach, a heavy darkness or whatever. Just contact what you are feeling and breathe in, take it in —for all of us and send out relief to all of us. People often say that this practice goes against the grain of how we usually hold ourselves together. Truthfully, this practice does go against the grain of wanting things on our own terms, of wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what happens to the others. The practice dissolves the armor of self-protection we've tried so hard to create around ourselves. In Buddhist language one would say that it dissolves the fixation and clinging of ego. Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure and, in the process, we become liberated from a very ancient prison of selfishness. We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others and also we being to take care of ourselves and others. It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of reality. It introduces us to the unlimited spaciousness that Buddhists call shunyata. By doing the practice, we begin to connect with the open dimension of our being. At first we experience this as things not being such a big deal or so solid as they seemed before. Tonglen can be done for those who are ill, those who are dying or have just died, or for those that are in pain of any kind. It can be done either as a formal meditation practice or right on the spot at any time. For example, if you are out walking and you see someone in pain —right on the spot you can begin to breathe in their pain and send some out some relief. Or, more likely, you might see someone in pain and look away because it brings up your fear or anger; it brings up your resistance and confusion. So on the spot you can do tonglen for all the people who are just like you, for everyone who wishes to be compassionate but instead is afraid, for everyone who wishes to be brave but instead is a coward. Rather than beating yourself up, use your own stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.