Tonglen VR (གཏོང་ལེན)
Overview
Tibetan for giving and taking, or sending and receiving, Tonglen (གཏོང་ལེན) is a meditation practice found in Tibetan Buddhism. In this practice, the participate breathes in the pain of the world, then transforms it and breathes out comfort, healing, and goodness. This spiritual practice from the Kedampa tradition is a key element in modern Compassion Science and Compassion Cultivation Training.
Tonglen VR invites the meditator to work with virtual embodiments of specific and real suffering that others are experiencing, and in turn to have others meditate on their own wellbeing.
Status
Demonstration
Partners
Daniel Lindenberger – Concept, VR Production Lead
Claire Roberts – Modeling, VR Production
Amy J. Dyck – figurative artist
Maia Kumari Gilman – architect & artist
Brandon Howard – healing and altered state soundscapes
More details
Project brief
By increasing our compassion, we create a clearer, more effective inroad to that which is Bigger Than Us; through stillness we make space for new possibilities for ourselves and the world. Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) is one of three types of compassion-based contemplative programs. Tonglen meditation is used as a component of CCT, and CCT’s 6 steps may be an appropriate format for the Tonglen VR experience to take.
Technology
Facebook (Oculus) Quest
Offers
Demos with organizational/institutional partners
Seeking
Partners to support the quantification of CCT impacts