Good Medicine: How to Turn Pain Into Compassion with Tonglen Meditation

Within the wisdom teachings of Buddhism, there are many stories that refer to its founder as the Supreme Physician, a healer of all illness-mental, physical, and spiritual. The Buddha understood suffering and its antidote, and his prescription and philosophy for right living led directly to a Tibetan meditation practice that is the medicine our modern-day hearts have been searching for.

On Good Medicine, the remarkable American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön shares the gift of tonglen, a simple and elegant meditation system for ordinary people like ourselves. Through tonglen, we can use the difficulties in life-those that cause the most suffering-as a way to befriend ourselves, accept the past we have rejected, and widen our circle of compassion. These traditional breathing meditations cut through obstacles on the spot.