After Charlie's attack, Lama Wangmo wrote a practice, based on Tonglen to help keeping an open heart while assaulted by the madness of violence, terrorism and the answer people adopt.
It has been translated to English and can be freely used in any groups of :
Practising in face of horror
Breathe in suffering and breathe out, opening your heart
To all of you, men, women and children, anywhere in the world,
who lose their lives in violence, just as I utter these words,
I vow not to abandon you, in my thoughts, words and deeds.
You, who now wander, terrified and confused,
in the realms of death,
I share, from the depths of my powerless and rebellious heart,
all forms of your suffering.
In offer, I send you, as best as I can, love and peace and
vow to apply myself in this sense.
I breathe in, feeling inside your pain,
indissoluble from mine, and
I breathe out, in your direction, and give you
space for the refuge in peace and love.
For all those who witness the horror, I share that you are stunned
in dread and indescribable states of shock.
May I take some of your despair,
your unfathomable sadness and your rage
in my own heart, so as to relieve you.
In return, I send you strength, support and protection.
I breathe in, feeling inside your pain,
indissoluble from mine, and
I breathe out, in your direction, the force and power
of an indestructible support.
To all our brothers and sisters in humanity,
here and around the world,
undergoing intolerable pressures, tortures and massacres,
who have lost the meaning of their life
and found no refuge for their pains,
I share your confusion and utter dejection.
May I take in that which is inconsolable, your fear and
the nightmares that are haunting you.
In return, I offer you the space of my humility
and of my sincere heart.
I breathe in, feeling inside your pain,
indissoluble from mine, and
I breathe out, in your direction, a genuine ability
to be really capable of helping.
For all politicians, for all persons of responsibility and good will,
for all women and men engaged on the ground,
the helpers and the peace-keeping forces,
who have to act in urgency,
I share your helplessness and the pressures you undergo.
May I take your confusion and uncertainties.
In return, I send you clarity, confidence and gratitude.
I breathe in, feeling inside your pain,
indissoluble from mine, and
I breathe out, in your direction,
warmth and gratitude.
For all those who, under the influence of hatred, idleness and enslavement,
commit extreme acts against all forms of life,
may I take your darkness, your obscurity, your dementia,
and offer you the gift of hope and belief in
the fundamental goodness of all beings.
I send you the absolute silence
in which you may lay your heart bare and open it again
to the forces of love, peace and reconciliation.
I breathe in, feeling inside your pain,
indissoluble from mine, and
I breathe out, in your direction,
the infinite compassion which frees from all obscurity.
For all the sincere and pacific people who suffer in this chaotic time,
who are taken for what they are not and who suffer
distrust, rejection and isolation,
may I take your tears, your distress,
your difficulty to be understood and listened to.
In return, I send you the capacity to be heard and understood
with the respect and equanimity to which everyone is entitled.
I breathe in, feeling inside your pain,
indissoluble from mine, and
I breathe out, in your direction, my sincere wish not to abandon any being and
remain connected to all,
in accordance with the values of freedom, justice and goodness
which sustain me.
May the penetrating force of the heart
never leave the best of my thoughts and
guide my actions for the benefit of all,
without any exception.
(Lama Wangmo, january 2015)
The French original version can be found on this website.
May this practice help sentient being to open their heart
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