Greetings Mike,
mikenz66 wrote:Tonglen appears to be just a variation of brahamavihara practice.
A wrong version of it (based on Kelly's description of it, at least).
There is no "taking" of anything in metta... rather, there is the letting go of taking. There is even the letting go of the view that people must first be kind to you, before you will in turn be kind to them.
Your post, outlining the befuddlement of the uninstructed Tonglen practitioner, serves as a good warning to Secular Buddhists that they should have Right View as the their forerunner, rather than Wrong Tantra.
If you have stopped only one person from charging off merrily down the lane of such practices without first developing Right View, you have accumulated much merit today.
Metta,
Retro.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."