This mainly refers to the practice of alternating the two sessions of visualization outlined above. In order to grow more familiar with this and make the practice more stable, we can consider that as we breathe in, we take in others’ negativity and suffering in the form of black smoke,[1] and as we breathe out we send out our own happiness and virtue, so that it ripens on others. We can count the number of times we do this, and repeat the process a hundred or a thousand times.

 

Some texts say: “Begin the process of taking with oneself.”

 

This is a method whereby we gradually familiarize ourselves with the training by taking upon ourselves right now any karma that is certain to ripen later on in life, and by taking on in this lifetime any karma that is destined to ripen in future lives.

 

In addition, it could refer to the practice for overcoming our self-cherishing, which is outlined in the Introduction to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, beginning with the following verse:

Put yourself in the position of an inferior and so on,

Then regard your self as if it were someone ‘other’,

And, with a mind devoid of any other thought,

Cultivate feelings of envy, rivalry and pride.[2]

In short, unless we practise taking, we will not cut through the bonds of self-cherishing; unless we practise giving we will not perfect the accumulation of merit; and unless we alternate these two, we will not easily become familiar with the practice. Therefore, we must make an effort to practise all three forms of meditation. This, as it has already been explained, is the sacred heart of the Mahayana path.

 

Moreover, the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

I will consider that the pains of all living beings become my own, and I will transform myself so as to sustain them all.

The Aspiration towards Supreme Conduct[3] says:

May the sufferings of beings in the hells and the world of Yama,

And the sufferings of those in the animal realm and of human beings,

The great mass of all the suffering of living beings,

Fall entirely upon me, and may living beings be happy!

The Aspiration of Maitrayajna says:

May the hosts of gods, demi-gods and mahoragas,

Throughout all the countless realms that exist,

From the summit of existence to the hell of Unrelenting Pain,

All find happiness, and may I take their suffering upon myself!

The Introduction to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life says:

In order to allay harms done to me, therefore,

And in order to pacify the sufferings of others,

I shall give myself up to others,

And cherish them as I do my very self.[4]

These quotations describe the method of meditation. As it also says in the same text, we should undertand the infallible results of an altruistic mind:

Certainly, therefore, I must apply myself

Fully to the task of benefitting others.

The Buddha’s words do not deceive,

So I shall see the benefits of this in time.

 

Had I practised this way in the past,

And undertaken actions such as these,

I could not possibly have ended up like this,

Lacking, as I do, a buddha’s perfect bliss.[5]

We might think that it is impossible to reach such a state of mind and to cherish others more than ourselves, but it is not. As the Introduction to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life says:

Just as, through habituation, I have come to regard

This body, devoid of self, with the thought of “I”,

Why should I not, through habit,

Come to regard others equally as “I”?[6]

 

The attitude of cherishing oneself is the root of a hundred ills,

That which overcomes it through various techniques,

And is the source of all happiness and virtue is altrustic bodhichitta,

Strive, therefore, to cultivate it, all you diligent practitioners!