It is one of the greatest methods.
When you breathe in, think that you are breathing in all the miseries of all the people in the world.
All the darkness, all the negativity, all the hell that exists anywhere, you are breathing it in. Let it be absorbed in your heart.
You may have heard or heard about the so-called positive thinkers of the West. They say just the opposite - they don't know what they're saying. They say, "when you breathe out, throw out all the misery and negativity; when you breathe in, breathe in joy, positivity, happiness, cheerfulness.
Atisha's method is just the opposite: when you breathe in, breathe in all the misery and suffering of all the beings of the world - past, present and future. And when you breathe out, breathe out all the joy that you have. Breathe out, pour yourself into existence. This is the method of compassion: drink in all the suffering and pour out all the blessings.
You will be surprised if you do it. The moment you take all the sufferings of the world inside you, they are no longer sufferings. The heart immediately transforms the energy. The heart is a transforming force: drink in misery, and it is transformed into blissfulness. Then pour it out.
Once you have learned that your heart can do this magic, this miracle, you will like to it again and again. Try it. It is one of the most practical methods - simple, and it brings immediate results. Do it today and see.
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When you take the breathe in, let it become your meditation that all the suffering of all beings in the world is riding on that incoming breath and reaching your heart. Absorb all that suffering, pain and misery in your heart and see a miracle happen.
Whenever you absorb somebody else's misery, pain and suffering, the moment you absorb it, it is transformed. The natural tendency is to avoid it; the natural tendency is to protect yourself against suffering. The natural tendency is to keep aloof, not to symphatize, not to emphatize.
Everybody is burdened with great misery, everybody is in great suffering, everybody's heart is hurting. There is much pain.
Atisha says before you can do this with the whole of existence, you will have to start first with yourself. This is one of the fundamental secrets of inner growth. You cannot do anything with others that you have not done in the first place with yourself. You can hurt others if you hurt yourself, you will be in pain in the necks of others if you are a pain to yourself, you can be a blessing to others only if you are a blessing to yourself.
Whatsoever you can do with others, you must have done to yourself before because that is the only thing that you can share. You can share only that which you have; you cannot share that which you don't have.