Practices of Bodhisattvas.

This is directly from Robert Lorenz' "The Collapsing Tower Newsletter" I recommend it highly -

"In The Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattvas, Gyalsay Togme Sangpo (1295-1369) advises:

'All suffering comes from the wish of your own happiness.
Perfect Buddhas are born from the thought to help others.
Therefore exchange your own happiness
For the suffering of others—
This is the practice of the bodhisattvas.'

"In the practice of tonglin we breathe all of the suffering of others into ourselves. This includes their pain, affliction, misery, distress, illness and so forth. 'We then think of ourselves purely in terms of our own happiness, imagining everything we hold dear, the special moments we cherish when we experienced love and intimacy or moments when we were at ease with ourselves, and breathe that out to others.' In essence, we breathe in everything that is debilitating for others and breathe out everything that causes joy for us."

"Rinpoche cautions us that:

'The more we fear discomfort and sickness, the greater that discomfort becomes and the more extreme the effects of our ill health will seem. For example, if we get the flu and our mental conditioning is weak, it can be very draining and painful, and we may even pick up more life-threatening forms of illness. In the same way, if our mind is not trained, it becomes lethargic and lazy, and any little unpleasantness is perceived as a dangerous affront.'"

"And most importantly:

"It is impossible to invite misfortune and disruption into our lives through tonglen. We have to remind ourselves that we do not engage in the practice of sending and taking in order to share the suffering of others. For example, if someone is suffering from cancer and we take on his or her suffering in tonglen practice, we should not think, 'Now I will get cancer.' Once we have visualized taking on others’ suffering, it immediately dissipates within us…."

My thoughts exactly - collective bodhisattva metamorphosis.

Image by wonderlane