Exchanging Self and Other
The practice of mentally switching places with all beings.
This profound practice involves genuinely considering others' happiness as important as our own. By mentally exchanging self and other, we overcome self-centeredness and develop universal compassion.
All the suffering in the world comes from seeking pleasure for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from seeking pleasure for others.
This practice directly attacks the root of all suffering - self-cherishing.
Bodhicaryavatara
Written about in
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about compassion
Swapping places in your own mind, until another person's wish to be happy weighs what yours does.
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about envy and comparison
Shantideva's claim is that all suffering in the world comes from seeking happiness for oneself and all happiness from seeking it for others. The exchange practice asks you to hold the envied person's happiness exactly as you hold your own, which dissolves the comparison rather than winning it.