It's a tricky and inaccessible idea, Christian feast, but it can be a door that opens beautifully in the context of Buddhist ideas. So here goes. Loved doing this meditation this afternoon and more to come on Ascension. So many wonders in it that I didnt' get around to half of what I wanted to talk about. That's why I have written in a few footnotes here that I can pick up on later. Or leave a message below if you want me to go further on any of the headings below.

In the The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment and related Lamrim teachings, these themes are presented as practical methods for transforming self-centeredness into compassion and wisdom.

Reasons why “exchanging self for others” is beneficial

(“Exchanging self and others” means changing the attitude that cherishes oneself above others, and instead cherishing others as oneself.)

• Self-cherishing is identified as the root of suffering, conflict, jealousy, fear, and dissatisfaction.
• Cherishing others creates the causes for happiness, harmony, friendship, and inner peace.
• All happiness we experience depends on others:
• food,
• shelter,
• education,
• language,
• opportunities,
• spiritual teachings,
• even our sense of identity.
• Since we depend entirely on others, prioritizing only ourselves is irrational and disconnected from reality.
• Exchanging self for others weakens ego-clinging, which is a major obstacle to liberation and enlightenment.
• It develops:
• compassion,
• patience,
• generosity,
• humility,
• courage.
• It transforms adversity into spiritual practice:
• criticism becomes training in patience,
• suffering becomes a basis for empathy,
• difficulty becomes fuel for bodhicitta.
• Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are said to arise from cherishing others; ordinary suffering beings arise from self-cherishing.

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