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Atisha’s Heart Meditation

Atisha says: Train in joining, sending and taking together. Do this  by riding the breath.

Now he says: Start being compassionate. And the method is, when you breathe in — listen carefully, 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. And let it be absorbed in your heart.

You may have read or heard about the so-called positive thinkers of the West. They say just the opposite — they don’t know what they are saying. They say, “When you breathe out, throw out all your misery and negativity; and 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, all the blissfulness that you have, all the benediction 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.

And 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 would like to do 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.