Key Terms/Ātmaparaprativartana
From Bodhicitta
आत्मपरप्रतिवर्तन ātmaparaprativartana
equalizing and exchanging self and other
བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་བརྗེ་
bdag gzhan mnyam brje
自他換
zìtā huàn
Sanskrit - Noun
Basic Meaning
One of the principal techniques in the Mahāyāna tradition for developing bodhicitta. The practice helps us learn how to view others as being of equal importance as oneself, and eventually to mentally 'exchange' one's own happiness for the suffering of others. This practice is designed to destroy selfishness, develop a heart of universal compassion, .
Has the Sense of
- Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the Mahāyāna tradition, ātmaparaprativartana (T. bdag gzhan mnyam brje) is a central method for generating the altruistic aspiration to enlightenment (bodhicitta). This practice is particularly associated with the lineage of the Indian master Śāntideva and is detailed extensively in the Bodhicaryāvatāra. It is structured into two distinct but related phases:
- Equalizing Self and Other (bdag gzhan mnyam pa): The practitioner trains the mind to recognize the fundamental equality between themselves and all other sentient beings. This is based on the realization that every being, without exception, possesses the same basic desire to find happiness and the same instinctive wish to avoid suffering. By reflecting on this equality, the practitioner begins to dissolve the arbitrary boundaries of "self" and "other" that fuel attachment and aversion.
- Exchanging Self and Other (bdag gzhan brje ba): Once equanimity is established, the practitioner engages in the more radical transformation of mentally exchanging their own self-interest for the interest of others. This involves taking the suffering, problems, and negative conditions of others upon oneself, while giving away one's own happiness, merit, and positive conditions to them. This psychological "reversal" is the direct antidote to self-cherishing (bdag gces 'dzin), which is identified as the root of all suffering and the primary obstacle to buddhahood.
- Through this training, the practitioner develops a "self-less" form of compassion and love, where the welfare of others becomes the primary motivating force for all actions. It is often practiced in conjunction with the meditation of "sending and taking" (tonglen
,T. gtong len), where the exchange is synchronized with the breath.
- Vajrayāna (Indo-Tibetan): Within the context of Tantra, this practice provides the essential motivation for engaging in deity yoga. The altruistic intent developed through equalizing and exchanging self and other ensures that the specialized techniques of the Vajrayāna are directed toward the benefit of all beings rather than personal spiritual gain. It serves as the moral and psychological foundation that prevents the "vajra-pride" of the practitioner from devolving into ordinary ego-inflation.
| Term Variations | |
| Key Term | Ātmaparaprativartana |
|---|---|
| Topic Variation | ātmaparaprativartana |
| Tibetan | བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་བརྗེ་ ( dakzhen nyamjé) |
| Wylie Transliteration | bdag gzhan mnyam brje ( dakzhen nyamjé) |
| Devanagari Sanskrit | आत्मपरप्रतिवर्तन |
| Romanized Sanskrit | ātmaparaprativartana |
| Chinese | 自他換 |
| Chinese Pinyin | zìtā huàn |
| Japanese Transliteration | jitakan |
| Korean | jatahwahn |
| Buddha-nature Site Standard English | equalizing and exchanging self and other |
| Alternate Spellings | bdag gzhan brje ba, exchange of self and other, tonglen |
| Term Information | |
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Definitions | |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo | བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་དང་བདག་གཞན་བརྗེ་བའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཀྱི་བསྡུས་མིང་། |
| Dung dkar Tshig mdzod Chen mo | སྔོན་ཆད་རང་གཅེས་པར་འཛིན་ཅིང་། གཞན་ཡར་བལ་འདོར་བའི་བསམ་བློ་ཡོད་པ་དེ་གོ་ས་བརྗེས་ནས་རང་ཡལ་བར་འདོར་ཞིང་གཞན་གཅེས་པར་འཛིན་པའི་བསམ་བློ་སྐྱེས་པ་ལ་ཟེར། |
