Śāntideva's classic work on the bodhisattva path, the Bodhicaryāvatāra, contains a famous passage in which he commends "exchanging self and other." This passage has become the basis for Buddhist meditative practices, in which one imaginatively looks back upon one's self as an "other," from the positions of those whose status is relatively advantaged, relatively disadvantaged, or similar. These practices are notable for their encouragement of the use of negative emotions of envy, rivalry, and contempt, in service of loosening the grip of our exclusive identification with our own egos. This essay explores the value of Śāntideva's text for Christians, and their attempts to love their neighbors as themselves.
