The Bodhisattvacaryavatara bases its instruction on meditation on the bodhicitta, the altruistic exploration, in Nagarjuna’s text called Precious Garland (Ratnamala). And the techniques for cultivating that are explained in what is called ‘exchanging’ and the ‘equality of oneself and others’.

Equalizing oneself and others means developing the attitude and understanding that: ‘Just as I desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering, so do all living beings, beings as infinite as space; they also desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering.’