They say Atisha, whenever he met different sentient beings, in his mind he would say, “That’s my mother,” a kind of, “Hello, mom,” and immediately adopt that feeling of closeness and intimacy with that person. I think His Holiness has that kind of attitude with people, this automatic feeling of warmth. It is possible for us to also develop this attitude.

Let us say you had a really close relationship with your mother, father, or whoever brought you up and then something happened, and you were separated from them for many, many years. One day you were walking down the street and see this very old person sitting on the street begging, and you realise, “Oh my goodness, that is my mother (father, babysitter, whoever it is). They are sitting on the curb and begging.” You feel surprised, but would you just walk by that beggar if you realised it was the same person who took care of you when you were a baby? No way. No matter how that beggar looked you would say, “Mom (dad, or whoever it is), I am going to help you.” Automatically that feeling of love is going to come for that person, even though they are dirty, have not taken a shower in a few weeks, and they are wearing old, ragged clothes. Once you recognise them as having been your kind parent in this life, all the prejudice goes away, and all the apathy goes away because you recognise them.

In the same way, if we really train ourselves to see that all sentient beings have been our parents and remember their kindness, then when we see other sentient beings, there is that same feeling of recognising this person as the being who was your kind mother, or father, or babysitter, or caregiver, and that same feeling of warmth and affection comes up towards them. I think it is quite helpful if we can train our minds to look at sentient beings in that way.

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