Having generated bodhicitta and gone for refuge, we intensify our preparation by contemplating the four immeasurables. These are: immeasurable equanimity, love, compassion and joy. We approach each through analysis, simultaneously striving for its emotive compliment. Consider as follows:
Think: Suffering is universal. All beings endure it without respite. Not one is safe from misfortune, from loss, from pain. That these disasters befall us is entirely due to our entrapment in samsara, a condition which we create for ourselves. Our own lack of equanimity, our instinctive attachments and aversions are what have ever kept us down. May not only I, but all sentient beings shatter these bonds. How wonderful that would be! Whoever makes progress must assist their fellows. I myself must make this effort. I know the way, for it has been shown to me. Here and now are my best opportunity. Kindly bless me that I may accomplish it.
Visualize: All the deities pictured before us respond in kind to the purity of our wish. From the heart of each, light streams forth in myriad coruscations of rainbow rays, penetrating all beings, inwardly illuminating their infinite capacities. We ourselves are likewise infused. Feel the resonance calming our passions, balancing our perspective. Nectar rains down to cleanse our of attachments. All obstructions are utterly dissolved. Boundless possibility opens before us.
Think: Happiness is fleeting. All desire it, but only a few ever attain even the least measure of it. And even for those few, it does not last. Thus nowhere in samsara is happiness complete, for it is ever tinged with the fear of its inevitable destruction. Would that I could provide them all with complete and lasting happiness. I know the way, for it has been shown to me. Here and now are my best opportunity. Kindly bless me that I may accomplish it.
Visualize: All the gurus, deities and so on respond as before. They recognize and approve of our intention. The luminosity of their own boundless love merges into the core of our being, evoking like resonances within each one of us. Nectar rains down washing away all hatred and acrimony. All our disharmonies evaporate away. We are filled with warmth and good will toward all.
Think: Suffering is universal. All these others who likewise suffer are my fellows. In this there is not the slightest difference between us. Their suffering and mine is exactly the same. I know their pain. I feel it with them. Would that I could release them from this. That in fact is what I must do. I know the way, for it has been shown to me. Here and now are my best opportunity. Kindly bless me that I may accomplish it.
Visualize: The gurus and deities replenish us again, for our compassion is akin to their own. They respond in kind and we all are stabilized, reinforced by the oneness of ourselves with all others. Feel your connection with the deities. Sense the warmth of their boundless luminosity. Feel the clean coolness of the nectar raining gently down.
Think: Happiness is fleeting. How fine it would be to be able to insure that no being ever were separated from joy. May that be so. Would that I could make it so. That in fact is what I must do. I know the way, for it has been shown to me. Here and now are my best opportunity. Kindly bless me that I may accomplish it.
Visualize: A fourth time the deities respond. The light of their joy illuminates all. The whole of space in every realm is fully resplendent with their boundless perfection. In harmony with this our own joy increases. All hearts sing in chordant sympathy like a filed of matched tuning forks (which when one is struck eminates sound exciting its twins into identical resonance). Invigorated by their field, your own being fluoresces with like colors. You reradiate this to all others. All the while nectar rains down purifying everything like spring rain.
Dwell on the above determinations, each in order, until you feel their imagery reflected within your own being. Let them soak in for as long as needful. They are fuel to fire up our bodhicitta motivation.