Self-Generation Like Exchanging Self with Other

At the recent Western Canada Dharma Celebration in Vancouver, Gen-la Dekyong explained self-generating as a Buddha as being like switching labels: You take the label "I" off yourself and stick it on, say, Medicine Buddha. Then you strongly think, "I am Medicine Buddha," and forget entirely about that old ordinary self. (Because we use lanyards with our nametags for festivals and celebrations, I also imagined it as taking my lanyard from around my neck and putting it on Medicine Buddha. The analogy isn't as good, but it amused me.)

On retreat I'm getting a feel for that switch when I imagine myself as Buddha Heruka. It reminded me of how it feels when I try to exchange self with other. I'd forgotten this part, but in Eight Steps to Happiness (which, by the way, is now available as an ebook), Geshe-la explains that Tantric self-generation is indeed a form of exchanging self with other: "Those who are skilled in Secret Mantra, or Tantra, have a profound experience of exchanging self with others. In the Tantric practice of self-generation, we exchange our previous self with that of a Tantric Buddha."

Of course, exchanging self with others is about changing your object of cherishing from yourself to others, whereas self-generation is about changing your object of identification - technically, your basis of imputation - from your ordinary self to an extraordinary being. But having that flexible sense of yourself - loosening up your idea of who you are and who you can be - is great mental training and brings nothing but benefit to ourselves and others, now and in the future.
It's like an upgrade, an upgrade to a first-class body and mind. I trade in this body and mind - painful, limited, destined to fall apart and decay - for a shiny, new mind and body, which never give rise to pain, have great ability to benefit others, and last forever.