One time I was in England and we were driving to an office for a meeting with the Maitreya Project designer, engineer, architect, and environmental advisor, when these people were going to present their ideas. We were stopped at a red light.

There was a middle-aged, well-dressed man, quite short, crossing the road. He had such an awful body, with long, large fleshy protrusions pointing out, covering his hands and face. It was the first time I saw such a face and body. I pointed him out to my companions. This one fortunate time I remembered to practice tonglen. When you see such a suffering being, practice tonglen. I pointed him out to one of my companions and said "Quickly, quickly, practice tonglen." I found that meditation quite effective. You can take the suffering on yourself and give it all to your ego, to destroy the ego, the self-cherishing thought.

One of my companions asked whether by doing this practice it made the man's sickness meaningful, that it would get better. I said it would be extremely beneficial to achieve enlightenment to be able to benefit all beings. We can pray and dedicate the merits from that practice for that person to be quickly liberated from samsara. That means to stop all sicknesses, however many hundreds of sicknesses there are, all sufferings, and all the problems of life. So, this way of praying covers everything. This meditation develops bodhicitta, enables us to collect extensive merit, purify negative karma, and achieve enlightenment more quickly. After that, we're able to perform perfect work, not only for that person but for all sentient beings, and we are able to free them from the ocean of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment.