Theravada Buddhism is often criticized for being selfish. We’re not here to save all beings, we’re here to save our own skin: That’s what they say. But Theravada rejects the idea that there’s a clear line between your well-being and the well-being of others.

"Theravada Buddhism is often criticized for being selfish. We’re not here to save all beings, we’re here to save our own skin: That’s what they say.

It is true that we recognize that we each are making ourselves suffer and we have to work on putting an end to that suffering ourselves. Each of us has his or her own karma. You can’t take your karma and give it to somebody else.

So it looks like we’re just working on our own goodness, our own happiness, and forgetting about everyone else. But when you think about goodness, you realize that it’s not the sort of thing that’s limited just to you. The goodness you do has to spill out into the lives of other people.

There’s that image the Buddha gives of the two acrobats. One acrobat is standing on the top of a bamboo pole. Another acrobat, his female assistant, is standing on his shoulders. He says to her, “You look out after me, and I’ll look out after you, and that way we’ll maintain our balance and come down safely from the pole.” And she replies, “No, that won’t work. You have to look after yourself, and I have to look after myself, and that way we help each other maintain our balance and come down safely from the pole.”

As the Buddha said, she was the one who was right in that instance: that it’s in maintaining your balance that you help other people maintain theirs. The Buddha adds that when you’re working on developing the establishing of mindfulness, other people benefit. In the same way that when you’re kind and generous and patient with others, develop equanimity in your dealings with other people, it would seem that they’re the first beneficiaries, but at the same time you benefit as well.

So Theravada rejects the idea that there’s a clear line between your well-being and the well-being of others."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Dedicating Merit"

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