Does practice begin with selfishness?

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Individual
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Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by Individual »

In order to be concerned with dhamma, don't we first take for granted that "my" suffering is more important than anything else in the world? And in Theravada, practice is chiefly aimed at this.
The best things in life aren't things.

The Diamond Sutra
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Ceisiwr
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Re: Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by Ceisiwr »

How can you help others without removing your own ignorance first


Otherwise its like a blind man trying to help another blind man cross the road


metta
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
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imagemarie
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Re: Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by imagemarie »

Individual wrote:In order to be concerned with dhamma, don't we first take for granted that "my" suffering is more important than anything else in the world? And in Theravada, practice is chiefly aimed at this.
Perhaps it begins like this. But with practice I think, comes the realisation of how "my" suffering causes others to suffer, and how their suffering impacts upon me.
In the end...suffering exists (none who suffer)
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cooran
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Re: Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by cooran »

Individual wrote:In order to be concerned with dhamma, don't we first take for granted that "my" suffering is more important than anything else in the world? And in Theravada, practice is chiefly aimed at this.
What was it that caused you to turn to Budddhadhamma, Individual? Was it your own suffering? Why be concerned about the initial motivation of another? What impelled Sidartha Gotama on his search in his last lifetime?

metta
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---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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tiltbillings
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Re: Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by tiltbillings »

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .irel.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
Individual
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Re: Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by Individual »

The best things in life aren't things.

The Diamond Sutra
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genkaku
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Re: Does practice begin with selfishness?

Post by genkaku »

My two cents:

Selfishness is how we begin and how we practice at first. This includes the selfishness of altruism ... after all, if there is no such thing as self and other (as practice makes clear), helping others is, however kind and much-praised, an act of self. It is just the way we practice.

And practice, as anyone knows, makes perfect. :smile:
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