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ALTRUISM |
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Altruism
is thinking and acting for the benefit of others before or more than
for oneself. Theologians and philosophers have long argued about
whether it is actually possible to be genuinely altruistic. The
Buddha avoided the 'self or other' quandary because he understood
that we are better able to benefit others when we have made some
changes within ourselves. His six-year struggle for truth allowed him
to spend the following forty-five years teaching that truth to
others. Likewise, he also understood that benefiting others often
changes oneself for the better. He once commented that Ānanda's
many years of 'expressing love through body, through speech and
through mind' - often leaving him with little time to meditate - had
allowed him to come close to enlightenment (D.II,143). Thus, for the
Buddhist, it should not be a choice between selfishness - self before
others - or altruism - others before oneself - but self and others
together. In one of his most meaningful discourses the Buddha says:
'There are these four types of people found in the world. What four?
He who is concerned with neither his own good nor the good of others,
he who is concerned with the good of others but not his own, he who
is concerned with his own good but not the good of others and he
who is concerned with both his own good and the good of others - and
of these four he who is concerned with his own good and the good of
others is the chief, the best, the topmost, the highest, the supreme'
(A.II,94). |
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