“When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.” The Buddha

watching self others

“When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.” The Buddha

“When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.” The Buddha Click To Tweet

(From the Samyutta Nikaya)

2 thoughts on ““When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.” The Buddha”

    1. “Monks, the establishing of mindfulness is to be practiced with the thought, ‘I’ll watch after myself.’ The establishing of mindfulness is to be practiced with the thought, ‘I’ll watch after others.’ When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.

      “And how do you watch after others when watching after yourself? Through cultivating [the practice], through developing it, through pursuing it. This is how you watch after others when watching after yourself.

      “And how do you watch after yourself when watching after others? Through endurance, through harmlessness, through a mind of goodwill, & through sympathy. This is how you watch after yourself when watching after others.

      “The establishing of mindfulness is to be practiced with the thought, ‘I’ll watch after myself.’ The establishing of mindfulness is to be practiced with the thought, ‘I’ll watch after others.’ When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.”

      From here. If you spend some time reading the scriptures you’ll find that the Buddha used terms like “self” and “other” rather a lot.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.