In Buddhism we say that each person must become his or her own protector. Learning to do this is extremely important. It is the basis for us to be able to extend care and protection to others. This second step is even more important. If our learning to protect ourselves does not contribute to our being able to care for others, we all too easily become stuck in a quagmire of self-obsession. Much of the time, this is what happens: we take our care and cherishing of ourselves too far and arrive at outright self-absorption.
17th Karmapa
from the book Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book Interconnected:
- Our intimate dependence on the natural environment
- Interdependent individuals
- Opening up to the view of interconnectedness
- A main condition for our selfishness
- Outer and inner world
- Self-reliance
- The best way to love oneself
- Everything and everyone is benefiting you
- Limitless aspirations
- When we ignore our interdependence
- Freedom
- We hold nothing back
- Keeping the door to improvement open
- Thinking about the consequences of our collective actions
- Naturalness
- The workings of interdependence
- Being an interdependent individual
- Inner freedom is key
- The ability to experience genuine closeness