Shantideva · Theology

The Equality of Self and Other

Shantideva’s argument for impartial compassion: another’s suffering deserves exactly the same concern as my own, because suffering is simply suffering wherever it occurs - and the boundary of the ‘self’ that seems to make my pain uniquely mine is, on inspection, no such thing.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Shantideva argues all beings equally flee suffering and seek happiness, that pain deserves removal simply because it is pain and not because of whose it is, and that the ‘self’ which seems to privilege my own suffering is a construction - so we should care for others as we care for the lim…

Leads to Gautama Buddha.

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