Protection Through Satipaṭṭhāna

This is an audiobook of Bodhi Leaves No. 34 by Nyanaponika Thera, 'Protection Through Satipaṭṭhāna' found in the Pariyatti Edition of Collected Bodhi Leaves Vol. II.


Excerpt from Individual and Society by Nyanaponika Thera


The [Satipaṭṭhāna] sutta deals with the relations between ourselves and our fellow beings, between individual and society. It sums up in a succinct way the Buddhist attitude to the problems of individual and social ethics, of egoism and altruism. The gist of it is contained in those two concise sentences:


“Protecting oneself, one protects others” (Attānaṃ rakkhanto paraṃ rakkhati), and


“Protecting others, one protects oneself” (Paraṃ rakkhanto attānaṃ rakkhati).