On a certain occasion, the Exalted One was dwelling in the Sumbha country, in a township of the Sumbhas, called Sedaka. There the Exalted One addressed the monks:
“Once upon a time, monks, a bamboo-acrobat set up his pole and called to his pupil, Medakathalika, saying: ‘Come, my lad, Medakathalika, climb the pole and stand on my shoulders!’
“‘All right, master,’ replied the pupil to the bamboo-acrobat. The student then climbed the pole and stood on his master’s shoulder. Then, monks, the bamboo-acrobat said to his pupil: ‘Now Medakathalika, my lad, you protect me well and I shall protect you. Thus watched and warded by each other, we will show our tricks, get a good fee, and come down safe from the bamboo-pole.’
“At these words Medakathalika the pupil said to the bamboo-acrobat: ‘No, no! That won’t do, master! You look after yourself, master, and I’ll look after myself. Thus watched and warded each by himself, we’ll show our tricks, get a good fee, and come down safe from the bamboo-pole.’
“Therein that is the right way,” said the Exalted One, “Just as Medakathalika the pupil said to his master, ‘I’ll protect myself,’ so, monks, should the Foundation of Mindfulness be practiced. ‘I’ll protect others’: so should the Foundations of Mindfulness be practiced. Protecting oneself, monks, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.
“And how, monks, does one, in protecting oneself, protect others? By frequent practice, development, and making much of the Foundations of Mindfulness. Thus, monks, in protecting oneself one protects others.
“And how, monks, does one, in protecting others, protect oneself? By forbearance, by nonviolence, by loving-kindness, by compassion. Thus, monks, in protecting others, one protects oneself.
“‘I shall protect myself’: with this intention, monks, the Foundations of Mindfulness should be practiced. ‘I shall protect others’: with this intention the Foundations of Mindfulness should be practiced. Protecting oneself, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.”
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