The Golden Compass

There is a lay version of the Fire Sermon, in which the disciple is urged to tend the three БЂњgood firesБЂ«: taking care of his dependents; caring for his wife, children and servants; and supporting the bhikkhus in all the different sanghas. But, as always, the cardinal virtue was compassion. One day King Pasenedi and his wife had a discussion in which each admitted that nothing was dearer to them than their own selves. This was obviously not a view that the Buddha could share, but when the king told him about this conversation, the Buddha did not chide him, launch into a discussion of anatta, or preach a sermon on the Eightfold Path. Instead, as usual, he entered into PasenediБЂ™s viewpoint, and built on what was in his mind-not on what the Buddha thought should be there. He did not, therefore, tell the king that the self was a delusion, because without a life of regular yoga, he would not be able to БЂњseeБЂ«this. Instead, he told him to consider this: if he found that there was nothing dearer to him than himself, it must also be true that other people also cherished their БЂњseparate selves.БЂ«Therefore, the Buddha concluded, БЂњa person who loves the self, should not harm the self of others.БЂ«He should follow what other traditions have called the Golden Rule: БЂњDo not do unto others as you would not have done unto you.БЂ«Laymen could not extinguish their egotism entirely, but they could use their experience of selfishness to empathize with other peopleБЂ™s vulnerability ...»