CONTEMPLATING THE DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-CHERISHING

What exactly is self-cherishing? Self-cherishing is our mind that thinks ’I am important’ while neglecting others. When we think ‘I’ and ‘mine’ we perceive an inherently existent I, and we cherish it and believe that its happiness and freedom are the most important. This is self-cherishing. Caring for ourself is not self-cherishing. We need to care for ourself to maintain this human life so that we can continually apply effort to accom- plishing its real meaning. Self-cherishing and self-grasping are different aspects of one mind. Self-grasping grasps at an inherently existent ‘I’, and self-cherishing believes that such an ‘I’ is precious and that its happiness and freedom are supremely important. Self- cherishing is our normal view that believes ‘I am important’ and ‘My happiness and freedom are important’, and that neglects others’ happiness and freedom. It is part of our ignor- ance because in reality there is no inherently existent I. Our self-cherishing mind nevertheless cherishes this I and believes it to be the most important. It is a foolish and deceptive mind that always interferes with our inner peace, and it is a great obstacle to our accomplishing the real meaning of our human life. We have had this self-cherishing mind in life after life since beginningless time, even while asleep and dreaming.