9.
The Discourse at Sedaka
385.
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Sumbhas at Sedaka, a market town of the Sumbhas.
There the Blessed One addressed the monks thus:
"Once in the past, monks, a bamboo acrobat, having raised up a bamboo pole, addressed his pupil Medakathālikā -
'Come, my dear Medakathālikā, having climbed the bamboo pole, stand on my shoulders.'
'Yes, teacher,' monks, the disciple Medakathālikā, having assented to the bamboo acrobat, having climbed the bamboo pole, stood on the teacher's shoulders.
Then, monks, the bamboo acrobat said this to his pupil Medakathālikā -
'You, my dear Medakathālikā, protect me, and I will protect you.
Thus we, guarding each other, protecting each other, will display our skills, and we will obtain gain, and we will descend safely from the bamboo pole.'
When this was said, monks, the disciple Medakathālikā said this to the bamboo acrobat -
'But that will not be so, teacher.
You, teacher, protect yourself, and I will protect myself.
Thus we, self-guarded, self-protected, will display our skills, and we will obtain gain, and we will descend safely from the bamboo pole.'"
"That is the right method there," the Blessed One said, "just as the disciple Medakathālikā said to the teacher.
'I will protect myself,' monks - thus the establishment of mindfulness should be practised;
'I will protect others' - thus the establishment of mindfulness should be practised.
Protecting oneself, monks, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself."
"And how, monks, does one protecting oneself protect others? By practice, by development, by making much of it - thus, monks, protecting oneself, one protects others. And how, monks, does one protecting others protect oneself? By patience, by non-violence, by a mind of friendliness, by sympathy - thus, monks, protecting others, one protects oneself. 'I will protect myself,' monks - thus the establishment of mindfulness should be practised; 'I will protect others' - thus the establishment of mindfulness should be practised. Protecting oneself, monks, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself." The ninth.