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Buddhist Selfishness
Buddhism can look pretty selfish to anyone who does not understand it. Had the Buddha been able to awaken every person who lived during his lifetime, we have to assume he would have done so. He was a fount of lovingkindness and compassion. As the Buddha lay dying, Ananda, one of his chief disciples, said of him, “he who is so kind.”
But the reality is that every person has to decide for themselves if they want to awaken. The Buddha did spend his entire life after his awakening telling anyone who would listen, and some who wouldn’t, what he had discovered. The reason Buddhists leave the decision to follow this path or not to every individual is that no other approach will work.
Claiming to offer salvation to all humans is actually fantastically arrogant and unrealistic, and obviously did not work, looking at the historical evidence.
The best any of us can do is to observer the precepts and show the world a good example of who Buddhists are.
Making your consistent meditation practice, which works best, especially at first, when you have a quiet, secluded place (allowing for meditation centers in cities, which are just fine), looks selfish from the outside, but you are busy working on your own peace, compassion, and lovingkindness, which necessarily impacts everyone around you to their benefit.
