John Richards wrote:
Would it not be the "religious" (not just "Christian" or "Buddhist") attitude that OTHERS have rights, and they should be defended and maintained rigorously, but that I have none, and would never wish to assert any for myself? Someone (Berdyayev, if I remember correctly) once said rather neatly that bread for myself is selfishness, bread for others is religion.
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Well I know what you mean (//demanding// MY rights is problematic), but: The Theravaadin way of spreading lovingkindness is to develop it towards oneself first, and then seek to spread it to others, even 'enemies' to an //equal// degree. If you have no regard for one's 'own' real benefit, how can one genuinely have it for others?
Also, the attitude 'I am unimportant' //can// (but not necessarily) lead to the inferiority conceit: //I// am no good, others are better, more important...

Peter Harvey