Sakka asked: “What is the cause of self-interest?”

The Buddha answered: “It is perception of the world as one’s object.”

“How does one overcome this perception of the world as apart from oneself?”

“By acting for the increase of goodness and happiness. It is in this way that the world ceases to be one’s object.”

-Digha Nikaya

From “Buddha Speaks,” edited by Anne Bancroft, 2000. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.