375 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
375 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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HUMILITY
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Humility is an essential attitude for success in the spiritual
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life. Any self-conceit, whether nurtured by superior intelligence,
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wealth, a high position, or the praise of others, is an obstacle on the
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path. Genuine humility is not posturing. It requires a constant willing-
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ness to deny oneself, to be critical of oneself, and to be open to
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Heaven's guidance even when it differs from one's own preconceived
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concepts.
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We open with passages which set forth the value of humility, meek-
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ness, and modesty. Humility requires sincerity and honesty; thus some
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passages liken the humble person to a little child, whose natural spont-
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aneity and acceptance of life is the antithesis of the often complicated
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personality of the adult with its many masks, hidden resentments, and pre-
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judices. Here is also the wisdom of the paradox (see Reversal, pp.
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544-50) that the person who is humble and self-effacing ultimately
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prospers and wins more respect from others than the person who is proud
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and powerful. Next come passages enjoining humility before God and the
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recognition that the success of all our endeavors ultimately depends on
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God's favor. This is the attitude expressed by the common Muslim saying
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insha'llah, "God willing." The humble person does not regard his posses-
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sions or accomplishments as his own, but as a gift of God, to whom is due
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all thanks. A third group of passages meditate on the insignificance,
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transience, and lowness of the human being, who is nothing but a puff of
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wind, a bag of excrement, food for worms. Finally, we conclude with pass-
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ages which warn against letting the praise of others or great learning or
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high position go to the head and cause self-conceit. Indeed, it is those
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who are most favored with talent, intelligence, and worldly success who
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most often succumb to pride and thus lose their way.
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Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
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Christianity. Matthew 5.5
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It is humility that exalts one and favors him against his friends.
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African Traditional Religions. Kipsigis Proverb
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(Kenya).
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Successful indeed are the believers
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Who are humble in their prayers,
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and who shun vain conversation,
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and who are payers of the poor-due,
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and who guard their modesty.
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Islam. Qur'an 23.1-5
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The Lamenter [who is seeking a vision] cries, for he is humbling himself,
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remembering his nothingness in the presence of the Great Spirit.
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Native American Religions. Black Elk, Sioux Tradition
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Harithah ibn Wahb al-Khuza`i tells how he heard the Prophet say, "Have I
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not taught you how the inhabitants of Paradise will be all the humble and
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the weak, whose oaths God will accept when they swear to be faithful?
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Have I not taught you how the inhabitants of hell will be all the cruel
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beings, strong of body and arrogant?"
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Islam. Hadith of Bukhari
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Within the world
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the palace pillar is broad,
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but the human heart
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should be modest.
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Shinto. Moritake Arakida, One Hundred Poems about the
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World
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Be humble, be harmless,
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Have no pretension,
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Be upright, forbearing;
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Serve your teacher in true obedience,
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Keeping the mind and body in cleanness,
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Tranquil, steadfast, master of ego,
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Standing apart from the things of the senses,
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Free from self;
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Aware of the weakness in mortal nature.
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Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 13.7-8
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Matthew 5.5: Cf. Matthew 23.12, p. 545; Philippians 2.6-11, p. 616.
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Qur'an 23.1-5: Cf. Qur'an 31.18-19, p. 409; 7.55, p. 828. On the
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Prophet's humility, see Hadith, pp. 658f. Bhagavad Gita 13.7-8: Cf.
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Gauri Sukhmani 18, M.5, p. 818.
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Subdue pride by modesty, overcome hypocrisy by simplicity, and dissolve
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greed by contentment.
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Jainism. Samanasuttam 136
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Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs
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the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the
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kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
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Christianity. Bible, Luke 18.16-17
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For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of
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Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of
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the Holy Spirit, and putts off the natural man and becomes a saint through
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the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becomes as a child, submissive,
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meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which
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the Lord sees fit to inflict upon him, even as a child submits to his
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father.
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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Book of
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Mormon, Mosiah 3.19
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In the Book of Songs it is said,
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Over her brocaded robe
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She wore a plain and simple dress,
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In that way showing her dislike of the loudness of its color and magnif-
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icence. Thus the ways of the moral man are unobtrusive and yet they grow
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more and more in power and evidence; whereas the ways of the vulgar person
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are ostentatious, but lose more and more in influence until they perish
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and disappear.
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The life of the moral man is plain, and yet not unattractive; it is
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simple, and yet full of grace; it is easy, and yet methodical. He knows
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that accomplishment of great things consists in doing little things well.
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He knows that great effects are produced by small causes. He knows the
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evidence and reality of what cannot be perceived by the senses. Thus he
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is enabled to enter into the world of ideas and morals.
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Confucianism. Doctrine of the Mean 33
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Luke 18.16-17: Cf. Matthew 18.1-3, p. 215. Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3.19:
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Cf. Proverbs 3.11-12, p. 571; John 1.12-13, p. 575. Doctrine of the Mean:
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Cf. Qur'an 31.18-19, p. 409.
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He who knows the masculine but keeps to the feminine,
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Becomes the ravine of the world.
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Being the ravine of the world,
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He dwells in constant virtue,
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He returns to the state of the babe.
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He who knows the white but keeps to the black,
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Becomes the model of the world.
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Being the model of the world,
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He rests in constant virtue,
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He returns to the infinite.
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He who knows glory but keeps to disgrace,
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Becomes the valley of the world.
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Being the valley of the world,
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He finds contentment in constant virtue,
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He returns to the Uncarved Block.
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Taoism. Tao Te Ching 28
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Do not say about anything, "I am going to do that tomorrow," without add-
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ing, "If God will." Remember your Lord whenever you forget, and say,
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"Perhaps my Lord will guide me even closer than this to proper conduct."
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Islam. Qur'an 18.23-24
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Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a
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town and spend a year there and trade and get gain;" whereas you do not
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know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears
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for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the
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Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that." As it is, you
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boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
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Christianity. James 4.13-16
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Without merit am I; all merit is Thine.
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Thine, Lord, are all merits--by what tongue have I power to praise Thee?
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Wadhans, M.5, p. 577
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Though I seek my refuge in the true faith of the Pure Land,
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Yet my heart has not been truly sincere.
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Deceit and untruth are in my flesh,
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And in my soul is no clear shining.
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In their outward seeming all men are diligent and truth speaking,
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But in their souls are greed and anger and unjust deceitfulness,
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And in their flesh do lying and cunning triumph.
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Too strong for me is the evil of my heart.
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I cannot overcome it.
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Therefore my soul is like unto the poison of serpents;
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Even my righteous deeds, being mingled with this poison,
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Must be named deeds of deceitfulness.
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Shameless though I be and having no truth in my soul,
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Yet the virtue of the Holy Name, the gift of Him that is enlightened,
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Is spread throughout the world through my words,
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Although I am as I am.
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There is no mercy in my soul.
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The good of my fellow man is not dear in my eyes.
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If it were not for the Ark of Mercy,
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The divine promise of the Infinite Wisdom,
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How should I cross the Ocean of Misery?
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I, whose mind is filled with cunning and deceit as the poison of reptiles,
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Am impotent to practice righteous deeds.
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If I sought not refuge in the gift of our Father,
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I should die the death of the shameless.
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Buddhism. Shinran
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All men are children of Adam, and Adam was created from soil.
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Islam. Hadith of Tirmidhi
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Be of an exceedingly humble spirit, for the end of man is the worm.
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Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 4.4
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O Lord, what is man, that thou dost regard him,
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or the son of man, that thou dost think of him?
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Man is like a breath,
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his days are like a passing shadow.
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Judaism and Christianity. Psalm 144.3-4
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The body is impure, bad-smelling, and replete with various kinds of
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stench which trickle here and there. If one, possessed of such a body,
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thinks highly of himself and despises others--that is due to nothing
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other than his lack of insight.
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Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 205-06
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A rabbit that a huntsman brings,
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They pay for it the proper price;
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But none will give a betel nut
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For the corpse of a ruler of the land!
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A man's body is less worth than a rabbit's.
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Hinduism. Basavanna, Vachana 158
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Reflect upon three things, and you will not come within the power of sin:
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know from where you came, to where you are going, and before whom you
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will in future have to give account and reckoning. From where you came--
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from a fetid drop; to where are you going--to a place of dust, worms, and
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maggots; and before whom you will in future have to give account and
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reckoning--before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
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Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 3.1
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Even if all the world tells you, "You are righteous," consider yourself
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wicked.
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Judaism. Talmud, Nidda 30b
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A brahmin should ever shrink from honor as from poison, and should always
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be desirous of disrespect as if of ambrosia.
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Hinduism. Laws of Manu 2.162
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Confucius said, "A gentleman does not grieve that people do not recognize
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his merits; he grieves at his own incapacities."
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Confucianism. Analects 14.32
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To know when one does not know is best.
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To think one knows when one does not know is a dire disease.
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Taoism. Tao Te Ching 71
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The fool who knows that he is a fool is for that very reason a wise man;
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the fool who thinks he is wise is called a fool indeed.
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Buddhism. Dhammapada 63
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Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others
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better than yourselves.
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Christianity. Philippians 2.3
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Whoever proclaims himself good,
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know, goodness approaches him not.
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He whose heart becomes dust of the feet of all,
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Saith Nanak, pure shall his repute be.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani 12, M.5, p. 278
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Tao Te Ching 28: The 'Uncarved Block' is the state of primitive simplicity
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without any pretense or artificiality. It can also mean the purity of
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one's original nature. Cf. Tao Te Ching 22, p. 550; 55, p. 231. James
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4.13-16: Cf. Isaiah 40.6-8, p. 123. Shinran: Shinran (1173-1262) honestly
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looked into his own mind and recognized the power of evil within. He
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realized that even the most determined saint cannot attain salvation
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through dependence on his or her own mind; compare 1 John 1.8, p. 383;
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Romans 3.9-12, p. 383. For Shinran, salvation is possible only through
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the Power of Another--the Orignal Vow of Buddha Amitabha to save all
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sentient beings (Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra 8.18, p. 555). See Tannisho,
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pp. 757f. Abot 4.4: Cf. Erubin 13b, p. 545. Psalm 144.3-4: Cf. Isaiah
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40.6-8, p. 123. Sutta Nipata 205-06: The many Buddhist meditations on the
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body as filthy and worthless are mainly to cultivate an attitude of
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detachment from sense desires and bodily pleasures. Cf. Dhammapada 350,
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p. 930; Therigatha, pp. 934-35; Precious Garland 149-57, p. 930;
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Akkamahadevi, Vachana 33, p. 931. Tao Te Ching 71: Cf. Tao Te Ching 81,
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p. 797. Dhammapada 63: Cf. 1 Corinthians 1.20-25, p. 798, where the word
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of the cross seems folly because it teaches the way of humility and self-
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sacrifice. Gauri Sukhmani 12, M.5: Cf. Tao Te Ching 81, p. 797.
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Subhuti, what do you think? Does a holy one say within himself, "I have
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obtained Perfective Enlightenment"? Subhuti replied, "No, World-honored
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One... If a holy one of Perfective Enlightenment said to himself, Such am
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I, he would necessarily partake of the idea of an ego-identity, a person-
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ality, a being, a separated individuality."
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Buddhism. Diamond Sutra 9
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In the barren north, there is a sea, the Celestial Lake. In it
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there is a fish, several thousand li in width, and no one knows how many
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li in length. It is called the leviathan (kun). There is also a bird,
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called the roc (p'eng), with a back like Mount T'ai and wings like clouds
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across the sky. Upon a whirlwind it soars up to a height of ninety
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thousand li. Beyond the clouds and atmosphere, with only the blue sky
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above it, it then turns south to the southern ocean.
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A quail laughs at it, saying, "Where is that bird trying to go? I
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spurt up with a bound, and I drop after rising a few yards. I just
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flutter about among the brushwood and the bushes. This is also the perf-
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ection of flying. Where is that bird trying to go?" This is the differ-
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ence between the great and the small.
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Similarly, there are some men whose knowledge is sufficient for the
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duties of some office. There are some men whose conduct will benefit some
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district. There are some men whose virtue befits him for a ruler. There
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are some men whose ability wins credit in the country. In their opinion
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of themselves, they are just like what is mentioned above.
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Taoism. Chuang Tzu 1
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Chuang Tzu 1: Cf. Analects 7.25, p. 413.
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