10-21-07 humility

Develop the mind of equilibrium.You will always be getting praise and blame,but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:follow the calmness, the absence of pride.
Sutta Nipata


No one is so wrong as the man who knows all the answers. Chuang Tzu preaches an essential humility: not the humility of virtuousness and conscious self-abasement, which in the end is never entirely free from unctuousness, but the basic, one might say “ontological” or “cosmic” humility of the man who fully realizes his own nothingness and becomes totally forgetful of himself, “like a dry tree stump … ”. One may call this humility “cosmic’, not only because it is rooted in the true nature of things, but also because it is full of life and awareness, responding with boundless vitality and joy to all living beings. It manifests itself everywhere.

Chuang Tzu’s Taoism is nostalgic for the primordial climate of paradise in which there was no differentiation, in which man was utterly simple, unaware of himself, living at peace with himself, with Tao, and with all other creatures. But for Chuang this paradise is not something that has been irrevocably lost by sin and cannot be gained except by redemption. It is still ours, but we do not know it, since the effect of life is society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not. It is this self-awareness which we try to increase and perfect by all sorts of methods and practices, that is really a forgetfulness of our true roots in the unknown Tao and our solidarity in the uncarved block in which there are as yet no distinctions.
Thomas Merton


Your worst enemy cannot harm you as muchas your own unguarded thoughts."
- The Buddha



In what is seen, there should be just the seen;In what is heard, there should be just the heard;
In what is sensed, there should be just the sensed;In what is thought, there should be just the thought.
Sutta Nipata II,14




One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned to the Buddha and exclaimed:"Lord, I've been thinking- spiritual friendship is at least half of the spiritual life!"The Buddha replied: "Say not so, Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2
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The spiritual life is built entirely on humility If there is no growth in humility – Teresa of Avila does not mince words here – “Everything is going to be ruined.” She uses comforting imagery when discussing this foundational virtue: “Humility is an ointment for our wounds. If we are humble – an indispensable requirement for [intimate] prayer- the surgeon, who is our Lord, will come to heal us.”
Teresa distinguishes between true and false humility. The more we know ourselves, the more we feel distress over our wretchedness. … If we experience excessive distress, anger, agitation, disturbance, and frustration, this is a definite sign of false humility, wounded pride, and egotism. Wee must grieve over our offenses, but what matters more is the unfathomable mercy of God. When we are humble we take God so seriously that we take everything else – especially ourselves – light heartedly.

Teresa’s major teaching on humility is clear: To be humble is to walk in truth – the truth of who we are and who God is. Since humility is truth, it does not mean thinking little of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves very little. This virtue is not for wimps, but for warriors! Humility carries with it a breath of greatness, a jubilant freedom, and holy audacity.
Tessa Bielecki


The idea or practice of surrender does not function in Teresa’s thought to repeat the passivity or the dainty submissiveness of women[“s traditional roles]. Instead it is an empowering recognition of what it means to commit to inner fidelity - to a truth that takes away … subordination and restores … equality. Seldom in life do we give ourselves so totally and fully to the one necessary thing – to find the true self and to know God. Beverly Lanzetta




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These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood.Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings,How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind!
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Conquer the angry man by love.Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.Conquer the miser with generosity.Conquer the liar with truth.
The Dhammapada


Drink your tea slowly and reverently,as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future;Live the actual moment.Only this moment is life.
- Thich Nhat Hahn