The Venerable Sādaro tells us that the idea of “humility” is throughout the Buddha’s teachings, but is rarely mentioned directly. What is humility? One word in the texts, which can be translated as “humility”, is the Pali word “nivāta”, which means something like “without wind” or “without movement”. When the Buddha refers to people who are not humble, he talks about people being inflexible or talking a lot.
The Venerable Sādaro says that modern society often encourages us to not be humble. We are encouraged to talk ourselves up and to have opinions on everything. While having opinions isn’t necessarily bad, holding to them too tightly or identifying with them can be. And one should be willing to be honest when one doesn’t really know something. It can take great humility to say “I don’t know” and not have an opinion.
Why do we hold so tightly to our opinions? One factor is the “ego mind”. We only have one perspective directly available to our perceptions – our own. That tends to privilege our own perspective in our thoughts. We have no access to how other people think or feel, which makes our own view feel more correct.
Another factor leading us to hold so tightly to our own views is conceit, or “māna”. Māna is one of the 10 fetters, the factors that bind us to the cycle of existence. Theravada Buddhism recognizes multiple levels of enlightenment. With each level of enlightenment, one discards some of the 10 fetters. Māna is one of the last two fetters to be overcome, along with delusion. Conceit is so deeply embedded in the human experience that we have to have it to see ourselves as an individual being. There are three kinds of conceit: “I am better than others”, “I am worse than others”, and “I am equal to others”. All are seen as flavors of conceit (although not all of these are necessarily bad). The problem here is the comparison, and the “I am”. The identification is the fetter which holds us back from enlightenment.
Everyone knows that they should be humble, but it’s hard! The Venerable Sādaro says that minimizing conceit is the best way to true humility. Don’t try hard to be humble, as this can instead lead to a false humility. Instead, work on the “I”. Let go of a sense of self. Conceit all stems from this “I”. All phenomena stem from causes and conditions, and we shouldn’t attach to them too closely. Seeing things in this way can help us be more flexible and avoid clinging.
In the group’s discussion after the talk, we talked a lot about this idea of comparisons. The idea resonated that even thinking that you’re worse than someone else is still creating comparisons and rank. We talked about concerns with the use of ranking and status symbols in society, and how social media can encourage harmful comparisons. The group deeply appreciated the Venerable Sādaro’s teachings on humility.
Scroll down to listen to Ajahn Sādaro’s talk. Happy Learning!
From the Teachers: Humility
Dharma Video:
“Humility Through a Buddhist Lens” by Ajahn Sādaro*
* Venerable Ajahn Sādaro is a Resident Monastic Teacher at the Newbury Buddhist Monastery (NBM) in Newbury, Australia, part of the Buddhist Society of Victoria (BSV) — a multi-ethnic community organization, operating in accordance with the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Venerable Ajahn Sādaro was ordained in the forest tradition in Thailand under Ajahn Anan in 2006. After practicing throughout SE Asia, he returned to Australia in 2015 and now currently resides at the BSV’s Buddhaloka vihara in Melbourne. He is assisting with research on mindfulness being conducted by Monash University and the University of Melbourne.
