The New Eight Steps to Happiness: The Buddhist Way of Loving Kindness

by Kelsang Gyatso

In general we would all prefer to enjoy high status and a good reputation, and we have little or no interest in being humble. Accomplished practitioners of training the mind, such as Langri Tangpa, are the complete opposite. They actually seek out subordinate positions and wish for others to enjoy the happiness of higher status. There are three reasons why practitioners of training the mind strive to practise humility. Firstly, by practising humility we are not using up our merit on worldly attainments but saving it for the development of internal realizations. We only have a limited supply of merit, so if we waste it on material possessions, reputation, popularity or power there will not be enough positive energy left in our mind to effect deep spiritual realizations. Secondly, by practising humility and wishing for others to enjoy higher status we accumulate a vast amount of merit. We should understand that now is the time to accumulate merit, not to waste it for worldly enjoyments. Thirdly, we need to practise humility because there is no self or I that we normally see. We should view our self or I – the object of our self-cherishing – as the lowest of all, as something we need to neglect or forget. In this way our self-cherishing will become weaker and our love for others will increase.