Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

“No thing bi strijf, nether by veyn glorie, but in mekenesse, demynge eche othere to be heiyer than hym silf.” (Wycliffe Bible, Philippians 2:4) ₁

In the second stanza of his Eight Verses on Mind Training, Langri Thangpa (1054-1093) writes: “Whenever I interact with others, / I will view myself as inferior to all; / And I will train myself / To hold others superior from the depths of my heart.” ₂ This stanza addresses the importance of humility on the spiritual path and the need to heal a distorted and afflictive way of seeing the ourselves and our relationships with others. Geshe Sonam Rinchen comments:

Whoever we are with … and wherever we are, allowing others to be of supreme importance, regarding our own status, wealth and good qualities as less important than theirs and sincerely respecting them is a way to get rid of pride. It opens the door to happiness and to the true development of our own potential. ₃

Pride, when it manifests as a type of overt arrogance, is easily associated with a strong attachment, attachment to self. But its reverse, or shadow side, also involves a quite similar energy and attitude, which Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo characterizes as “low self-esteem, inner criticism, [and] a sense of failure.” ₄ In this way, she explains that in Buddhism, pride is not understood as having only one form: “[P]ride means thinking we are superior to other people, but it also means thinking we are inferior to other people.” ₅ Explicating the change in vision and orientation involved in countering pride, the Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher writes:

When we meet other people, we consider them more important and more interesting. Our attention is on the other people, making them happy. Our attention should not be on what they are thinking about us. We shouldn’t be thinking: Do they like me? Don’t they like me? Do I give a good impression? Do they think I’m stupid? Blah, blah, blah. If we are thinking like that, we are trapped in our ego, and we cannot see or deeply listen to the other person because we are too busy talking to ourselves about ourselves. The point about our attitude when we meet with others is that the other person, whoever it is, at that moment is the most important person in the world because that is the person we are with. When we have that attitude, we can get out of the way and truly see the other person. ₆

The notion of viewing oneself as “inferior to all,” might be quite unsettling to many, and, in this way, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is quite clear about this practice does not involve:

Certainly it is not saying that you should engage in thoughts that would lead to lower self-esteem, or that you should lose all sense of hope and feel dejected, thinking, ‘I’m the lowest of all. I have no capacity. I cannot do anything and have no power.’ ₇

Tenzin Palmo echoes such concerns about such a misinterpretation and misapplication of Langri Thangpa’s teaching:

If I think, Oh, I am the most stupid person here, I’m hopeless, I can’t do anything … That is not humility. That is just the inverse of ego clinging, the dualistic mind beating itself up. The ego is happy to be miserable, because if we are miserable, especially full of self-pity about how awful and hopeless and stupid we are, what are we thinking about? Me, me, me. Poor me! ₈

Turning toward others, and reverencing them, thus becomes a corrective against the virulent energy of self-aggrandizement or the toxic negativity of ego clinging, and leads to a liberative and transforming state of being – the possibility of great compassion:

So all the states of inferiority, degeneration, and suffering within the bounds of mundane existence arise from grasping at our own self as most precious. In contrast, all the joys – mundane and supermundane – originate from sentient beings. We should therefore perceive all sentient beings as embodiments of higher qualities and vanquish our pride. ₉  

Endnotes

1. Vulgate: “nihil per contentionem neque per inanem gloriam sed in humilitate superiores sibi invicem arbitrantes.” Douay-Rheims: “Let nothing be done through contention: neither by vain glory. But in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves.”
2. Langri Thangpa, “Eight Verses of Mind Training,” Mind Training: The Great Collection. Compiled by Shonu Gyalchok and Konchok Gyaltsen. Translated and edited by Thupten Jinpa. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006, page 275.
3. Eight Verses for Training the Mind: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen. Translated and edited by Ruth Sonam. Boulder: Snow Lion, 2001, pages 40-41.
4. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2022, page 105.
5. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2022, page 105.
6. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2022, page 105.
7. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, “8 Verses for Training the Mind.” Oral teaching given at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston, MA on October 30, 2014. Retrieved from the website, His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama of Tibet: https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-2
8. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2022, pages 105-106.
9. Chekawa, “A Commentary on ‘Eight Verses on Mind Training,” Mind Training: The Great Collection. Compiled by Shonu Gyalchok and Konchok Gyaltsen. Translated and edited by Thupten Jinpa. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006, pages 280.