Gunapala Dharmasiri, "A Buddhist
Critique"
“He said that a good person, ‘because
of his success in moral habit, does not exalt himself and does not disparage
others.’ He advised his disciples: Our mode of living must be perfectly pure,
clear, open, and without defects controlled.
But not on account of this perfectly pure mode of living will we exalt
ourselves or disparage others” (Gunpala Dharmasiri).
In this quote, Dharmasiri illustrates
an important Buddhist idea. A good
person who has achieved perfect morality is not prideful and does not attempt
to make other people feel inferior.
Buddhists are supposed to be pure, clear, open, and without
defects. Arrogance is an imperfection
(i.e. defect), which would tarnish one’s clear conscience. Similarly, arrogance does not allow one to
remain truly “open”. This is because
arrogance can be an indication of closed-mindedness. For a person to remain open, they would have
to be open to beliefs that are different from their own. A good Buddhist who exemplifies the qualities
of purity, clearness, openness, and lack of defects, would not need to resort
to proselytizing to perpetuate goodness.
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