ONE FAMILY PLAN
Pride
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Judaism and Christianity. Proverbs 16.18)
“All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” (Judaism and Christianity. Isaiah 64.6)
“If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: If I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” (Judaism and Christianity. Job 9.20)
“The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, whose dwelling is high, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, thence I will bring you down, says the Lord.” (Judaism and Christianity. Obadiah 3-4)
“For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; against all the cedars of Lebanon lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the high mountains and against all the lofty hills; against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low;
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” (Judaism and Christianity. Isaiah 2.12-17)
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” (Judaism and Christianity. Isaiah 5.21)
“The mightily proud ultimately rot in their own arrogance.” (Sikhism. Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani 12, M.5, p. 278)
“Selfishness may be sweet only for oneself, but no harmony of the whole can come from it.” (Tenrikyo. Osashizu)
“We say that ‘Good’ and ‘Harmony,’ and ‘Evil’ and ‘Disharmony,’ are synonymous. Further we maintain that all pain and suffering are results of want of Harmony, and that the one terrible and only cause of the disturbance of Harmony is selfishness in some form or another.” (Theosophy. Helena Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy)
“He who makes his thought better and worse, O Wise One, Better and worse his conscience, by deed and by word, He follows his leanings, his wishes, his likings. In thy mind's force, at the end of times, he shall be set apart.” (Zoroastrianism. Avesta, Yasna 48.4)
“Nay, but verily man is rebellious For he thinks himself independent. Lo! unto thy Lord is the return.” (Islam. Qur'an 96.6-8)
“Turn not your cheek in scorn toward folk, nor walk with pertness in the land. Lo! God loves not each braggart boaster. Be modest in your bearing and subdue your voice. Lo! the harshest of all voices is the voice of the ass.” (Islam. Qur'an 31.18-19)
“He who has in his heart faith equal to a single grain of mustard seed will not enter hell, and he who has in his heart as much pride as a grain of mustard seed will not enter paradise.” (Islam. Hadith of Muslim)
“Like a traveler on earth, overstuffed with pride, Committing innumerable sins, in maya-hues dyed, beings Sunk in avarice, attachment, and pride are ruined. Forgetful of death, involved with progeny, companions, worldly transactions, wife, Is their life passed.” (Sikhism. Adi Granth, Jaitsari Chhant, M.5, p. 705)
“Where egoism exists, Thou are not experienced, Where Thou art, is not egoism. You who are learned, expound in your mind this inexpressible proposition.” (Sikhism. Maru-ki-Var, M.1, p. 1092)
“Whoever proclaims himself good, know, goodness approaches him not.” (Sikhism. Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani 12, M.5, p. 278)
“If you desire to obtain help, put away pride. Even a hair of pride shuts you off, as if by a great cloud.” (Shinto. Oracle of Kasuga)
“Shun all pride and jealousy. Give up all idea of ‘me’ and ‘mine’.... As long as there is consciousness of diversity and not of unity in the Self, a man ignorantly thinks of himself is a separate being, as the ‘doer’ of actions and the ‘experiencer’ of effects. He remains subject to birth and death, knows happiness and misery, is bound by his own deeds, good or bad.”(Hinduism. Srimad Bhagavatam 11.4)
“In thinking, ‘This is I’ and ‘That is mine,’ he binds himself with his self, as does a bird with a snare.” (Hinduism. Maitri Upanishad 3.2)
“Not knowing the consequence of good and evil karmas, he is afflicted and hurt. Nevertheless, he, due to his egotism, piles up [more] karmas and undergoes births and deaths again and again.” (Jainism. Acarangasutra 2.55-56)
“Confucius said, A faultless man I cannot hope ever to meet; the most I can hope for is to meet a man of fixed principles. Yet where all around I see Nothing pretending to be Something, Emptiness pretending to be Fullness, Penury pretending to be Affluence, even a man of fixed principles will be none too easy to find.” (Confucianism. Analects 7.25)
“He who tiptoes cannot stand; He who strides cannot walk. He who shows himself is not conspicuous; He who considers himself right is not illustrious; He who brags will have no merit;
He who boasts will not endure. From the point of view of the Way, these are like ‘excessive food and useless excrescences’ Which all creatures detest. He who has the Way does not abide in them.” (Taoism. Tao Te Ching 24)
“Travelling powerless, like a bucket traveling in a well: First with the thought ‘I,’ misconceiving the self, Then, arising attachment to things with the thought mine.’” (Buddhism. Candrakirti, Madhyamakavatara 3)
“The fool who thinks he is wise is called a fool indeed.” (Buddhism. Dhammapada 63)
“Subhuti, what do you think? Does a holy one say within himself, ‘I have obtained Perfective Enlightenment?’ Subhuti replied, ‘No, World-honored One... If a holy one of Perfective Enlightenment said to himself, “Such am I,” he would necessarily partake of the idea of an ego-identity, a personality, a being, a separated individuality.’” (Buddhism. Diamond Sutra 9)
“Pride has seven forms: Boasting that one is lower than the lowly, Or equal with the equal, or greater than Or equal to the lowly Is called the pride of selfhood. Boasting that one is equal to those Who by some quality are better than oneself Is the pride of being superior. Thinking That one is higher than the extremely high, Who fancy themselves to be superior, Is pride greater than pride; Like an abscess in a tumor It is very vicious. Conceiving an ‘I’ through ignorance In the five empty [aggregates] Which are called the appropriation Is said to be the pride of thinking ‘I.’ Thinking one has won fruits not yet Attained is pride of conceit. Praising oneself for faulty deeds Is known by the wise as wrongful pride. Deriding oneself, thinking ‘I am senseless,’ is called The pride of lowliness. Such briefly are the seven prides.” (Buddhism. Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 406-12)
