The Four Dignities
Stumbled across this recently. It’s an interesting approach.
In Tibetan Buddhism’s “Four Dignities of the Warrior’s Path,” courage and ferocity are absent. In fact, the qualities regarded as essential for being a warrior have nothing in common with the training regimens of Marines or football players or lobbyists.
The first dignity is often translated in English as meekness, but that word doesn’t convey its full meaning. “Relaxed confidence” is a more precise formulation — a humble feeling of being at home in one’s body.
Perkiness, or irrepressible joy, is the second dignity. To develop it, a warrior cultivates the habit of seeing the best in everything and works diligently to avoid the self-indulgence of cynicism.
The third is outrageousness. The warrior who embodies this dignity loves to experiment, is not addicted to strategies that have been successful in the past, and has a passionate objectivity that’s free of the irrelevant emotions of hope and fear.
The fourth dignity is inscrutability, or a skill at evading the pigeonholes and simplistic definitions that might limit the warrior’s inventiveness while fighting for his moral vision.
The second dignity seems the most open to criticism though the argument may be one of semantics and not ethos.
I’d say the second one should be considered joie de vivre, and not perkiness. Too much cynicism is bad for the soul, especially if you witness horrible things on a regular basis. Like Woody Harrelson notes in Zombieland, “You’ve gotta enjoy the little things.” It’s a way of staying sane and grounded.
I believe that you cannot have passionate objectivity (freedom from hopes and fears) if you aren’t able to see the good in others (because of cynicism). I also think that all 4 dignities together make a great definition for outcome independence.
Interesting….I was just watching a dali lama speech on netflix…..
Interesting indeed. The second one is definitely my weak area. ::shakes self:: I mean, what a crock!