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Chapter 4: Abandoning pride

Verses 78-84

Recognizing pride, contemplating its disadvantages, and learning its antidotes. The teachings on Chapter 4 of Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way begin at the end of the last talk in Chapter 3, given on June 27, 2013.

  • Response to comments from listeners
    • Pride and our relationship with the environment
    • How we treat animals, eating meat
    • What we do with the body after death
  • Verses 78 to 84
    • Refuting any belief that conceit or arrogance is appropriate
    • An employer giving a wage to employees is only giving them what is rightfully theirs
    • A person in charge of others depends on the people who support him
    • A leader accumulates the karma of those under his authority

11 Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas: Verses 78-84 (download)

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.