michael lambe's scrapbook

Some time ago I set my 3rd grade writing class students the homework assignment of writing about their ideal partner. What kind of qualities would such a man possess? Well, I was marking their homework yesterday and it seems the two most popular qualities are having heaps of money and caring about fashion. This could get depressing, I thought, as I read for the umpteenth time sentences like: I want to marry a rich man because I want to buy many things, or I want a partner who cares about fashion because appearance is most important. Then, like a beam of radiant light in a very dark place, came this thoughtful piece about wanting “someone who is a curious person and tries to do new things” because (and I kid you not) “Knowing one is ignorant of things is the starting point for a real desire for wisdom.” Wow, eh? It seems some of the students are taking in some of those Buddhist ideas I mentioned a while back.

And in that train of thought here is this month’s message from Hozouji:

自己を
亡ぼす
ものは
うぬぼれ心

自己　＝　じこ　＝ one’s self
亡ぼす　＝　ほろぼす　＝ ruin, destroy
うぬぼれ　＝ conceit, vanity
心　＝　こころ　＝ heart, mind, spirit

The thing
that destroys
one’s self
is conceit

A common theme in Buddhist thought is the search for one’s real self. Conceit, vanity, having too high opinion of oneself, is the easiest way to lose sight of who you really are. If only you could see yourself as others see you, you might be very surprised by who you really are. This story today on boingboing on the conceited brokers at Merrill Lynch, is a good example of how much damage conceit can do, not just to yourself but to those around you. Recently rescued by the Bank of America, it seems Merrill Lynch employees have a tendency to look down on their relatively lower class saviours:

Merrill Lynch is bullish on snobbery and status. These snobs, wearing more expensive suits, consorted to run their company into the ground. Now they look down on the company that rescued them and the people who work there as not being worthy, not sharing their own high status. It’s another sign that failure will not humble Wall Street or cause them to change their ways. LINK

It’s worth reading if only for the brief account of the broker who belatedly realised his whole life was a lie.

Incidentally, the word ほろぼす can be written two ways like this: 亡ぼす or this: 滅ぼす. They have pretty much the same meaning, but the second kanji contains the elements of water and fire (can you spy them?); water overthrows fire see. 亡 was developed from the image of a person (the top part) being concealed or hidden by something (the bottom part). We often see this kanji in the word 亡くなる or “nakunaru” meaning to die. In this case death removes the person from view. So this meaning of ほろぼす is made much stronger, I think. Conceit is in fact, the death of the soul.