Though we must remain calm and stable in bad times as well as good, when things are going well, human beings not infrequently tend to be complacent or proud. Buddhism teaches that there are many different kinds of pride: in family background, in health, in youth and power, in good reputation, in influence, in wealth, in personal beauty, in knowledge, in strength, in technical or artistic skills, and so on. Pride in one’s sense of compassion and in merciful works indicates immature faith and lack of understanding of the true nature of compassion. Although it is wrong to be proud of powers and abilities, it is still worse to be proud of powers and abilities that one does not even possess. Nonetheless, many people make this mistake.

Pride causes a person to lose modesty and the sense of sympathy with others. Buddhism has long recommended the life of poverty and suffering not for its own sake but to serve as a precaution against pride in happiness and good fortune, to stimulate a constant feeling of modesty and humility, and to awaken a feeling of compassion and protection for unfortunate people through actual knowledge of what it means to be unfortunate. (Page 133-134)