Dignity
by Bhikkhi Bodhi
Is
it possible to live with dignity in today’s world, and if so, how can
this be done? To raise such a question may sound strange in an age like
our own, when our frantic struggle to make ends meet hardly allows us
the leisure to ponder such abstract matters. But if we do pause long
enough to give this question a little thought, we would realise soon
enough that it is not merely the idle musing of someone with too much
time on his hands. The question touches on the very meaning of our
lives, and goes even beyond our personal quest for meaning to the very
springs of contemporary culture. For if it isn’t possible to live with
dignity then life has no transcendent purpose, and our only aim in the
brief time allotted to us should be to snatch whatever thrills we can
before the lights go off for good. But if we can find a basis for living
with dignity, then we need to consider whether we are actually living
as we should and whether our culture as a whole supports a dignified
lifestyle.
Though
the idea of dignity seems simple enough at first sight, it is actually
more complex than one might suppose. My Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
(1936!) defines it as “elevation of character, intrinsic worth,
excellence, nobleness of manner, aspect, or style.” My Roget’s Thesaurus
(1977) groups it with “prestige, esteem, repute, honour, glory, renown,
fame”—evidence that over the last forty years the word’s epicentre of
meaning has undergone a shift. When we inquire about living with
dignity, our focus should be on the word’s older nuance. What I have in
mind is living with the conviction that one’s life has intrinsic worth,
that we possess a potential for moral excellence that resonates with the
hymn of the galaxies.
The
conscious pursuit of dignity does not enjoy much popularity these days,
having been crowded out by such stiff competitors as wealth and power,
success and fame. Behind this devaluation of dignity lies a series of
developments in Western thought that emerged in reaction to the dogmatic
certainties of Christian theology. The Darwinian theory of evolution,
Freud’s thesis of the Id, economic determinism, the computer model of
the mind: all these trends, arisen more or less independently, have
worked together to undermine the notion that our lives have inherent
worth. When so many self-assured voices speak to the contrary, no longer
can we view ourselves as the crowning glory of creation. Instead we
have become convinced we are nothing but packets of protoplasm governed
by selfish genes, clever monkeys with college degrees and business cards
plying across highways rather than trees.
Such
ideas, in however distorted a form, have seeped down from the halls of
academia into popular culture, eroding our sense of human dignity on
many fronts. The free-market economy, the task master of the modern
social order, leads the way. For this system the primary form of human
interaction is the contract and the sale, with people themselves
reckoned simply as producers and consumers, sometimes even as
commodities. In vast impersonal democracies the individual becomes a
mere face in the crowd, to be manipulated by slogans, images, and
promises into voting for this candidate or that. Cities have expanded
into sprawling urban jungles, dirty and dangerous, whose dazed occupants
seek to escape the pangs of wounded pride with the help of drugs and
loveless sex. Escalation in crime, political corruption, upheavals in
family life, the despoliation of the environment: these all speak to us
as much of a deterioration in how we regard ourselves as in how we
relate to others.
Amidst
this wreckage, can the Dhamma help us recover our lost sense of dignity
and thereby give new meaning to our lives? The answer to this question
is yes, and in two ways: first, by justifying our claim to innate
dignity, and second, by showing us what we must do to actualise our
potential dignity.
For
Buddhism the innate dignity of human beings does not stem from our
relationship to an all-mighty God or our endowment with an immortal
soul. It stems, rather, from the exalted place of human life in the
broad expanse of sentient existence. Far from reducing human beings to
children of chance, the Buddha teaches that the human realm is a special
realm standing squarely at the spiritual centre of the cosmos. What
makes human life so special is that human beings have a capacity for
moral choice that is not shared by other types of beings. Though this
capacity is inevitably subject to limiting conditions, we always
possess, in the immediate present, a margin of inner freedom that allows
us to change ourselves and thereby to change the world.
But
life in the human realm is far from cosy. It is, rather, inconceivably
difficult and complex, rife with conflicts and moral ambiguities
offering enormous potential for both good and evil. This moral
complexity can make of human life a painful struggle indeed, but it also
renders the human realm the most fertile ground for sowing the seeds of
enlightenment. It is at this tauntingly ambiguous crossroads that we
can either rise to the heights of spiritual greatness or fall to
degrading depths. The two alternatives branch out from each present
moment, and which one we take depends on ourselves.
While
this unique capacity for moral choice and spiritual awakening confers
intrinsic dignity on human life, the Buddha does not emphasise this so
much as he does our ability to acquire active dignity. This ability is
summed up by a word that lends its flavour to the entire teaching, ariya
or noble. The Buddha’s teaching is the ariyadhamma, the noble doctrine,
and its purpose is to change human beings from “ignorant worldlings”
into noble disciples resplendent with noble wisdom. The change does not
come about through mere faith and devotion but by treading the Buddhist
path, which transmutes our frailties into invincible strengths and our
ignorance into knowledge.
The
notion of acquired dignity is closely connected with the idea of
autonomy. Autonomy means self-control and self-mastery, freedom from the
sway of passion and prejudice, the ability to actively determine
oneself. To live with dignity means to be one’s own master: to conduct
one’s affairs on the basis of one’s own free choices instead of being
pushed around by forces beyond one’s control. The autonomous individual
draws his or her strength from within, free from the dictates of craving
and bias, guided by an inward perception of righteousness and truth.
The
person who represents the climax of dignity for Buddhism is the arahat,
the liberated one, who has reached the pinnacle of spiritual autonomy:
release from the dictates of greed, hatred, and delusion. The very word
arahat suggests this sense of dignity: the word means “worthy one,” one
who deserves the offerings of gods and humans. Although in our present
condition we might still be far from the stature of an arahant, this
does not mean we are utterly lost, for the means of reaching the highest
goal are already within our reach. The means are the Noble Eightfold
Path with its twin pillars of right view and right conduct. Right view
is the first factor of the path and the guide for all the others. To
live with right view is to see that our decisions count, that our
volitional actions have consequences that extend beyond themselves and
conduce to our long-term happiness or suffering. The active counterpart
of right view is right conduct, action guided by the ideal of moral and
spiritual excellence. Right conduct in body, speech, and mind brings to
fulfilment the other seven factors of the eightfold path, culminating in
true knowledge and deliverance.
In
today’s hectic world humankind is veering recklessly in two harmful
directions. One is the path of violent struggle and confrontation, the
other that of frivolous self-indulgence. Beneath their apparent
contrasts, what unites these two vicious extremes is a shared disregard
for human dignity: the former violates the dignity of other people, the
latter undermines one’s own dignity. The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path
is a middle way that avoids all harmful extremes. To follow this path
not only brings a quiet dignity into one’s own life but also sounds an
eloquent rejoinder to the cynicism and hollow pretensions of our age.
Source: BPS, Kandy. NL38 (excerpt). For Free Distribution Only.