Humility : Check Your Pride

My English is not perfect, but I know some friends with worse English. Knowing there is a need for them to do some Dharma translation work from Chinese to English now and then, I offered to help check for accuracy… not just once, not just twice, but at least thrice… in an unimposing way. For some reason, they never ask for help – probably because they see absolutely no need to.

When I see the mistakes in their ‘completed’ work broadcasted, I do my part to inform them of the mistakes. Though it would already be too late, I was hoping they would learn from the mistakes. For some reason, even after knowing the mistakes, they never seem to realise that it is indeed good to have another pair of willing eyes to look through their future works. There’s never thanks too… but I still inform them of their mistakes, because accurate Dharma translations are important.

From this, I learnt some lessons. Sometimes, we are too deluded, too self-righteous, and/or too proud to let others check our thoughts, words and deeds. It is always better to let our thoughts, words and deeds be open to some constructive criticism from spiritual friends – before they do more damage to the world out there, before they become subject to even more harsh criticism from displeased strangers.

On a related note, I greatly appreciate Dharma teachers who openly ask their students to comment on any mistake or ambiguity possibly delivered in class. Good teachers are also good students – and they need to be so, as long as they are not yet fully enlightened. Humble teachers inspire their students to be humble too, just as proud teachers sometimes produce proud students, while turning off humbler ones. Birds of a habitual feather do flock together at times… though some habits are so negative that even those of similar feathers shun one another due to overwhelming aversion!