Prestige

Now we come to prestige. For a man to think he was born for the sake of name and fame is tragedy. A glance at this thing known as prestige shows it to be thoroughly insubstantial. it depends on other people's having a high regard for one; and it may well be that, though no-one realizes it, this high regard is quite unfounded. When the majority of people are deluded, slow-witted, undiscerning, lacking any knowledge of Dharma, the things for which they have a high regards and to which they give prestige are bound to be pretty ordinary and average sense of values. In their eyes, the things advocated and taught by spiritually advanced people will hardly rate very high. In fact we, invariably, find that the more concerned people are with name and fame, the more worldly are the things they rate highly. The person who deserves to be rated highest is the one who is able to renounce worldly values and promote the happiness of mankind; but in practice we find all the prestige going to the people responsible for adding to the world's confusion and distress. This is an example of prestige in the eyes of the worldling, the man stuck here in the world.

To say that we were born to gain prestige is as ridiculous as to say were born to pursue sensuality or to eat. All these views are equally pitiful. They differ only in degree of sophistication. In short then, there is no doubt whatsoever that neither eating, nor sensuality, nor prestige is the highest thing, the objective for whaic a Buddhist ought to aim.