It really is a problem in the West, the word "equality". You know, when the USA was started, they made their constitution around 1780. They wrote some very nice words like, "We believe that all men are created equal, etc." They also decided on whom to give the vote to. First off, it was limited to only men, no women. Second off, it was limited to only white men, not black men. Third off, it was limited to only white men who owned land, not white men who were workers and just rented homes. That is how these guys who began America felt that people were equal but only those who have land and white and male are going to be able to control that country. So the word equality was used by the founders of America, but its meaning did not apply to a true equality of all people.
The concept of equality is creating some problems in America right now. One issue is called "discrimination" where the majority discriminates against the minority. There is also "reverse discrimination" where the minority discriminates against the majority and gets part of the majority to discriminate against others in the majority. It is very, very strange.
The thought of equality denies, as I say often, respect that is well deserved. You can read about this "reverse discrimination" happening in America after the retreat if you want. It relates to a fireman who earned a promotion but was denied the job because he was white. It was considered that there weren't enough African Americans or Latin Americans in promoted positions, so the white fireman wasn't promoted even though he deserved the promotion.
So the thought of trying to make everybody equal often denies respect towards people who deserve respect. We are not born equal, there is no such thing as being born equal. Even twins born to the same mother at almost the same moment, growing up in the same conditions, they are not going to be equal. If any of you have brothers and sisters, are you equal to them? No. There is really no such thing as equality. And as long as some people think there has to be equality, it actually gets in the way of respecting people who deserve respect over other people who don't deserve respect.
Now, in that way believing that there has to be equality does interfere with Dhamma practice because it is important for us to respect the Buddha as a man. As a man who walked the planet and who worked a heck of a lot harder than all of us put together. There were other men and women who got enlightened along the way, and it is important for us to respect them and not in any way think that we are equal to them. Some Buddhist practices, usually not within Theravadin Buddhism, have the thought of, "Well, we all have Buddha nature within ourselves." And some people started thinking "I have Buddha nature, I am a Buddha", and that gets bizarre. They don't deserve to be called a Buddha, they are not a Buddha, they may never become a Buddha, I don't know, but they are certainly not a Buddha today. For a person to puff themselves up to feel equal to others who have become enlightened is terrible for their practice, their practice will go down, it is "Spiritual Suicide".
So the thought of being equal to others can greatly interfere with respect. Now, the fact that we have grown up with this kind of conditioning, we have to throw it out the window a bit. "You are not equal to me, and I am also not equal to you. We are different." Now the false kind of quote that ties in with those quotes is that "I am not better to you, you are not better than me, we are not equal, we are different." That is very different. In some areas maybe I am better than you and in other areas maybe you are better than me. So there can be areas in different peoples' lives where some are better at this and some are better at that. It is like comparing a coconut tree to a mango tree. The coconut grows nice and tall, it has lots of big fruit on it. The mango tree grows out and big and round, not as tall as the coconut tree, and it has lots of little fruit on it. Who is going to tell me which tree is better than the other? Are they equal? It is impossible to use these words, we don't even think these words when it comes to trees. There is no such thing as a mango tree being equal to a coconut tree. And that is a concept we have to take into our own wisdom and understanding to stop this thought of equality that we are conditioned in. The truth is, we are all different creatures.