Humility is a very big one, a very, very big one, especially for Westerners. Westerners like to believe that they are superior in the world. To be able to lower ourselves, to be able to humble ourselves, it starts with appreciating the Buddha. To start with that, to start with appreciating where do you get your Dhamma practice from, where did it actually come from. To humble yourself, to appreciate that somebody far wiser than you are and possibly far wiser than you may ever be, developed all this information, understanding and handed it over to other people. Other very wise people, the noble Sangha, the people who got enlightened, the nuns and monks, they passed it on. To actually appreciate and understand that people far wiser than you, have been on this planet and have helped you. They have helped me, they have helped you, to actually appreciate that and understand it, and keep it with you all the time brings a bit of humility. It is like "I am not so great". It is like, here is a humbling experience.
Let's take a swimming race, because I have experience with that. Let us say a person has best times. This kid with the best time goes up to the blocks and they are the best, they are the best and that is all there is to it. Their time is two seconds faster than the other kids and they are very proud, they are very big headed and fine and dandy. They get up there and they swim the race and then they lose to that kid over there in the last lane. Humbling? Believe me, I have experience in that, it is humbling. It is frustrating, you get angry, mainly at yourself for blowing it, but then again that kid over there did a time faster than your best time anyhow, so they deserved it. To appreciate that now that kid is the best kid. Here they are the best swimmer, not me anymore.
You need to allow it to be, because they have earned it. The Buddha earned every little bit of praise that we can give him. If he walked into this room, I would start bowing. I would start bowing and I would not quit before he would tell me to quit, and he would have to tell me three times to quit! Because I just want to keep showing my appreciation for what he has done for me! I would get that head down to the floor.
A lot of Westerners have trouble with the bowing, to get that head all the way down to the floor. And to understand, yes, I am low. If you took all the Buddha's wisdom or what I conceive of all his wisdom, and you took my wisdom, I don't know. Maybe you have a whole orchard of apple trees here and I am holding one. That is how much I am going to humble myself. I don't actually know the percentage, but I am going to humble myself to think that I have only one apple and he has hundreds of trees of apples. So that is the humility that you can bring into your Dhamma practice at the starting point, because it is pretty easy, it is pretty easy for you to truly understand, and recognize that there are people wiser than you are.
Now, what about humility in your normal lives, in your jobs, your occupations and everything else. A lot of people in the West are striving to be the best. The best architect, the best accountant, the best this, the best that... How many best have there been? Think about it, how many best architects have there been on the planet. Like millions? There is a best one in Berlin, there is a best one in Munich, there is a best one in London, there is a best, the best, the best... There are plenty. So the whole thought of being the best is almost bizarre. We don't have to be the best architect, we don't have to be the best accountant, it is just to earn money to support your life, and hopefully to support your Dhamma practice.
So to allow the other people to be the best is quite humbling, and yet it is actually freeing, to actually have more humility gives you freedom. You don't have to be the best any more, you don't have to try to be the best, you can just do the job well. If you happen to be the best and people praise you, that is ok, but you don't have to strive for it. And when people compliment you on being the best, you can say, well it is only because my teacher has helped me, my professor has helped me, etc. You can pass on the praise to the people who actually deserve it more than you do. Because no matter what you are the best at, it happened because other people helped you.
If I ever won a swimming race I couldn't say it was me alone that did it. I didn't teach myself how to swim, I didn't teach myself how to do special turns, starts and this and that. It was the coaches that taught me, and it was their coaches, and it was some other coach in California I never even met but I saw videos that also helped me out. They were the people who helped me and to pass on the thanks and the gratitude towards others humbles yourself. That is very important to be able to do that, not only in the Dhamma practice but in your everyday life. Then you are not striving so much and as stressed as everybody else and that gives you more inner freedom.