Dignity

Dignity (Skt. hri; Tib. ངོ་ཚ་ཤེས་པ་, ngotsa shepa, Wyl. ngo tsha shes pa) — one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the eleven virtuous states. It is also one of the seven noble riches.

Definitions

In the Khenjuk, Mipham Rinpoche says:

• Tib. ངོ་ཚ་ཤེས་པ་ནི་བདག་གམ་ཆོས་རྒྱུ་མཚན་དུ་བྱས་ཏེ་ཁ་ན་མ་ཐོ་བ་ལ་འཛེམ་པ་ཉེས་སྤྱོད་སྡོམ་པའི་རྟེན་བྱེད་པའི་ལས་ཅན་ནོ།
• Dignity is the attitude of refraining from unwholesome actions (or misdeeds) on account of one's own [conscience] and [trust in] the Dharma. Its function is to support one in refraining from negative actions. (Rigpa Translations)
• Dignity is shunning misdeeds either because of oneself or the Dharma. Its function is to support one in refraining from negative actions. (Erik Pema Kunsang)

Alternative Translations

• Self-respect (Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche)
• Sense of shame or personal integrity (Padmakara)
• Shame (David Karma Choepel, Tony Duff)
• Conscience (Gyurme Dorje)