Egotism, pride, and humility. Which one is the most real?

Tweet

I was reading this Zen story online today. <The Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty was a national hero for his success as both a statesman and military leader. But despite his fame, power, and wealth, he considered himself a humble and devout Buddhist. Often, he visited his favourite Zen master to study under him, and they seemed to get along very well. The fact that he was prime minister apparently had no effect on their relationship, which seemed to be simply one of a revered master and respectful student. One day, during his usual visit, the Prime Minister asked the master, “Your Reverence, what is egotism according to Buddhism?” The master’s face turned red, and in a very condescending and insulting tone of voice, he shot back, “What kind of stupid question is that!?” This unexpected response so shocked the Prime Minister that he became sullen and angry. The Zen master then smiled and said, “THIS, Your Excellency, is egotism.”> "A truly humble heart has no room in it, for ego, or pride, or arrogance." Should we even mock up and provoke a response in the way that the master did here too, then, or not? What is the role of ego in your view? Is there a place for it, or not, in our lives? Ego serves ego, but love serves love, and so when one serves the ego from the ego, one is not living from love, but from something else, puffed up to appear as love, but which is really pride or your own self-importance. Ego is a tool like your mind in one sense, but in another sense, the fruits of the ego can be pride and arrogance, and you have to keep these in their place or else ego will cover over your heart of love with itself, and keep its covers closed with your mind. The key to love is around God's son Jesus Christ's neck, so we need to take it, and use it to reopen all of those closed doors leading to our heart, for his universal key fits all locks, and it will not allow any part of you to remain closed off from his love. Every person created has access to his key. There is an infinite number of them. The Zen story above used outer provocation to get a teaching across. I have come up with my own version of the tale here, which shows that this type of provocation, can even work inwardly, to teach someone who is ready to receive the teaching. There once was a student who came to an old Zen master, and asked him to show him the place of ego, and egoism, in Zen's teachings. The master simply smiled, and walked away. The student became very upset, even with this non-response of the master. He read into it that it was a smug smile, the master knew, but he, the master, must have thought that he, the student, was not yet ready to know this, or even worse, he was not worthy of being taught it. Just then, the master turned around again. "What were you just thinking to yourself, right now?", he asked the young student. The student turned a bright colour of red. It was now his turn not to answer. The master simply added then, "Well, that was an example of egoism." Footnote: "Egotism" is an inflated sense of one's own self-importance. It's being conceited or vain, full of pride, lacking humility. The egotist feels superior to others either physically, intellectually, or even sometimes spiritually, in some other way, or another. "Egoism" is a preoccupation with oneself, but it is not necessarily feeling superior to other people, as well. You could say that it is more a selfishness then, being too self-absorbed, thinking that everything applies to you alone, being self-centred, living by the "me-first, everybody else second" philosophy.