The Four Dignities

The "Four Dignities", a term used in certain Buddhist texts, designates the four activities fundamental to our living, i.e., sitting, standing, walking, and lying   Each of these activities gives us the functional baseline on which we can fulfill our instinct to survive.  We sit, stand, walk or lie down during most of our lives, thus giving ourselves the necessary basis of support and movement while we accomplish our life tasks, i.e., attending, observing, listening, vocalizing, obtaining food, eating, eliminating, bathing, dressing, providing shelter, resting, reproducing.  Furthermore, it is on the basis of these foundational activities that discretionary choices in action occur. Recollect an ordinary day, from the time of awakening from sleep to returning to sleep.  We awaken while lying down, maybe arise to sitting to "get our bearings" , then stand up by the bed, then walk, to the bathroom to clean up, to the front door to fetch the newspaper, to the kitchen to put on water.  Thus we spend most of the rest of our waking day either sitting, standing, or walking.  We may have occasion to lie down for a rest, or to run to catch the bus, or go out for a jog, or occupy a yoga posture.  But we do not, indeed could not spend all of a day running or jogging or holding that yoga posture. Can we perform these activities with grace, dignity, and a true respect for our embodied presence? Yes, if done with attention and awareness.