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To continue to get a Theravada understanding of shame (hiri), here's a quote from the late Bhikkhu Buddhadasa :


"If we are empty of egoism there is no consciousness of "I" and "mine". We have the truth -discerning awareness that can extinguish Dukkha and is the cure for the spiritual disease; At that moment the disease cannot be born, and the disease that has already arisen will disappear as if picked up and, thrown away. At that moment, the mind will be completely filled with Dhamma. This accords with the remark that emptiness is truth-discerning awareness, emptiness is the Dhamma, emptiness is the Buddha, because in that moment of being empty of 'I' and "mine" there will be present every desirable virtue in the whole Tripitaka.

To put it simply, there will be perfect satisampajanna (mindfulness and self - awareness); perfect hiri (sense of shame); perfect ottappa (fear of evil); perfect khanti (patience and endurance); and perfect soracca (gentleness). There will be perfect katannukatavedi (gratitude) and perfect honesty right up to yathabhutananadassana (the knowledge and vision according to reality) that is the cause for the attainment of Nibbana.

I've come down to basics, saying that there must be satisampajanna, hiri, ottappa, khanti, soracca and katannukata*vedi because these things are also Dhamma, they too can be a refuge for the world. Even hiri and otappa alone, the aversion and shame towards doing evil and the fear of doing evil, with just these the world would be tranquil with lasting peace.

Nowadays there seems to be nothing but callous people who have no sense of fear or shame with regard to doing evil, and being that way they are able to do unfitting things and insist on doing them continually. Even when they see that it will create disaster for the whole world, they still persist, and so the world undergoes destruction because it lacks even this small virtue.

Or, we may take an even humbler virtue, that of gratitude. With just this one virtue, the world could be at peace. We must recognize that every person in the world is the benefactor of everyone else. Never mind people; even cats and dogs are benefactors of humanity, even sparrows. If we are aware of our debt of gratitude to these things, we will be unable to act in any way that harms or oppresses them. With the power of this one virtue of gratitude, we can help the world. "

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