Is low self-esteem a Western phenomenon? I while ago I read a story about the Dalai Lama and the metta bhavana practice. Someone was talking to him about the difficulty in practicing the first stage (wishing well for oneself) and was observing that low self-esteem was hindering the practice at that stage. The Dalai Lama was apparently baffled and it transpired that in Tibetan culture there is no such concept as low self-esteem.

More generally it occurs to me that the first stage of the metta bhavana practice is meant to be an easier on-ramp to the practice and the practice becomes more challenging as it goes on culminating in wishing well to the difficult person. But I have spoken to many people who have difficulties with the first stage practice because of low self-esteem. The easy on-ramp is more like a rocky cliff for the modern (or maybe Western) mind.

So the main questions is


Is low self-esteem a Western (sorry for the term I don't know a
better one) or modern phenomenon and does it not trouble people from
other places or in other times?


Also related to this I have a couple of supplementary questions


Am I right - is the first stage meant to be an easy start or have I
completely misinterpreted that?
Also if anyone has a reference for the Dalai Lama story - could you pop it in? I would be really interested to know the details or even if I have just imagined the story (I don't think I
have).
I recall around 20 years ago an Australian university psychology professor wrote a local newspaper article about what he regarded as superior self-esteem in Thai children. I have lived in traditional (provincial/village) Thai culture &amp; I can attest to this. 

I would suggest, at least for Thailand, this is obviously a combination of cultural factors, including: (1) the loving-kindness of the Thai monks in Thailand; (2) the traditional strong maternal culture in Thailand &amp; the amazing lovingness of Thai mothers (3) the traditional material simplicity of the culture; and (4) the general morality of the culture. 

For example, with the recent huge growth of commercial (Western) materialism in Thailand and cultural focus upon the accumulation of wealth, being physically beautiful, having social status, etc, I would imagine the lack of self-esteem issues would be growing. 

The Buddha taught self-respect (including lack of regret) comes from the practise of morality &amp; generosity. I would suggest Western self-esteem issues arise from judgmental religious culture, patriarchal culture, unloving parenting, childhood abuse, narcissistic media/commercial/entertainment expectations &amp;/or unskillful behavioral conduct, particularly sexual. 

In women this can be most prevalent, as seen in body-image issues, but also in men, particularly with expectation of sexual bravado. Traditional Thai culture, for example (contrary to the sex-tourism stereotype) has a matriarchal bent &amp; men are raised to not be sexually aggressive &amp; women are raised to be assertive. 

British culture in particular is traditionally authoritarian towards children whereas in Thailand, for example, children do not stand up for adults on a crowded bus. It is the opposite. Adults give children the seats on crowded buses. Traditionally in Balinese culture, the children were considered to be the 'gods'. 

This Thai video is an interesting insight because we would not expect children visiting a western religious institution to behave as free, without fear &amp; uninhibited as shown in the video. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yaTT7nUAxE