“One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him.
“You have no right teaching others,” he shouted. “You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake.”
Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?”
The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.”
The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself.
“If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy.”
The young man listened closely to these wise words of the Buddha. “You are right, o Blessed One,” he said.
“Please teach me the path of love. I wish to become your follower.”
The Buddha answered kindly, “Of course. I teach anyone who truly wants to learn. Come with me.”
Very profound teachings, thank you for sharing!
Of all the teachers the Buddha is my favorite. He would tell his followers: “Don’t believe what I tell you because you have respect for me but because you have seen the truth in it yourselves.”
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I love this story and have seen another variation of it. Does anyone have the source of this story?
The closest I have seen, that I can remember anyway, is the Akkosa Sutta and the Asurindaka Sutta in the Saṁyutta Nīkāya, Sagāthāvagga, Brāhmaṇasaṁyutta.
And thank you much for asking this question! I have been wanting to attach this reference to the posting for eons, but always forget – so much for mindfulness!
Thanks so much Ashin! I really appreciate it. I love this story but really wanted a source to the original text. Thanks to you I think I’ve found it.
Here’s one that’s a slightly different, but still very relevant version of this: http://www.vipassana.com/canon/samyutta/sn7-2.php
Take care and have a wonderful rest of the week. Peace and blessings.
Definitely a favourite to be stored away for use!