“The biggest strength of wise people”

Gautama Buddha was sitting under a banyan tree. One day, a furious Brahmin came to him and started abusing him. The Brahmin thought that Gautama Buddha would reciprocate in the same manner, but to his utter surprise, there was not the slightest change in the expression on his face.

Now, the Brahmin became more furious. He hurled more and more abuses at Buddha. However, Gautama Buddha was completely unmoved. Actually there was a look of compassion on his face. Ultimately the Brahmin was tired of abusing him. He asked, "I have been abusing you like anything, but why are you not angry at all ?"

Gautama Buddha calmly replied, "My dear brother, I have not accepted a single abuse from you." "But you heard all of them, didn't you?" The Brahmin argued half-heartedly. Buddha said, "I do not need the abuses, so why should I ever listen to them?"

Now the Brahmin was even more puzzled. He could not understand the calm reply from Gautama Buddha. Looking at his disturbed face, Buddha further explained, "All those abuses are now remaining with you." "It cannot be possible. I have hurled all of them at you," the Brahmin persisted.

Buddha calmly repeated his reply, "But I have not accepted even a single abuse from you ! Dear brother, suppose you give some coins to somebody, and if he does not accept them, with whom will those coins remain?"

The Brahmin replied, "If I have given the coins and if it’s not needed by someone, then naturally they would remain with me."

With a meaningful smile on his face, Buddha said, "Now you are right. The same has happened with your abuses. You came here and hurled abuses at me, but I have not accepted a single abuse from you. Hence, all those abuses would remain with you only. So there is no reason for me to be angry with you."

The Brahmin remained speechless. He was ashamed of his behavior and begged for Buddha's forgiveness.

Lessons to Learn from This Story:

Inner calmness and peace are keys to contented life. Gautama Buddha’s advice is “Live life as per your goals and ambitions.” You know who you are and what you want in life, so don’t respond to what another person talks about you, in anger. Control your anger with patience and calmness. That is biggest Strength of Wise people!

"Look within"

A man feared his wife wasn’t hearing well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called his family doctor to discuss the problem. The doctor told him there is a simple, informal test; which he could perform and give them a better idea about her hearing loss.

“Here’s what you do,” said the doctor, “stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone, see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.”

That evening, when his wife was in the kitchen, cooking dinner, he was in the drawing room, standing about 40 feet away from her.

“Honey, what’s for dinner?”, he asked in a normal tone. No response! So he moved closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeated “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Still there was no response. Next, he moved into the dining room where he was placed about 20 feet from his wife and asked the same question. Still further, he didn’t get his awaited response. He now walked upto the kitchen door which was another 10 feet away and asked “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Again no response! So he walks up and whispers behind her “Honey, what’s for dinner?” “Steve, for the fifth time I’ve said, “Chicken” . “Do you have some hearing problem ?”

Sometimes, the problem may not be with the other person as we always think; it could be within us. Let’s look within ourselves before we find fault with others.

“Scattered Paper”

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief.

As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him.

In court the old man told the Judge: “They were just comments, didn't harm anyone..”

The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: “Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper . Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.”

The next day, the judge told the old man: “Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.”

The old man said: “I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them.”

The judge then replied: “The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it.

If you can't speak well of someone, rather don't say anything.

'Let's all be masters of our mouths, so that we won't be slaves of our words.”