Comment on Anon seeks enlightenment

papalonian@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I’ll posit a (very poorly and drunkenly abridged) story from the Buddha that I actually think of on a somewhat daily basis, in contrast of all the Buddha-bad comments:

A man approaches the Buddha in the city. He says to him, “I hate you Buddha, you are always telling people how to live their lives and what they need to do to be happy, how can you have all the answers?”

The Buddha says, “I will ask you a question. If I give you a gift, would you accept it?”

The man says of course he would not.

The Buddha asks, “If you do not accept my gift, then to whom does my gift belong?”

The man says, “The gift belongs to you, because I did not accept it.”

The Buddha replies, “Then I treat your hatred as a gift. You offer me anger, and I do not accept it; therefore, your hatred and anger belongs only to you, and only you may suffer it’s consequences.”

So when people get angry at me over things that are beyond my control, I reject their anger, let them yell at what they think is the problem, and move on.

Then the Buddha punches me in the face and I am enlightened.

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