Recently,
I was fortunate enough to speak with a monk (Thay Nguyen Tam) – a monk
who phrased the releasing of one’s personal baggage so eloquently that I
couldn’t forget it. He said, “If you take a breath in and you do not
take a breath out, you will die. In this way, whatever evils are thrown
at you, you must allow them to leave your mind, or your will die.”
What
touched my heart the most, though, was his desire for me to not have my
heart “poisoned” by the evils in the world. He asked of me to let go
not just for my sake, but for his sake, because he would not be able to
stand seeing a pure heart spoil. His teachings drove me nearly to tears,
as I had never been shown such true love and care from a monk who truly
wanted to see me succeed in this world. It made me think of The Buddha,
whose teachings have always seemed heavenly and beautiful to me, yet
extremely difficult to follow. However, after hearing this monk’s
sincere words, I opened by books of the Buddha’s teachings to see where I
could read more about his lesson. I found the following excerpt:
“If
I were to get angry, that will be a hindrance to me. If you get angry,
that would only be a hindrance to you. Exchanging one anger for another
anger only increases anger” - The Buddha
This
quote was in response to another man of a different religion who
visited the Buddha and his disciples. There, with his disciples present,
he mocked the Buddha, insulting him and putting him down. All the
while, the Buddha sat quietly, not saying one word. After the man left,
the Buddha’s disciples asked him why he said nothing to a man who was
clearly out of line. The Buddha responded with the above quote, stating
that we should always see our anger as only a hindrance. At times, we
feel the need to yell back or to reciprocate any evils that we are
given. We view our anger as a right. Many times, we hear people tell
each other, “You had a right to be angry!” However, whether or not your
anger is justified does not reduce its ability to hinder you.
The
Buddha elaborated on this, stating that one’s anger stops one from
seeing clearly. If we are without anger, than we can truly listen.
The
monk’s teachings came at a time when I needed to hear them most, which
just goes to show the serendipity of the world. The Buddha delivers to
you what you need when you need it, and we should never lose faith in
that.
Source: hoavouu