Buddha Heal An Angry Person: A Tale of Anger, Fool and Awakening

Buddha Heal An Angry Person: A Tale of Anger, Fool and Awakening

Linked Discourse 7.2, With the Abuser

At one time the Buddha was staying near Rajagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.

The brahmin Bharadvaja with Nickname "the Rude" heard a rumor that one of brahmin of the Bharadvaja clan had gone forth from the lay life to homelessness in the presence of the ascetic Gotama. Angry and displeased he went to the Buddha and abused and insulted him with rude, harsh words. 

When he had spoken, the Buddha said to him:

“What do you think, brahmin? Do friends and colleagues, relatives and kin, and guests still come to visit you?”

Bharadvaja replied:

“Sometimes they do, Mister Gotama.”

Then, Buddha asked again:

“Do you then serve them with fresh and cooked foods and savories?”

Bharadvaja replied:

“Sometimes I do.”

Then, Buddha asked:

“But if they don’t accept it, brahmin, who does it belong to?”

Bharadvaja replied:

“In that case it still belongs to me.”

Buddha concluded:

“In the same way, brahmin, when you abuse, harass, and attack us who do not abuse, harass, and attack, we don’t accept it. It still belongs to you, brahmin, it still belongs to you!

Someone who, when abused, harassed, and attacked, abuses, harasses, and attacks in return is said to eat the food and have a reaction to it. But we neither eat your food nor do we have a reaction to it. It still belongs to you, brahmin, it still belongs to you!”

Then, Bharadvaja mentioned:

“Concerning Mister Gotama, the king and his retinue understand, ‘the ascetic Gotama is a perfected one’. And yet he still gets angry.”

Then, Buddha spoke the following verses:

“From where would come anger for one free of anger,

tamed, living justly,

freed by right knowledge,

peaceful and unaffected?

When you get angry at an angry person

you just make things worse for yourself.

When you don’t get angry at an angry person

you win a battle hard to win.

When you know that the other is angry,

you act for the good of both

yourself and the other

if you’re mindful and stay calm.

People unfamiliar with the teaching

consider one who heals both

oneself and the other

to be a fool.”

When he had spoken, Bharadvaja with Nickname "the Rude" said to the Buddha, 

“As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what’s there, Mister Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to Mister Gotama, to the teaching, and to the monk Sangha. 

Sir, may I receive the going forth, the ordination in Mister Gotama’s presence?”

And the brahmin Bharadvaja with Nickname "the Rude" received the going forth, the ordination in the Buddha’s presence. Not long after his ordination, Venerable Bharadvaja with Nickname "the Rude", living alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute, soon realized the supreme end of the spiritual path in this very life. He lived having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness.

He understood: “Birth is ended; the spiritual journey has been completed; what had to be done has been done; there is nothing further for this place.” And Venerable Bharadvaja became one of the perfected.

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