Sutta Story_1

This is a story from the suttas, the ancient discourses of the Buddha. The Buddha himself was a storyteller. He told many stories as part of his teachings. Some of them may be events that he experienced. Some of them, I think he made up for the purposes of teaching.

This story is about anger and working with uprooting anger.

Transcript

So today I'll continue with stories from the suttas.

So last week we did stories from the Jataka tales and the suttas these are the ancient discourses of the Buddha.

And the Buddha himself he was a storyteller.

He told many stories as part of his teachings and some of them may be events that he experienced and some of them I think he made up for the purposes of teaching.

So this is one of those stories I think.

It seems there was a monk who would easily get upset and angry and when someone pointed out that he was not behaving properly the Buddha told this story.

So once there was a lady,

Vendihika was her name,

Vendihika,

Who was known for being gentle and kind and peaceful and she had a reputation around town that that was how she was.

This lady had a servant by the name of Kali and Kali worked hard and she was very clever and competent and very neat in her work and she cooked delicious food and she did everything for the household that made everything go really smoothly and easily.

So one day Kali the servant thought to herself it seems that people have this idea that the lady is kind and gentle and peaceful.

I wonder if this is really the case.

Let me find out.

So the next morning when usually Kali would wake up before the lady and get everything ready for the day but on this day Kali slept in and the lady woke and found that this servant was still sleeping and she said to her what is the matter Kali that you are sleeping and Kali said nothing is the matter I'm just sleeping in.

Well the lady got upset and angry and spoke harshly to her don't do that again you shouldn't you can't you have to do your work.

So the next day Kali slept in again and the lady asked what's the matter Kali said nothing is the matter I'm just sleeping in and the lady got even more upset and spoke even more harshly and the next day the same thing happened but this time the lady got really upset she got out a rolling pin from the kitchen and started hitting the servant over the head and saying you're terrible you're wicked you're bad how could you do such a thing.

So with blood running down her face the servant ran out into the street and said look everyone you thought that the lady was kind gentle and peaceful but it doesn't take much to provoke her actually underneath she carries a lot of anger that anger given half a chance even a mild chance will surface look at what she's capable of doing and then so from then on the lady's reputation of being kind gentle and peaceful was no longer in the town.

So I imagine that the Buddha made this story up and maybe we don't like the story too much but still it's an example of him using a story as an analogy because it goes on to say he goes on to say to the monastic community that there are five ways that people might speak to you he says either someone might say something that is true or not true someone might speak in a timely fashion or not in a timely fashion someone might speak gently or harshly someone might speak with loving kindness or without loving kindness and someone might speak to benefit others or to harm them these are the five ways of speaking and regardless of how they speak to you you should have loving kindness for them or goodwill you should have a kind regard for them and you should care for the welfare and their happiness.

So in other words we don't succumb to anger and bitterness and resentment if we're spoken to in a way that's not kind that's not beneficial that's harmful and ultimately is false that's not a reason to get angry or upset or be distressed we should always try to maintain a heart of kindness and that doesn't mean that we're pushovers it doesn't mean that we go along with whatever people want it means that we find our way without getting angry and he goes on to make another analogy he says what do you think if a person comes along with the shovel and maybe a wheelbarrow and starts digging up dirt from the earth to take it away so starts digging up the earth and taking it away could a person succeed in hauling away all the dirt from the earth you know I imagine you know people are snickering or laughing and saying no you can't take away the dirt from the earth where are you going to put it but he says in the same way you should make your mind like the earth no matter what comes your way you are undisturbed you are balanced you are unchanged by the harshness or when people speak to you in an unkind or untruthful way you should continue to spread well-being suppose he said next that a person comes along with paint all kinds of beautiful colored paints and a paintbrush and dips the brush in the paint and starts painting in the air would that person make any kind of painting and they say no you can't paint that way you have to paint on something you can't just wave your brush in the air and he says in the same way make your mind like empty space whatever words come your way they do not paint a picture on your mind your mind does not react it does not take the colors that are thrown at you if people are unkind in their words or speak words of harm rather maintain loving kindness and stay concerned for the well-being of this person and then spread that care and goodwill to everyone in all directions another analogy he says is imagine the Ganges River and somebody puts a few drops of dye in the Ganges River would that change the river would it color the river and the person says no no a few drops might change the color in a small glass of water but it has no impact on the Ganges River and so he says in the same way make your mind like the Ganges River broad and wide and flowing the words that other people say to you let it be like those few drops so that it has no impact on you it has no effect on you so that you can maintain a heart of kindness and goodwill for this person you can stay caring for their welfare and happiness even if they want to harm you and then cultivate the kindness for this person and spread it out to all beings everywhere so this first story of the lady and Kali is about the underlying tendencies that we have we can behave one way but deeper in their mind you know there might be some triggers for us to get upset or hostile or angry violent even the point of this Buddhist practice is to touch that deeper place and to transform it to change it so that our kindness is not superficial or pretending so we're not in danger of causing harm for ourselves and so this is one of the reasons we want to develop concentration in the body in meditation so that the clouds can just roll by there's something about concentration that can sometimes bring us deeper under the surface of our concern so that the surface concerns are just clouds I mean the surface mind is are like the the wisping clouds moving through we have our preoccupations our concerns the stories that we tell ourselves and sometimes we find under underneath our layers of resentment and anger upset and fear maybe and it's good to touch into those to see oh look at this then we can practice with it like oh there's actually some underlying resentment here we can resolve it and ultimately dissolve it right all these words have solved in them dissolve resolve they have to do with releasing so to cultivate this this loving kindness no matter what even if people are speaking words that are difficult for us to hear it's a pretty tall order and it's challenging with the lives that we live in and that's why we have this practice there's this role that the Buddha is pointing to of practice we practice because it's valuable to live this way it's value it's a valuable in a way it's not it's not a moral obligation to uproot our anger but it's a way of working with others in the world it causes less harm to ourselves and the welfare of others so to uproot our underlying tendencies of anger and to cultivate the ability not to succumb to our hostility to our anger it's a gradual process that we can do and then we actually create the conditions to be to be real and at ease in ourselves and when we do this it allows other people to relax around us like as you do this you can see that it allows other people to also be at ease and at peace when we are so thank you for your kind attention this morning.