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Friday, September 23, 2011

No Presents Please

The Buddha was sitting in the shade of a tree when an angry man came upon him. The angry man started yelling insults, but the Buddha sat there calmly and said nothing. The angry man continued screaming, but received no reply. After a few minutes the man could not keep up his anger at such a level and asked: 

“Do you have nothing to say?” 

The Buddha then asked the man, “If someone gives you a gift and you do not want it, to whom does it belong?” 

The man answered that it must remain with the giver of the gift. Then the Buddha said, 

“I refuse to accept your anger, so you will have to keep it yourself.” 

The angry man is said to have become a disciple of the Buddha.

~By Peter Whitfield - Zen Tails