Head Nun once told me that what comes out of the mouth is more important than what goes in. It took me some time to digest it and realise the wisdom of that statement. What she meant was that we must be careful what we say because words spoken in anger, hatred, jealousy (to name a few) will come back to us if the person to whom they are directed at does not retaliate or remains unconcerned. It's just like a registered letter which if declined by the addressee will be sent back by the post office to the sender!
This reminds me of a story about Lord Buddha which I share with you below.
Once Buddha set out to seek alms. He was approaching a village where there were a number of devotees of Buddha. At that time, some wicked persons confronted him on the way and abused Buddha in various ways.
Buddha sat on a rock nearby without proceeding with his journey. He addressed his traducers: "Dear children, what is the pleasure you derive from abusing me?" Without giving the reasons, they continued abusing him in worse terms. Buddha sat down saying, "If abusing me gives you pleasure, enjoy yourselves."
Exhausted by their abuse, they prepard to leave. At that time, Buddha told them, "I stayed here all the time because if I had gone to the village, my devotees there would not have spared you, if you had indulged in all this abuse before them. It is to save you from this calamity that I had put up with all your abuse, given you a free rein and stayed here."
"If we want to please others, we have to do many things and even spend a lot of money. I am happy that today without incurring any expense or taking any trouble I could give so much pleasure to all of you! What a fine day for me!" exclaimed Buddha.
"You have derived joy from abusing me. So, I am the cause of your joy. I have given you satisfaction thereby. To bring comfort and happiness to people, many build choultries, dig wells, or do other charitable acts. But without undertaking any of these acts, I have been able to give great satisfaction to these evil-minded men. This is a great achievement, indeed," observed Buddha.
Buddha also brought home to them another lesson. He asked one of them: "Child! A beggar comes to your house asking for alms: 'Blessed mother, give me food!' You bring some food. If the beggar says, 'This is not the alms I asked for, and I will not accept it,' what will you do?" The man replied: "I will keep back the offering."
Buddha said: "In the same manner, you attempted to offer me the alms of your abuse. I did not accept it. To whom does it belong? It remains with you. So, you have only abused yourself, not me," said Buddha.
Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
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