Inner Calmness in the Face of Anger

I may not be able to post much in the upcoming days, so I thought I’d share one more story that I find inspirational.  This one is from Buddha. 

Like many stories from Buddha, it focuses on inner calmness, but it also has a fantastic lesson about controlling your anger and not allowing other people to upset you.  You cannot control other people, but you CAN control how you react to them.
 

The Brahmin Tries to Abuse Buddha

Buddha was sitting under a banyan tree. One day, a furious Brahmin came to him and started abusing him.

The Brahmin thought that Buddha would reciprocate in the same manner, but to his utter surprise, there was not the slightest change in the expression on his face.

Now, the Brahmin became more furious. He hurled more and more abuses at Buddha. However, Buddha was completely unmoved. Actually there was a look of compassion on his face.

Ultimately the Brahmin was tired of abusing him. He asked, "I have been abusing you like anything, but why are you not angry at all?"

Buddha calmly replied, "My dear brother, I have not accepted a single abuse from you."

"But you heard all of them, didn't you?" the Brahmin argued half-heartedly.

Buddha said, "I do not need the abuses, so why should I even hear them?"

Now the Brahmin was even more puzzled. He could not understand the calm reply from Buddha. Looking at his disturbed face, Buddha further explained, "All those abuses remain with you."

"It cannot be possible. I have hurled all of them at you, "persisted the Brahmin. Buddha calmly repeated his reply, "But I have not accepted even a single abuse from you! Dear brother, suppose you give some coins to somebody, and if he does not accept them, with whom will those coins remain?”

The Brahmin replied, "If I have given the coins and they don’t take them, then naturally they would remain with me."

With a meaningful smile on his face, Buddha said, "Now you are right. The same has happened with your abuses. You came here and hurled abuses at me, but I have not accepted a single abuse from you. Hence, all those abuses remain with you only. So there is no reason to be angry with you."

The Brahmin remained speechless and realized his abuses only harmed himself. Nonetheless, he apologized profusely to Buddha.