You cannot dirty the sky

You cannot dirty the sky
Right Speech - Avoid using harsh words in speech


One day, an angry man with a bad temper went to see the Buddha.  The man used harsh words to abuse the Buddha.  The Buddha listened to him patiently and quietly, and did not say anything as the man spoke.  The angry man finally stopped speaking.  Only then did the Buddha ask him, "  If someone wants to give you something, but you don't want to accept it, to whom does the gift belong?"

"Of course it belongs to th person who tried to give it away in the first place,"  the man answered.

"Likewise it is with your abuse, " said the Buddha.  "I do not wish to accept it, and so it belongs to you.  You would have to keep this gift of harsh words and abuse for yourself.  And I am afraid that in the end you will have to suffer for it, for a bad man who abuses a good man can only bring suffering on hmself.  It is as if a man wanted to dirty the sky by spitting at it.  His spittle can never make the sky dirty, it would only fall onto his own face and make it dirty instead."

The man listened to the Buddha and felt ashamed.  He asked the Buddha to forgive him and became one of his followers.

(Buddhism - Key Stage II)



The Thief and the Master 

One evening, Zen master Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras when a thief entered his house with a sharp sword, demanding "money or life". Without any fear, Shichiri said, "Don't disturb me! Help yourself with the money, it's in that drawer". And he resumed his recitation. The thief was startled by this unexpected reaction, but he proceeded with his business anyway. While he was helping himself with the money, the master stopped and called, "Don't take all of it. Leave some for me to pay my taxes tomorrow".


The thief left some money behind and prepared to leave. Just before he left, the master suddenly shouted at him, "You took my money and you didn't even thank me?! That's not polite!". This time, the thief was really shocked at such fearlessness. He thanked the master and ran away. The thief later told his friends that he had never been so frightened in his life.

A few days later, the thief was caught and confessed, among many others, his theft at Shichiri's house.  When the master was called as a witness, he said, "No, this man did not steal anything from me. I gave him the money. He even thanked me for it." The thief was so touched that he decided to repent. Upon his release from prison, he became a disciple of the master and many years later, he attained Enlightenment.

 http://sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/story/story.html