Speech from the film Secondhand Lions

How To Take Insult

From: TheDailyEnlightenment.com Weekly 21/04/05:

On one occasion, the Buddha was invited by the Brahmin Bharadvaja for alms to his house. As invited, the Buddha visited the house of the Brahmin. Instead of entertaining Him, the Brahmin poured forth a torrent of abuse with the filthiest of words. The Buddha politely inquired:

"Do visitors come to your house, good Brahmin?"
"Yes," he replied.
"What do yu do when they come?"
"Oh, we prepare a sumptuous feast."
"What do you if they refuse to receive the meal?"
"Why, we gladly partake of them ourselves."
"Well, good Brahmin, you have invited me for alms and entertained me with abuse which I decline to accept. So now it belongs to you."

From the Akkosa Sutta

The Buddha did not retaliate but politely gave back what the Brahmin had given Him. Retaliate not, the Buddha advised. "Hatred does not cease through hatred but through love alone they cease."

A Tale

One day Buddha and his disciple was meditating in a quiet garden when one of his disciples, deep in a meditative state, began to levitate. Feeling his body lifting itself up from the ground, he became very excited, and very PROUD of his accomplishments. He stirred himself from his meditation and felt himself back on the ground. He stood up and walked over to Buddha,
"I have mastered levitation," the disciple announced.
"Thats nice," Buddha responded, "but don't let it distract you from your meditaion."

Moral: WE SHOULD NOT LOSE SIGHT OF OUR REAL GOALS.

To An Early Violet

What though thy bed be frozen earth,
Thy cloak the chilling blast;
What though no mate to clear thy path,
Thy sky with gloom o'ercast --
What though of love itself doth fail,
Thy fragrance strewed in vain;
What though if bad o'er good prevail,
And vice o'er virtue reign --
Change not thy nature, gentle bloom,
Thou violet, sweet and pure,
But ever pour thy sweet perfume
Unasked, unstinted, sure !

- Swami Vivekananda

Quote

“Clouds come floating into my life,

no longer to carry rain or usher storm,

but to add color to my sunset sky.”

-. R.N.Thakur