Swami Nirgunananda narrates the full story of the Buddha and Angulimala in a very touching and relatable way.
(Youtube viewers: watch Swamiji’s related talk: “The World is Made of Projections; The Way Out is Through Love”.)
Angulimala was a Brahmin at first, highest caste of society, but for some reason his village people rejected and caste him out. He was forced to live alone, and soon became estranged. At first he was verbally outraged but then, after receiving no sympathy, Angulimala began to dwell on revenge, and eventually it escalated to physical aggression. Angulimala began to murder the villagers passing by his forest dweeling and add their finger to his rosary. (Anguli = finger; mala = garland, rosary). This way he killed many people, and everyone was terrified of him. Angulimala assumed a ferocious face that reflected his inner thoughts and how people treated him.
One day, Lord Buddha was passing by the forest where Angulimala dwelled, and casting aside warnings from villagers, the Buddha approached Angulimala. The Buddha radiated calmness and love, and showed no signs of fear or anger. This shocked Angulimala, for he has not seen anyone else treat him like this. (This encounter resembles the episode between Sage Narada and Valmiki in the Ramayana.) Angulimala for the first time felt the touch of sympathy, and it melted his heart.
The lesson is: respect everything/everyone because it is all God. When we direct love and respect onto others, we are not even doing it so much with that person in mind. Rather, we are ultimately reaching something bigger behind that person. We are reaching the universal Self, or Brahman. And that entity, in turn, accepts us with love and respect in return. Hence, no matter the ‘bad’ deeds that the person in front of us has done, when we project love and respect onto them, the Self or Brahman behind that person automatically responds and reflects these quality back to us. This occurs not just because of the power of projection, but because those qualities are in the inherent nature of our Self.
(Youtube viewers: watch Swamiji’s related talk: “The World is Made of Projections; The Way Out is Through Love”.)
Angulimala was a Brahmin at first, highest caste of society, but for some reason his village people rejected and caste him out. He was forced to live alone, and soon became estranged. At first he was verbally outraged but then, after receiving no sympathy, Angulimala began to dwell on revenge, and eventually it escalated to physical aggression. Angulimala began to murder the villagers passing by his forest dweeling and add their finger to his rosary. (Anguli = finger; mala = garland, rosary). This way he killed many people, and everyone was terrified of him. Angulimala assumed a ferocious face that reflected his inner thoughts and how people treated him.
One day, Lord Buddha was passing by the forest where Angulimala dwelled, and casting aside warnings from villagers, the Buddha approached Angulimala. The Buddha radiated calmness and love, and showed no signs of fear or anger. This shocked Angulimala, for he has not seen anyone else treat him like this. (This encounter resembles the episode between Sage Narada and Valmiki in the Ramayana.) Angulimala for the first time felt the touch of sympathy, and it melted his heart.
The lesson is: respect everything/everyone because it is all God. When we direct love and respect onto others, we are not even doing it so much with that person in mind. Rather, we are ultimately reaching something bigger behind that person. We are reaching the universal Self, or Brahman. And that entity, in turn, accepts us with love and respect in return. Hence, no matter the ‘bad’ deeds that the person in front of us has done, when we project love and respect onto them, the Self or Brahman behind that person automatically responds and reflects these quality back to us. This occurs not just because of the power of projection, but because those qualities are in the inherent nature of our Self.
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