buddhas bowl

[desmond dillon]

    

Once when the Buddha was walking though a town with some of his followers some of  the local people

were jeering. That is making fun of the group and insulting them. The Buddha completely ignored these people but some of his followers were affected by it.

Later when they stopped to rest in the evening one of the disciples asked the Buddha about how it was that he seemed unaffected by the jeering and catcalls earlier in the day. Buddha took his own bowl and pushed it towards the follower asking 'whose bowl is this.' the reply was 'yours of course.'

So Buddha pushed the bowl closer to his follower and asked again 'whose bowl is this.' Again the reply was 'yours of course' and then Buddha put the bowl into the lap of his disciple and asked a third time 'whose bowl is it.' 'Its yours' was the reply that came again.

 

So then the Buddha said to him that the disciple had not accepted the bowl. In the same way Buddha himself had not accepted the jeering from the crowd. That was why he remained unaffected by it..

      

    

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