You will not be punished for your anger,
you will be punished by your anger.

Buddha And The Angry Man

A Story That Will Change Your Perspective On Anger

One day the Buddha walked into a village. A very angry and rude young man approached him and began to offend him.

“You have no right to teach the world! You’re as dumb as anybody! You are nothing more than a scammer! “

The Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead, he asked the young man:

“Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone and he does not get it, then who does the gift belong to?”

The young man, surprised by the strange question, replied to the Buddha:

“The gift would belong to me because I bought it”.

Buddha smiled and said,

“Right. And that’s exactly the same as your anger. When you get angry with me and I do not feel offended, the anger returns and stays back to you. You become unhappy, not me. All you have to do is to hurt yourself. “

The young man looked confused.

Buddha continued:

“If you want to stop hurting yourself, you need to get rid of your anger and turn it into love. When you hate others, you become unhappy but when you love others, everyone is happy. “

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”