Creative Writings and Musings

Revenge, tit for tat: our literature, movies are full of stories where these feelings are not only highlighted but also shown as heroic feelings. Whether it is Shakespeare, or the Sidney Sheldon, the best sellers are ones where the revenge is the main theme. A child has to avenge the killing of his father, if some one behaves badly with you it is ok to give him/her back piece of his/her own cake. It seems that teaching other a lesson is our favorite pastime. Let us explore what Buddha says about this. In Dhammapada, Yamakvagga verse3-6, Lord Buddha tells his disciples: Akkocchi mam avadhi mam  ajini mam ahasi me ye ca tam  upanayhanti  veram tesam na sammati. Akkocchi: abused, scolded; mam: me; avadhi: hurt, bound, limit; ajini: conquered; ahasi: taken something by force; me: me; ye: they; ca: and; tam: that;  upanayhanti: grumbles at;  veram:hatred, jealousy; tesam: their; na: not; sammati: cease, is appeased. "(He/She/They) abused me, hurt me, conquered me, stole things from me&

Yesterday evening, while coming back from office, very comfortable in the luxury of my car, I got stuck in a traffic jam. In front of me was a small tempo with a buffalo and perhaps her calf. The tempo was small for the majestic animal. With every jerk in traffic the buffalo either hurt her face or her back, despite her dark black skin, the red raw skin was clearly visible. Calf was equally uncomfortable, not even able to move, though it was trying again and again.   I could feel that two were very uncomfortable and only God knows for how long they had been standing in this tempo, in the same pose, without food or water. As usual my heart was filled with remorse for the actions of my species, we had been very careless and mean to all others. Not for once thinking about their comfort or their pain.  In my heart I asked the two for forgiveness, and expressed my inability that I cannot pay the owner and take you, as I have no place to keep you and look after you.  As I opened my eyes, I s

Summary: This article summarizes the questions by Buddha and their answer by a young renunciate Sopaka. Introduction Also known called as   śrāmaṇera p annha, it is a collection of questions and answers. The words kumar/sramanera refers to a young renunciate, and pannha means questions.  Thus Kumar pannha is a collection of ten questions asked to a seven year old boy named Sopaka. Lord Buddha asks the questions and Sopaka answers them.  There is an interesting story about Sopaka. According to it a low caste poor lady was in labour, but she died before giving birth. Family members took her to cemetery to burn. But, it started raining, and family members returned home. In the meantime because of the rain she did not burn, instead she came back to life and gave birth to the young child. After giving birth she died. The cemetery watchman looked after the child and since the child belonged to low caste, he named him Sopaka.  When Sopaka was seven years old, Buddha came there. Sopaka took re