Reflecting on Unfair Criticism

 ~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

One helpful way of reflecting on unfair criticism is to recollect how normal it is, how many times even the purest of beings have been subjected to such treatment. The most famous example is perhaps the occasion when a woman called Ciñca Manavika accepted payment from religious teachers jealous of the Buddha to accuse him of making her pregnant. There are accounts of nearly all the great enlightened disciples being falsely accused of one thing or another. Ven. Sāriputta provided a model for how to deal with such a situation. On one occasion he was accused by another monk of striking him and then leaving the monastery without apologizing. The Buddha knew this could not be true but nevertheless called a meeting to examine the matter, ensuring that there could be no grounds for criticism that he was prejudiced in favour of his senior disciple.

In the course of conducting his defence, Ven. Sāriputta compared his mind to the four elements. He said that people throw impure things – feces, urine, spittle, pus and blood – on the earth, and wash them in water; fire burns those impure things and air blows upon them. Despite coming into contact with all kinds of impure things, the elements of earth, water, fire and air are not repelled, humiliated or disgusted by them. Similarly, he, Sāriputta, dwelt in the midst of slander and malicious gossip with a mind like earth, like water, like fire, like air, “vast, exalted and measureless, without enmity or ill-will.”

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.