Maintaining Mindfulness When Being Slandered

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

The Buddha did not try to convert members of other sects or religions to his teachings. Nevertheless, on a number of occasions during his life he was slandered and reviled by those who were jealous of him or who felt threatened by the truths he taught. On one such occasion, he reminded his disciples of two important reasons for maintaining their mindfulness when such attacks were made. Firstly, if they gave way to anger – for whatever reason – they would be feeding a powerful defilement in their mind. Secondly, if they reacted with anger to false accusations, they would be unable to calmly point out for what reasons the criticisms were ill-founded.

“If, bhikkhus, others speak in dispraise of me, or in dispraise of the Dhamma, or in dispraise of the Sangha, you should not give way to resentment, displeasure or animosity. For if you were to become angry or upset in such a situation, you would only be creating an obstacle for yourself. If you were to become angry or upset when others speak in dispraise of us, would you be able to recognize whether their statements are rightly or wrongly spoken?”

“Certainly not, Lord”

“If, bhikkhus, others speak in dispraise of me, or in dispraise of the Dhamma, or in dispraise of the Sangha, you should unravel what is false and point it out as false, saying: ‘For such and such a reason this is false, this is untrue, there is no such thing in us, this is not found among us’.

(Brahmajāla Sutta)

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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.