Gift of Insult

Came across this Zen story the other day.....


There once lived an old master whose reputation extended throughout the land as a formidable warrior who has yet to be defeated. He attracted many students from all over, all eager to learn from him.

One day, he was challenged by a young warrior who was determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. This young man possessed both the strength and ability to exploit an opponent’s weakness.

The old master gladly accepted the young warrior's challenge. As the two faced one another in battle, the young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. The verbal insults lasted for hours, but the old master merely stood there motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself and left after knowing he was defeated.

The master’s students gathered around him and asked, "How could you endure such an indignity? How did you drive him away?"

"If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it," the master replied, "to whom does the gift belong?"


It got me thinking…..

Insults are not the most pleasant thing to receive and one of the most hurtful. Similar with a lot of things in life, we cannot control the actions of others but we can control how we deal with them. To quote Spock, “Insults are effective only where emotion is present”. Reacting to insults only serves to give what the other party wants. Why react negatively over some senseless remark when all it does is provide grief or anger to ourselves and instant gratification to the other? Besides, it reflects more on the behavior of the insulting party than the recipient. As the wise master implied, when one does not accept the insult, it belongs to the person who carried them.

The young warrior, in all his eagerness and arrogance to prove his strength, was so focused on finding the master’s weakness that he had failed to see his wisdom and learn from them.


Perhaps some of our country's MP can learn a thing or two from this....

-daisyboo-