佛言 有人聞吾守道 行大仁慈 故來罵辱 吾默受之 罵止 問曰 子以禮從人 其人不納 禮歸子乎 對曰 歸矣 吾曰 今子罵我 我今不納 子自持禍 歸子身矣 猶響應聲 影之隨形 終無免離 慎勿為惡
fó yán yǒu rén wén wú shǒu dào xíng dà rén cí gù lái mà rǔ wú mò shòu zhī mà zhǐ wèn yuē zǐ yǐ lǐ cóng rén qí rén bù nà lǐ guī zǐ hū duì yuē guī yǐ wú yuē jīn zǐ mà wǒ wǒ jīn bù nà zǐ zì chí huò guī zǐ shēn yǐ yóu xiǎng yìng shēng yǐng zhī suí xíng zhōng wú miǎn lí shèn wù wéi è
Key Message
Insults not accepted return to the sender. Evil, like an echo or a shadow, inevitably returns to the one who created it.
▸Section seven unfolds the teaching of section six through a vivid dialogue.
Section seven unfolds the teaching of section six through a vivid dialogue. Someone, hearing of the Buddha's practice and great compassion, deliberately comes to insult him, and the Buddha receives it in silence. When the insults cease, the Buddha poses an analogy: if you bring a gift to someone and they refuse it, to whom does the gift return? Naturally it returns to the one who brought it. Likewise, since the Buddha does not accept the insults, the misfortune returns to its source. This is as inevitable as an echo responding to a sound, or a shadow following its form.