Respond to insults in line with the Akkosa Sutra ~ Malinda Words

The Brahmin Akkosa Bharadvaja angered that a member of the Bharadvaja clan had taken refuge in the Buddha Dhamma is said to have gone forth to meet the Buddha and had thereafter proceeded to curse and insult him.

Now it is not hard to understand the Brahmin’s agitation. He may have felt betrayed by his clansman. He may have felt that the Buddha had enticed his clansman away from the clan and therefore felt he had been wronged by the Buddha.

Not all insults and curses are wrought in the fires of self-righteousness. Some are crafted to hurt. Indeed some of the crafters are paid to do so. Some are offered training, stipends and further funds for relevant equipment by donors who are no babes in the woods when it comes to manipulating public perceptions.

We all know of the CIA. Not many know that the CIA’s subterfuge operations in countries such as Sri Lanka were at one point handed over to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Indeed, even the vast majority of US taxpayers, good men and women mostly, are oblivious to these policy decisions made by those they elect and executed by those whose salaries they pay. USAID’s IREX programme for example has funded and trained outfits that have, among other things, spawned ‘activists’ who have considerably enhanced profits by spewing insults at targeted religious communities.

We should not forget that faith is a tender thing and not all human beings are saints or have attained margaphala and therefore are easily offended. The Buddha however does offer a path to even the, let’s say, uninitiated, that will not engender further rancour, but could instead make for greater sensitivity and wisdom on all, including those who deliberately belittle, deliberately hurt and design programs that encourage people to target and insult simply because it is profitable to do so.

The Buddha used an analogy. In a nutshell, the question is put to the Brahmin: ‘if you offered someone a gift and it was refused, to whom would it then belong?’ ‘To me of course,’ the learned Brahmin answered. And the Buddha offered the following observation:

‘In the same way, Brahmin, that with which you have insulted me, who is not insulting; that with which you have taunted me, who is not taunting; that with which you have berated me, who is not berating: that I don't accept from you. It's all yours, Brahmin. It's all yours.’

Conversely, if you partake of it, it is as much yours as it is the giver’s. Respond to insult with insult and you are not more virtuous than the person who fired the first insult, whether or not the insult was spurred by the need for profit, at someone’s bidding, sheer malice or outright ignorance. You would be as ignorant and as malicious.

A doctrine is not undone by insult or by attacking those who follow it or identify with it. It is not undone by those who in the name of the doctrine violates its tenets. The taunting, the berating, the insults: they belong in the end to the taunter, the vilifier, the insulter. The Dhamma is untouched because it is untouchable.

An enlightened individual will not be perturbed by insult or curse. Someone who insults someone else with the intention to hurt, belittle and vilify is no prophet and is best responded to with silence. Equanimity. That’s a virtue which is one of the four brahma viharanas that the Buddha advocated. This is what underlies the Akkosa Sutra or the reflections offered to the Brahmin Akkosa Bharadvaja.

['The Morning Inspection' is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is a new series. Links to previous articles in this new series are given below]

04 June 2023

Respond to insults in line with the Akkosa Sutra

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