Daily Motivational Story: Forgiveness

 Forgiveness

"True forgiveness is

 when you forgive a person 

and that someone doesn’t know 

that he is being forgiven"

One day Buddha was in an assembly, when a man walked in looking furious. He thought that Buddha was doing something wrong. He was drawing a huge crowed and people would just go him and meditate. He was restless business man and he had found that his children were spending   their time with Buddha when they could engage themselves in business making more money and ensuring their livelihood. He felt that spending four hours of their day seated next to someone whose eyes were always closed, was a complete waste of time. So, the father of that family was upset and he said, “I am going to teach this man a lesson.”

With anger in his heart he walked confidently u to Buddha. As soon as he approached Buddha, all of his thought disappeared but the anger in his did not dissipate. He was shaking and he found himself speechless. Since he was unable to express his emotions in words and he simply spat on Buddha’s face. Buddha, in return, simply smiled. His disciples were sitting with him were furious. They wanted to react and were ready to jump but the Buddha presence did not allow them to do so. They just couldn’t believe someone could behave in such a reprehensible manner with the Buddha.

"please, forgive me. 

I did not know what I was doing"

He noticed his action had not drawn any reaction from the people around him and Buddha had simply smile in return. A few moment later he thought, “if I stay longer, I will burst, I will explode.” So he walked away.

Once he returns home, he could not erase the image of smiling Buddha from his mind. For the first time in his life, he had met someone who had such an extraordinary reaction to such a disrespectful act. He could not sleep whole night and his whole body were underwent transformation. He was shivering, shaking he felt as though his world had collapsed. So the next day he got up and went and fall at Buddha feet and said, “please, forgive me. I did not know what I was doing.” Buddha disciples were shocked about his reaction.

All his life Buddha had been so compassionate. He had accepted everyone in his ashram, regarding of their past. And now he was telling this businessman that he couldn’t excuse his behavior. Buddha looked around and found everyone to be in a state of shock. So he explained, “Why should I excuse you, when you haven’t done anything. What wrong have you done that I should excuse your behavior?

The businessman replied, “Yesterday I came to this assembly and in my anger, I spat on your face, I am the same person, it’s me.”

Buddha said, “That person is not here anymore. If I ever met that person whom you spat, I’ll tell him to excuse you. For me, to the person who’s right here in this moment, you are wonderful. You have done nothing wrong.”

Moral: You see in life when do you really forgive a person? True forgiveness is when you forgive a person and that someone doesn’t know that he is being forgiven. That person shouldn’t feel guilty for his deed. This is the right kind of forgiveness. If you forgive someone and keep reminding them about their mistake and make them feel guilty all the time, then in truth, you have simply not forgiven them yet. Guilt itself should enough punishment for a person.