an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind but

To break that once must act not from a place of ego, but from a place of peace, harmony and forgiveness. Meeting a negative action with a negative reaction only creates a “vicious cycle”. The Buddha was detached from his ego and this enabled him to see that the man’s actions were completely unrelated to him. Now, if we were to take anything away from this story, it would be the virtue of detachment and forgiveness. On doing so, the Buddha replied that the man he spat on yesterday was gone and the one asking for forgiveness at present was no longer the same person either. He returned to the Buddha the very next day to seek forgiveness. He told his disciples that the man in fact had not spit on him because he was unaware of who the Buddha was, but instead had spat on his “idea” of Buddha and therefore his own mind!Ĭonfused and ashamed by Buddha’s reaction, the man spent a sleepless night wondering about the exchange between him and the Enlightened One. There once was a man who out of his strong dislike and ignorance of who the Buddha was, came up to him and spat on his face.ĭeeper Insight into quote by Ernest Hemmingway: We are all broke and that’s how the light gets inīuddha’s disciplines were enraged at the sheer disrespect and audacity of the man, yet the Buddha smiled and remained silent. Let me tell you an insightful story about the Buddha. On a personal level, punishing or harming a person we disagree or hold a strong dislike for may seem pretty fair and reasonable, right? However, even in the pursuit of momentary pleasure and vengeance, we end up damaging ourselves a whole lot more in the process. So if what Gandhi said was the perfect antidote to violence and hate, how can a common person implement said philosophy into their lives? Let’s tackle this both an individual level, and on a collective scale. You see, whilst it feels good in the moment to give someone a dose of their own medicine, unfortunately, the feeling that lingers once it’s all over is not an enjoyable one.Īnd let’s be honest, our ego gets the best of most of us no matter how hard we try to avoid conflict. Have you ever experienced engaging in hateful conversations and interactions with people, where you might have succeeded in having the last word, yet walked away feeling like you’re lesser than? ” A simple yet profound statement.īefore we dig deeper into this quote, let me ask you a question.

He said- “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. I think most of us are familiar with Gandhi’s words around the theme of non-violence. Now whilst Marcus’s words may appear to be common knowledge to you and I, the stoics knew better! They were aware that it took a great deal of discipline and wisdom to have such solid logic overrule their emotional reactions to outside events.

Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius once said- “Whoever does wrong, wrongs himself Whoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.” An Eye for an Eye makes the whole world blind: Mahatma Gandhi

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind but