Jain Digest 2007 04

SR No.: 527103
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA
Publication Year: 2007
Total Pages: 60
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, USA_Jain Digest, & USA
File Size: 9 MB

Page 37

Jain Digest. Summer 2007
Story of an angry Boy
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence!
INSPIRATION
(continued from pg 22) I also started to appreciate that the rigidity with which Bhabhu practiced religion also served as a necessary discipline by which the light of Jain spirituality was preserved over innumerable generations since the time of Mahavir Bhagwan. In the chaos of modern life with all its demands, choices and distractions, I asked how I would carry the torch of Jainism forward and what responsibility I carried. I found myself seeking to adopt similar discipline into my life in order to filter in only what was critical. Another change in perspective related to my search for explanations. I found that the answers I used to expect of Bhabhu and others, answers to questions of how and why, not surprisingly, could not be answered completely in proofs and persuasive words. More importantly, I no longer felt the need to find such answers in the same way. Life itself was answering the questions sufficiently well through experiences, circumstantial observations and careful introspection that the questions were becoming irrelevant. As I discovered viable explanations of life's struggles through karma theory, the answers ultimately manifested in the realized benefits of practicing life in ac- cordance with that understanding. The experience itself was the answer. It was as simple as that to live through experience, to have the courage to confront and engage in life's struggles with the beliefs one is armed with, tirelessly and with confidence. This is how I recall Bhabhu at her best practicing her compassionate diplomacy and finding her peace day by day in the midst of sometimes difficult family circumstances.
Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
Reflecting on my grandmother's life, I am reminded of how important life events and incidents often mark a change in thinking and attitudes. I am grateful for these opportunities, because it is these experiences that have served as a catalyst for my growth. If the ability to change were a characteristic of youth, it seems most fitting that even in death, my Bhabhu could initiate a small spiritual awakening in me.
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there." A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends and family are a very rare jewel indeed. We should never hurt them.
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