Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Bodhisattva Road

Home
Buddhist
Angulimala and the Buddha: Fearlessness

Angulimala and the Buddha: Fearlessness

Last updated on: February 23, 2018 at 3:30 pm by Daniel Scharpenburg

Angulimala and the Buddha: Fearlessness 2018-02-23T15:30:07-05:00 Daniel Scharpenburg

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Angulimala is a bit of a strange figure in early Buddhist history. I think we can learn a lot from his story even if we might have to think hard to figure out how it relates to our lives.

Angulimala was a serial killer. He was a relentless and fearsome madman who made his life’s mission to kill 100 people….and to collect their fingers and wearing them on a necklace. Angulimala is actually a nickname that means finger necklace. Eww.

I know what you’re probably thinking. That’s really horrifying. It doesn’t *sound* like it should have a place in Buddhist history. But bare with me.

So, originally Angulimala went around killing people in the woods, travelers or indigents or people who went out to get into some mischief. But he killed so many people that people were afraid to leave their villages. People were terrified of him. The stories of this gruesome killer were spreading all over. So people started staying home.

He didn’t let that deter him. He started entering the villages. And in the villages he would just kill whoever he saw. He didn’t care if they were old or young, rich or poor, he killed anyone that he found. People would see him coming and they would scream and take off running, I guess a guy wearing a necklace made of fingers is really recognizable. They would run but he would catch them.

And one day he came upon the Buddha. He saw the Buddha walking around in the distance. He knew who the Buddha was. He had heard stories about this amazing spiritual teacher who taught the way out of suffering.

And he decided he should kill him.

So, Angulimala ran toward the Buddha. The Buddha turned and saw this maniac coming toward him, but he didn’t try to run. He looked for a second and turned away and just walked in the opposite direction, calmly, slowly…mindfully. Angulimala was really struck by this. He had seen the same response so many times (running away screaming) that he didn’t know how to handle the way the Buddha was calmly walking.

Angulimala got close to the Buddha and said, “Stop.”

And the Buddha replied, “I’ve already stopped. You should stop.”

The Buddha meant that Angulimala should stop being pulled around by his anger and delusion, that he could transcend these things, and his suffering too.

After this meeting, after seeing that the Buddha was fearless, Angulimala changed. He gave up his life of murder and mayhem and became a monk.

There’s a big lesson in that story for us.

First of all, there is an element of fearlessness to the Buddhist path. We have to be open and genuine as Buddhists and it’s a scary world out there, so that’s hard. The Buddha was completely open when this madman charged at him and should be open with whatever life hands us.

Then there’s a sense we get sometimes…”I’m not good enough for the path.” “I’m unworthy.” We all have these kinds of thoughts sometimes.

But we are good enough. We are worthy. If someone like Angulimala can change his ways and live in a different way, we can too.

That’s not the end of the story. He was with the Buddha for a while, but not forever.

Later some soldiers came to get Angulimala. He was taken away and executed for his crimes. But what he learned from the Buddha helped him, even then. He was able to face his death with dignity and fearlessness, just as the Buddha had faced his own potential death.

—————————————————————————–

Daniel Scharpenburg is a meditation instructor and dharma teacher in Kansas City. He regularly gives teachings through the Open Heart Project, the largest virtual mindfulness community in the world.

Find out more about Daniel on his website and connect with him on Facebook.

Previous Post

February 5, 2018

Take Care of Yourself

Next Post

February 12, 2018 Afflictions

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 37 Practices blog bodhisattva book review boundless heart buddha buddhism buddhism for beginners compass of zen compassion dhammapada dharma emptiness Faith in Mind fearless heart han shan impermanence inspiration interfaith koans life Lojong mahayana meditation mind training mirror of zen movie review nagarjuna news questions recording song of mind steps to the great perfection suffering sutras suttas Uncategorized vajrayana video videos zen

Select a Month July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 August 2019 March 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Be still, and know that I am ____.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Faithful God Holy Sovereign

Support this
Column