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I don't see why not. I'll start, and I'll star so others can come and share their pearls of wisdom as well. That way, we can all take something and give something.
This is a story I heard from Ajahn Brahm:
Once, a long time ago, there was a kingdom. The king went away for a while, leaving his throne vacant. Out of nowhere, a horrible, smelly, scaly demon entered the throne room and started walking to the throne. The chamberlains and guards wanted to stop it, but the thing was too smelly and frightening. So the demon strode right up to the throne and sat down. It was only then that the chamberlains and guards came to their senses.
"Hey, you! Get off that throne!" Yelled one chamberlain. At those harsh words, the demon became a couple of inches larger, a little uglier, and a little stinkier.
A guard threatened to run him through with a lance. The demon got even bigger, smellier, and uglier.
All all their harsh, angry words, the demon got that much worse. But then the king arrived, and he was wiser than his guards and chamberlains. That's why he's king. He went right up to the ugly brute and said, "welcome! May I offer you some tea? Maybe get someone to scrape some of the scales off of you?"
At those kind words, the demon got smaller, a little less ugly, and less smelly. The others picked up on the king's strategy and offered the demon words of kindness. Gradually, inch by inch, the demon got smaller, less smelly and ugly, until finally, it vanished.
We all have our anger eating demons: it might be cancer, it might be chronic pain, or insomnia, or a difficult neighbor or coworker, or our commute to and from work. If we approach our anger eating demons with kindness rather than hostility, the anger and hostility will gradually disappear, and the demon will transform into something else altogether.
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can a theravada buddhist believer share a dhamma teaching here?
