Why We Should Not Rush to Judge Others: A Lesson from Maudgalyayana

Have you ever looked at someone and wondered, "What is wrong with this person?" and then immediately imagined all sorts of bad things in your mind? If so, today's lesson is for you.

The Karma of Judgment

In one of his dharma talks on the Dhammapada, Master Thích Chân Quang told the story of Maudgalyayana, the disciple foremost in supernatural powers among the Buddha's followers. Due to circumstances, he went to the home of a woman to ask for alms three days in a row. Many people began to whisper that he still had attachment, because the woman was beautiful. They looked only at outward appearances and rushed to a negative conclusion.

"When we look at appearances and reason toward bad conclusions, this is a common disease of humankind."

Master Quang pointed out that the woman was actually a single mother from a household of three generations. She had asked permission to make offerings to the master for three days — one day for herself, one day for her mother, and one day for her daughter — so that the whole family could receive blessings from merit. Maudgalyayana accepted because he saw their good spiritual capacity, and for no other reason. But ordinary people did not understand; they saw only appearances and judged carelessly.

Appearances Do Not Reveal the Truth

The Master taught that when we look at an event, it is our own mind that interprets it in our own way. If we see a man lingering outside a certain house, one person might think he is secretly in love with someone inside, another might think he is a thief, another might think he is a spy, and yet another might think he is checking the feng shui. Each person speculates according to their own nature.

The Master offered an analogy: if we gave each person a piece of paper and asked them to write down their speculation, then after reading them all, we would not know who that man was, but we would know exactly what kind of person each writer was. The one inclined to romance thinks of love affairs; the one who has been robbed, or has robbed, thinks of theft; the one obsessed with spy films thinks of surveillance; the one who believes in feng shui thinks of land and property.

"When we judge someone, in truth we are judging ourselves. We are revealing the very nature of who we are."

Your Mind Is a Mirror

This leads to a great lesson: the person who habitually thinks ill of others is, in fact, a person whose soul still holds many dark corners. Master Thích Chân Quang shared that good people, when they help someone or scold someone, know their own hearts are good, but their outward actions may be misunderstood. That is why they are very reluctant to speak ill of or criticize others.

"The person who constantly thinks badly of others is, in truth, a bad person themselves."

Good people, on the other hand, understand that sometimes a good deed can look like a bad one. They have experienced this themselves, so they do not rush to conclusions. They are tolerant and understanding. In contrast, those whose mouths are always criticizing this person or blaming that person carry much unwholesomeness within their mind.

Why the Saints Hide Themselves

The Master also explained something deeper: saints rarely appear openly in the world. When they do appear, many people will develop faith and reverence, planting wholesome conditions, but many others will develop doubt, criticism, and abuse, creating heavy karma. Out of compassion for sentient beings, a saint does not want others to fall into hell because of them.

Meanwhile, so-called "false masters" use advertising, money, and praise to create a name for themselves. They too have their admirers and their critics. A true saint mingles among the false ones, and so appears even more rarely. They quietly bless and protect those who practice sincerely, gently adjusting their thoughts in silence, and let them walk their own path of karma.

Slow Down, Do Not Rush to Conclude

Through this story, we learn a simple yet profound lesson: when we see someone doing something we do not yet understand, let us hold back from judgment. Do not guess wildly. Try placing yourself in their circumstances, or simply open your heart with a more tolerant view.

"Hold back from judging. We must weigh things very carefully. Because often our wisdom cannot rise above the situation, cannot match it."

If we do not understand, we can ask. Do not plant seeds that create wrongdoing for ourselves. Each time we are about to say something negative about someone, let us remember that those words first reveal our own soul.

May each of us learn to slow down and look more deeply, so that our mind may become pure and open. For only when we stop judging can we see the hidden virtue within every person, and only then will our heart truly be at ease.