Living with Grace and Foresight

In a small temple, two brothers in the Dharma lived together in practice after their master passed away. According to the rules, the elder brother became the abbot. The younger brother, however, believed himself to be more capable and wanted to take the temple for himself.

The younger brother went around campaigning among lay devotees, government officials, and the Buddhist association. He spoke ill of his elder brother, saying, "My brother doesn't know how to teach the Dharma. The devotees will grow weary and all drift away." Seeing that no one paid him any mind, he escalated: "He is greedy and cruel." Still not satisfied, he added, "He is not pure—he secretly has a wife and children."

When these slanderous words reached the elder brother's ears, if he had been an ordinary person, he would have retorted, "That man is greedy and wicked." But the elder brother thought of what lies ahead. He knew that if he spoke back, people would conclude that the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) had no true practitioners left. He chose silence. Whenever anyone asked, he only praised his younger brother.

One quiet night, at three in the morning, the elder brother took two sets of robes and departed. He left the temple to his younger brother without saying a single word.

The meaning of this story: Living with grace and foresight means thinking of tomorrow, of the greater good, rather than only of the present moment. This is the wisdom of a bodhisattva. When we face adversity, instead of reacting immediately, we restrain ourselves and think further ahead, so that we may preserve our virtue and our bonds of affection for the long term.

Compiled from a dharma talk by the Venerable Thích Chân Quang.