Once upon a time, Buddha was sitting with his disciples. One of his disciples asked him, “Lord, how can we control our anger?” Buddha said, “I will tell you a story. By listening to this story, you will learn to control your anger.”
The story goes like this:
Once upon a time, there lived a quarrelsome lady in a village. She used to get angry over little things. In anger, she used to say a lot of abusive words. When her anger subsided, she would feel very sorry. Her whole family was upset because of her habit, and there was always an atmosphere of quarrel in her family.
One day, a sage came to the door of that woman asking for alms. The woman told her problem to the monk. She said, “Oh wise one, I get angry very quickly. I could not control my anger even if I wanted to. Tell me some solution so that I can control my anger.”
The monk took out a small bottle of medicine from his bag and gave it to her. He said, “Take this; this is a medicine for anger. Whenever you get angry, put four drops of the medicine on your tongue and keep it in your mouth for 10 minutes. Do not open your mouth for 10 minutes; otherwise, the medicine will not have any effect.” Saying this, the monk left from there.
The woman started using the medicine as per the instructions of the monk. In just seven days, she lost her habit of getting angry. After seven days, when the monk again came to her door, the woman fell at his feet and said, “Oh wise one, your medicine has done wonders for me. I don’t get angry now because of taking your medicine, and there is an atmosphere of peace in my family too.” Hearing her words, the monk smiled and said, “Daughter, there was no medicine in that vial. In fact, it was filled only with water. You have not controlled your anger by this medicine, but you have controlled your anger by keeping quiet.”
After telling the story, Buddha said that anger can only be controlled by keeping quiet because an angry person speaks abusive words, sparking controversy. So, the cure for anger is only silence. If we look at our lives, we will find that there are often moments when we get angry and lose our composure. When someone gets angry, their mind stops working, and their mouth starts talking in anger. The person speaks such abusive words for which they have to repent later.
An angry person not only commits mental violence but can also commit physical violence, leading to regrets later in life. Mostly, physical violence happens in those moments of anger, but anger is lost only for a few moments. If we keep silence in those moments of anger, we will be saved from many fights and quarrels. Therefore, whenever you get angry, always keep calm. Take a few drops of the medicine called silence in your mouth and close your mouth for some time. You will be saved from many troubles to come.