An event that occurred today

[dhammadharo]

@Charlotteannun

Part of spiritual growth requires dismantling internal defenses, becoming more vulnerable; then we get affected more by others’ harshness - and may react more strongly. It’s all part of the process. In the long-term we become more calm & tolerant in a wider variety of circumstances, but this is very hard to see on a day to day basis.

This is interesting. It seems right.

@Charlotteannun

It may cloak a saint. (A few surprisingly harsh or accusing comments from a gas station attendant could easily trigger PTSD in, say, someone whose trauma related to a non-protective authority figure who turned on them when they sought help long ago.)

I’m not sure if this applies to me or not. I’m certainly not a saint. But if it did, wouldn’t Buddhism help?

@Gillian

Mindful self-defence tempered with compassion for the other one?

This seems to be the best way to approach it. In some suttas, it seems the Buddha is standing up to verbal attacks. In other cases, the suttas talk about mental training for bearing attacks, but they don’t seem to say that one literally should do nothing in response.

@Mat

The Buddha never said stop complaining and be peaceful! Rather he looked for solutions, which often involved stopping the offensive behaviours.

Yes, this seems to be true.