The Angry Mob

Angulimala had become free of the rounds of birth and death. He was not, however, completely absolved of the karmic consequences of his actions. There were those in the city of Shravasti who were not willing to overlook Angulimala’s past, even if the Buddha did vouch for his change of character. For them, as for many in our own culture, reformation was beside the point. Justice required retribution, and if the king was content to leave Angulimala in the care of the Buddha, some people decided that they must take the law into their own hands.

Then, when it was morning, the venerable Angulimala dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, went into Shravasti for alms. Now on that occasion someone threw a clod and hit the venerable Angulimala’s body, someone else threw a stick and hit his body, and someone else threw a potsherd and hit his body. Then, with blood running from his cut head, with his bowl broken, and with his outer robe torn, the venerable Angulimala went to the Blessed One. The Blessed One saw him coming in the distance and told him: “Bear it, brahmin! Bear it, brahmin! You are experiencing here and now the result of deeds because of which you might have been tortured in hell for many years, for many hundreds of years, for many thousands of years.” (Ibid, p. 715)

This is the counterpoint to the Buddha’s previous teaching to Angulimala that he had been born again with the noble birth. It is also significant that at this point Angulimala was an arhat. He had cut off all remaining clinging and notions of selfhood. He was enlightened and free of the self-fixation that perpetuates the cycle of birth and death and the continual sowing of causes and reaping of effects. Because there was no longer a self-identification to bring about a new birth in any of the realms of suffering or even in the human or heavenly realm, the great mass of karma accrued by Angulimala could no longer come to fruition. The ground of selfhood had fallen away, taking the seeds of violence and suffering with it. But for as long as Angulimala lived as a man in this world, he would still have to reap the fruits of the deeds he had sown. Even then, one could say that in escaping arrest and execution and in surviving the attempt of the mob to kill him he was still getting off fairly easy. He had truly mitigated the effects of his karma, but still had to take responsibility for what remained and endure it patiently. What is more, Angulimala undoubtedly realized with his newfound compassion that his attackers were themselves suffering greatly from the loss of those who were dear to them, losses that he had inflicted on them when he was still a killer. Angulimala may have transcended self and suffering, but as long as he remained in the world, he could not but be aware of the suffering of others and the repercussions of his own past actions unfolding still. He was no longer caught in the karmic cycle of birth and death, but neither was he blind to it. In fact, as an arhat he could see it all the more clearly, without the bias of self-interest or disregard for the views and feelings of others.

It should also be pointed out that the members of the mob, in presuming that Angulimala was deserving of death, came perilously close to committing one of the five gravest of offenses: killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, causing the Buddha to bleed, and causing a schism in the Sangha. According to Buddhism, anyone who commits one of the five grave offenses will be immediately reborn in the Avichi Hell (the Hell of Incessant Suffering) after death without any chance of reprieve. Angulimala had himself come close to committing one of these acts but the Buddha’s timely intervention prevented him from killing his own mother. Angulimala had changed and become Ahimsaka or “Harmless” once again, but the cycle of violence that he had set in motion was still in operation, and now it was those who had been harmed by him in the very recent past who were in danger of committing one of the five grave offenses by unwittingly killing an arhat. The anger of the mob is certainly understandable, and as the Buddha points out even deserved. However, this part of the story shows that if one insists on paying back violence with more violence, such presumption may lead to wrongdoing as grave or even worse than the wrongdoing one is trying to avenge. From the Buddhist point of view, the best way to respond to violence is by stopping the cycle of violence. The energy that is lost through bitterness and the pursuit of vendettas is better directed to the restraint of active evildoers, the rehabilitation of those who have been restrained, and the healing of those who have been harmed. This is what will create a safe and peaceful world.