Attitude/Approach
Decline "Gift of Hostility ...
Highly ranked college basketball coach Herb Sendek tells this story about the Buddha, the religious prophet and founder of Buddhism. To test the Buddha, a skeptic tried to provoke the holy man into anger, despite the religious founder’s dedication to peace and nonviolence. When nothing succeeded, the skeptic asked: "How do you do it?" The Buddha answered with this question: 'When you give a gift that is not accepted to whom does the gift belong?' If the gift is anger or hostility, why accept it? Decline the hurt that comes with it.
(Source: “Sendek declines the ‘gift’ of hostility,” by Chip Alexander, The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, Tuesday, February 22, 2005, 1C.)
