Only When Unpleasant Things Happen, Is Your Character Known

Listen to the Richard Urban Show #83:

Cheon Seong Gyeong 440

When you stand in the world of space, you need top and bottom, left and right, and front and back. Only then is the status of your position stable. Your shape will vary depending on the position in which you stand: top and bottom, left and right, front and back. When dealing with matters that concern the relationships of top and bottom, left and right, front and back, and also problems in the family, nation and world, there is only one solution. Just as there has to be top and bottom, left and right, and front and back with the individual at the center, there also have to be parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1260

Why do people do penance by inflicting pain on their bodies? This is because they have inherited the blood of Satan, the blood of the enemy of God. Who is this enemy of God? He is the adulterer. He is the enemy of the love of God. He is the adulterer. We inherited the blood of the adulterer.
    Eve was supposed to become the heiress to the kingship of the heavenly nation; she was supposed to become the queen. However, she became the spouse of the devil, the mate of the servant instead. This is the secret of the universe. It has finally been disclosed in my time, so the satanic world should come to an end. (172-277, 1988.1.24)

Integrity

3. People of Integrity Do Not Change according to the Circumstances

Once there lived a housewife named Vedehika who had a reputation for gentleness, modesty, and courtesy. She had a housemaid named Kali who was efficient and industrious and who managed her work well. Then it occurred to Kali the housemaid, “My mistress has a very good reputation; I wonder whether she is good by nature, or is good because my work, being well-managed, makes her surroundings pleasant. What if I were to test my mistress?”
    The following morning Kali got up late. Then Vedehika shouted at her maid, “Hey, Kali!” “Yes, madam?” “Hey, what makes you get up late?” “Nothing in particular, madam.” “Nothing in particular, eh, naughty maid, and you get up late?” And being angry and offended, she frowned.
    Then it occurred to Kali, “Apparently, my mistress does have a temper inwardly, though she does not show it because my work is well-managed. What if I were to test her further?” Then she got up later. Thereupon Vedehika shouted at her maid, “Hey, Kali, why do you get up late?” “No particular reason, madam.” “No particular reason, eh, and you are up late?” she angrily hurled at her words of indignation.
    Then it occurred to Kali, “Apparently, my mistress does have a temper inwardly, though she does not show it because my work is well-managed. What if I were to test her still further?” She got up still later. Thereupon Vedehika shouted at her, “Hey, Kali, why do you get up late?” and she angrily took up the bolt of the door-bar and hit her on the head, cutting it. Thereupon Kali, with cut head and blood trickling down, denounced her mistress before the neighbors, saying, “Madam, look at the work of the gentle lady, madam, look at the action of the modest lady, madam, look at the action of the quiet lady. Why must she get angry and offended because I got up late and hit me, her only maid, cutting me on the head?” Thus the housewife lost her good reputation.
    Analogously, brethren, a person here happens to be very gentle, very humble, and very quiet as long as unpleasant things do not touch him. It is only when unpleasant things happen to a person that it is known whether he is truly gentle, humble, and quiet. Majjhima Nikaya 1.123-24 (Buddhism)

The well-taught noble disciple, when touched by a painful feeling, weeps not, wails not, knocks not on the breast, falls not into utter bewilderment. He feels the bodily feeling, but not the mental…

Moreover, he has no repugnance for painful feeling. As he has no repugnance for it, the lurking tendency to repugnance for painful feeling fastens not on him. He, when touched by painful feeling, delights not in sensual pleasure. Why so? Because, brethren, the well-taught noble disciple knows of a refuge from painful feeling apart from sensual ease. As he delights not in sensual ease, the lurking tendency to sensual ease fastens not on him…

If he feels a feeling that is pleasant, he feels it as one freed from bondage. If he feels a feeling that is painful, he feels it as one freed from bondage. If he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it as one freed from bondage.
    Samyutta Nikaya 36.1.1.6 (Buddhism)

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