Waiting for the Buddha
A story of the transformation of Angoolimal from evil to good
“Even nature shows us that the evil may suppress the good for some time, but the good never loses its goodness and it always has the upper hand in the end.” — K A Simran
I watched a television show once (I don’t remember its name) when I was little. It was about the reformation of Angoolimal from evil to good by Buddha and I loved it.
Angoolimal was a dacoit who used to live on a hill in the forest. The real name of Angoolimal was ‘Ahimsak’, meaning the harmless one.
He was a well-behaved boy in school and was the favorite student of his teacher. However, out of jealousy, the fellow students succeeded in poisoning his teacher’s mind against him.
In an attempt to get rid of Angoolimal, his teacher sent him to find one thousand human right-hand little fingers to complete his studies.
Trying to accomplish his mission, he became the cruel man who would kill people and cut their little fingers, and make a garland out of those fingers. For this weird and gruesome garland, he was given the nickname Angoolimal which means the finger necklace. He had killed 999 people so far and was looking for the 1000th finger.
One day, Buddha was passing by the forest. On seeing him, Angoolimal came down the hill and started laughing aloud. Buddha was unshaken. He was walking calmly and unhurried. Angoolimal tried to chase Buddha but could not catch up with him. He got angry and screamed at Buddha to stop.
Buddha turned and said in a calm and fearless voice, “He, the Buddha had already stopped killing and harming and now it was his (Angoolimal’s) turn to do the same.”
Angoolimal could not understand what was happening to him. He was so struck by these words. He threw away his weapons and fell at the feet of Buddha.
He followed Buddha back to the monastery and became a monk.
His story teaches us that everyone can change their life for the better, any time they want. It tells us that people are best influenced by example.
A lot of people in the world are not cruel or violent like Angoolimaal but they are lost in life too, just like him. They just need someone like Buddha who can help them find the right path.
©️ K A Simran 2019. All Rights Reserved.
