I am Angulimala

I was in church Sunday morning with my family and something dawned on me: I am Angulimala.

Well, I don’t really think I am a reincarnation of Angulimala, but I have committed gross sins like Angulimala. In the Buddhist universe I have perhaps even committed the same sins as Angulimala. In that respect I have been every walk of life as well.

Monk, saint, yogi, thug, braggart, prince and pirate are all open as to occupations I might have had among the myriad past lives I could have lived. I could have been every religion and lived in every corner of the earth. For me, that is something to take solace in. Because I could have lived any of those lives, and hopefully learned along the way, it has prepared me for this current life and the difficulties that I face.

If I consider Angulimala for a moment, my emotions run the scale. I am shocked and outraged that he could have slain all of those unsuspecting people along the path. I am dismayed that he did so with zeal and a hunger for the final killing. I am horrified that he willingly took man, woman and child to add their fingers to the garland after he had killed them. But then, at the very end of that stage in his life he meets Lord Buddha on the same path, repents and then becomes a monk and starts a new journey.

So, in a very real way; I am Angulimala. I have begun a new journey in my life and I have met the Buddha along my path.

The Dharma is strange and amazing. It is foreign to my Western Judeo-Christian mind, yet it feels so right to me, so familiar. While reading and learning the ideas and theories behind Buddhism, and especially Tibetan Buddhism I have realized that we are the same people, we are all striving for happiness and its causes, we all seek the end to suffering and it cause and we all seek merit.

So I am Angulimala, and so are you.