Buddhist story: "The Anger-Eating Demon"

Ancient story retold by Ven. Nyanaponika (SN 22 in BPS' Bodhi Leaves 68, Ven. Piyatissa via accesstoinsight.org) edited by Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

Shoot looters, jail males, grab girls

There once lived a demon who had a peculiar diet: He fed on the anger of others. His feeding ground was the human world, so there was no lack of food for him.

He found it quite easy to provoke a family quarrel, and racial and national hatred. Even stirring up a war was not very difficult for him.

And whenever he succeeded in causing strife, he would gorge himself with voracious effort. Because once a war or fight starts, hate multiplies exponentially by its own momentum and affects even normally friendly people.

Sick gullet-goiter Trump (photo not doctored)

The demon's food supply became so rich that he sometimes had to restrain himself from overeating, as he was very fat and discolored, sometimes content with just nibbling resentments and scorn around him.

As it often happens with the successful, he became overbearing. One day he was feeling bored and he thought, "Shouldn't I try it with the shining ones?"

Reflecting, he chose the World of the Thirty-Three, ruled by Sakka, King of the Devas (Deities). He knew that only a few of them had entirely eliminated the psychological fetters of ill-will and aversion, though they were far above petty and selfish quarrels.

I wish there were something to scare the s...

By his magic power he willed himself to that celestial realm and was lucky enough to come at a time when the divine King Sakka was away. There was no one in the large audience hall so the demon seated himself on Sakka's vacant throne, waiting quietly for things to happen, which he hoped would bring him a good supply of food.

Soon some of the devas came to the hall and they could hardly believe their divine eyes when they saw that ugly demon sitting on the throne, squat and grinning. Having recovered from their shock, they started to shout and lament:

"Oh, you ugly demon, how do you dare sit on the throne of our ruler? What utter disrespect! What a crime! You should be thrown headlong into hell and straight into a boiling cauldron! You should be quartered alive! Begone! Begone!"

But while the deities of that world were growing more and more angry, the demon was pleased because from moment to moment he grew in size, in strength, and in power. The anger he absorbed into his system started to ooze from his body as a smoky red-glowing mist. This sinister aura kept the deities at a distance, and their radiance dimmed.

Suddenly a bright glow appeared at the other end of the hall, and it grew into a dazzling light from which King Sakka emerged. He was a stream enterer (the first stage of enlightenment), who had firmly entered the undeflectable stream that leads to nirvana, and was unshaken by what he saw.

The smoke-screen created by the deities' anger parted when King Sakka slowly and politely approached the usurper of his throne. "Welcome, friend! Please, stay seated. No need to get up. I can take another chair. May I offer you the drink of hospitality? Our amrita (nectar of the gods') is good. Or perhaps you prefer a stronger brew, some Vedic soma?"

While Sakka spoke these friendly words, the demon rapidly shrank and finally disappeared, trailing behind a whiff of malodorous smoke, which soon dissolved.

— Based on Samyutta Nikaya, Sakka Samyutta, Sutra No. 22

COMMENTARY

Nyanaponika Thera

The essence of this story dates back to the sutras (discourses) of the Buddha. Yet even now, over 2,600 years later, the human realm looks as if large hordes of anger-eating demons are haunting it and are kept well nourished by millions slaving for them all over this earth.

Fires of hate and wide-traveling waves of fear and violence threaten to engulf humankind. Also the grass roots of society are poisoned by conflict and discord, manifesting in angry thoughts and words and violent deeds. Is it not time to end this self-destructive slavery of our impulses of anger and aggression, which only serve demonic forces?

This story reveals how these hateful demons can be exorcised by the power of gentleness and love. If this power of love can be tested and proven, at a grassroot level, in the widely spread net of personal relationships, society at large, the world at large, will not remain unaffected by it.