Overcoming Hatred Through Non-Hatred: The Eternal Law of Peace

Open your mobile screen today.

What do you see on Facebook, Twitter (X), WhatsApp, and TV news channels?

All around, venom-spewing speeches, a race to demean one another, abuses hurled in the name of caste, hatred in the name of religion, and violent battle cries to ‘answer a brick with a stone’!

If one person utters a single harsh word, the other considers it a badge of their ‘manhood’ to retort with words ten times viler.

But where does this blind hatred end?

Mahatma Gandhi had rightly said: “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind!”

Twenty-five hundred years ago, when a similarly terrible acrimony raged across India among diverse tribes, kingdoms, and philosophical sects, the Tathagata [the Buddha, ‘one who has attained the truth’] proclaimed the greatest ethical aphorism in human history.

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The True Meaning of Sanatana Dharma

In the fifth verse (gatha) of the Dhammapada [the path of truth], the Buddha says:

Na hi verena verāni sammantīdha kudācanaṃ.
Averena ca sammanti esa dhammo sanantano. (Verse 5)

Meaning: In this world, hatred (enmity/animosity) is never appeased by hatred. Hatred is appeased only by ‘avera’ (love, friendliness, and compassion). This is the eternal, timeless law (sanatana dharma)!

Here, the Buddha has used the expression ‘sanatana dharma’ [sanatana dharma—the eternal, universal moral law].

Today, in the name of Sanatana, people brandish swords and talk of wiping out others. But what did the Buddha call Sanatana?

Sanatana is not the personal fiefdom of any particular caste or scripture; Sanatana is that immutable law of nature which never changes.

Just as pouring petrol onto a fire never extinguishes it, but only causes it to flare up further; fire can only be extinguished with cool water. In the exact same way, by answering someone’s anger with anger, you can never emerge victorious; you only pave the path to the destruction of both.

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The Bitter Truth from the Book

In his book Buddha Dhamma aur Bharat (dhamma [universal truth and righteous living]), the author Nathuni Singh ‘Kodanna’, expounding upon this eternal maxim, writes:

“A weak person can never forgive; forgiveness is the hallmark of the strong alone. When someone flings mud at you, if you pick up mud and fling it back at them, your hands too will get soiled and the mud will only spread. The Tathagata taught that when someone hurls an abuse at you, if you simply do not accept that abuse, it returns right back to them—just like a rejected gift! In today’s hate-filled climate, when politics feathers its own nest by setting people against each other, only this maxim of the Buddha can safeguard the integrity and social harmony of India.”
— Buddha Dhamma aur Bharat (Part 2, Commentary on Verse 5)

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What is the Real Solution?

1. Restraint in reacting on social media: Instead of getting instantly incensed over hateful posts, trolling, and inflammatory speeches, ignore them and share content rooted in truth and harmony.
2. Empathetic Listening: When someone disagrees with you or displays bitterness, first try to understand what fear or pain lies hidden behind their outrage.
3. Cultivation of Loving-Kindness (Metta Meditation): Closing your eyes for a few moments every day, make this benevolent wish not only for your friends, but also for your adversaries and critics—“May all beings prosper, may all be healthy, may malice reside in no one’s heart.”

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A Question Worth Contemplating (The Book’s Message)

If we continue to answer hatred with hatred and return abuse for abuse, what difference will remain between us and that hate-driven fanatic?

To embody this immortal, eternal maxim of the Tathagata in one’s life and society, every sensible human being ought to read this excerpt from the book Buddha Dhamma aur Bharat.