How to use disgrace on the path

Langri Thangpa

 (From "The Heart of Compassion"):

Even if someone says all sorts of derogatory things about me
In return, out of loving-kindness,
To extol that person's qualities is the practice of a bodhisattva.

And proclaims them throughout the universe,

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: If someone defames and disgraces you, that is simply the result of having criticized and dishonoured others in the past, especially bodhisattvas. Instead of feeling angry with such people, you should feel grateful to them for giving you the opportunity to purify your past misdeeds. 

In all circumstances, it is important to act in accordance with the teachings - but especially at such moments. What is the point of having received teachings if you do not apply them? Unfavourable circumstances are the best opportunity you will have to put the teachings into practice.

Once a pure monk of Ratreng monastery was blamed for the theft of a lost plate. He went to see his abbot and asked him, "I am not at fault, what should I do?" The abbot advised him, ''Accept the blame, offer tea to all the monks, and eventually, your innocence will be proved." The monk did so. That night he had many good dreams indicating a great purification of his being. Soon after, the plate was found, and the monk was cleared of the accusation. Informed of the matter, the abbot concluded, "This is the right way to behave!"

So, remember that whether you have a good reputation or a bad one, it has no objective reality at all. It is not worth caring about. The great teachers of the past never bothered about such things. They always answered slander and disparagement with kindness and patience.

Langri Thangpa was one such master. Once, in the region of the cave where he was meditating, there was a couple whose children always died in infancy. When yet another child was born to them, they consulted an oracle, who said that the child would survive only if they claimed that he was the son of a spiritual master. So the wife took her baby boy up to Langri Thangpa's cave and set him down in front of the sage. She said, "Here is your son," and went away. The hermit said nothing about it apart from simply asking a devoted woman he knew to feed and care for the child. Sure enough, Langri Thangpa being a monk, gossip spread about him having fathered a child. A few years later, the parents of the boy came with large offerings and respectfully said to him, "Please forgive us. Although you were not in the least at fault, we let ill rumour spread about you. The child has survived due only to you kindness." Serene as always, Langri Thangpa gave the boy back to his parents Without a word.

Some people spend all their energy, and even risk their lives, to achieve fame. Fame and notoriety are both no more than an empty echo. Your reputation is an alluring mirage that can easily lead you astray. Discard it without a second thought, like the snot you blow from your nose.