Have you ever been criticized by someone in your life? We all have been in that situation in all of our lives. No one can stop other people from criticizing us. That is something that is out of our control.

You have to keep it in your mind- criticism, blaming, scolding and other people’s opinions in our life is something that we cannot control by ourselves. That is called the things that are out of our control. We cannot stop other people from judging us. Normally, the nature of people is always judging us. They keep on judging, they keep on criticizing and we cannot stop them.

Once our great teacher, Supreme Buddha, explained this to a Brahmin called Atula. Supreme, Buddha said:

“Porāṇametaṁ atula, netaṁ ajjatanāmiva” 

Atual, it came from the ancient time

“Nindanti tuṇhimāsīnaṁ”

 people will criticize when one is silent.

“Nindanti bahubhāṇinaṁ”.

People will criticize when a person talks too much. 

“Mitabhāṇimpi nindanti”.

And when a person speaks moderately.

“Natthi loke anindito.”

There is no person, not a single person who has not been criticized by someone in this world. 

These words show us we all have been criticized in this life. We all have been in that situation in our life. It is a common phenomena or common incidents that we have to face in our life.

How to face these criticisms? There are two types of criticisms in our life. One is the criticism that helps us to develop our good qualities. People who always wish the best for us, our parents, our teachers, and our elders may advise us like they may criticize our faults. When we are in such situations, always listen to those criticisms. Always listen to those pieces of advice. Do not consider it as a bad thing. Do not consider it as a negative criticism. It is a positive criticism. You can develop good qualities and you can correct your faults when you listen to those pieces of advice. This is why they are called positive criticism.

 There is another criticism and that is the negative criticizing people may criticize out of jealousy, people may criticize us out of anger. They always keep on criticizing and we cannot stop it. When we face such situations, the nature of this mind is to become sad and depressed. The anxiety will start to develop inside our mind. And what we do when we face and when we hear those criticisms, we stop the good things, good practices that we are practicing in our life. You should not do that. You should not give up practicing the merits.

You should not give up doing good deeds because of others’ words. Face that, listen to that. But never stop the good of your life! The more we face criticism in our life, the more we will have the opportunity to build up good qualities within ourselves. Don’t think of criticism as a bad thing. They help you to develop good qualities in your life.

When you face negative criticism, always be patient, always be kind towards people. Because they have judged us, they have come to a conclusion about us which is wrong. What we have to do, we should not argue with them. We should not try to talk back. We should not try to prove them that they are wrong. What do we have to do? Just be silent, just be patient and always keep on practicing and never stop doing the good deeds and good practices in your life. If you keep on practicing the good things in your life, your life will be successful.

It is the nature that when we start doing something good, something wholesome or when we start doing a service to this world, something good to this world, it is the nature we all face criticism. All the people who had done a great service to this world, even our great Teacher Supreme Buddha faced criticism. Nothing to talk about us! What we have to do, we have to face those criticisms. The more we face criticism in our life, the more beautiful our lives will be. 

Don’t just go through your life. Always grow through your life. When you face those hard times and the difficulties in your life, you will always grow through your life.