A Teaching Story and a Forgiveness Practice

"Here's a true story from our times and our culture that shows how suffering is released when we let go of our attachments, especially our attachment to pain. As the American poet Edwin Markham approached his retirement years, he discovered that the man to whom he had entrusted his financial portfolio had squandered all the money. Markham's dream of a comfortable retirement vanished. He began to brood over the injustice and the loss. His anger deepened. Over time, Markham's bitterness grew by leaps and bounds. One day while sitting at his table, Markham found himself drawing circles as he tried to soothe the turmoil he felt within. Finally, he concluded: 'I must forgive him, and I will forgive him.' Looking again at the circles he had drawn on the paper before him, Markham wrote these lines:

He drew a circle to shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout;
But love and I had the wit to win,
we drew a circle to take him in.

"Although Markham wrote hundreds of poems contained in many volumes, the words he wrote while forgiving are his most famous and memorable. As he forgave, a torrent of creativity was released within him. Although he adhered to the Christian faith, Markham's action was also a profoundly Buddhist one. By extending forgiveness, he let go of his attachment to hatred, anger, and revenge. As long as we are unable to forgive, we remain attached to the person who hurt us."