Mad Dog

There was a man who feared and hated the people of a nearby clan. He did whatever he could to express his hard feelings toward them.

He bought a young dog and secretly hired a boy from the despised clan to do a job for him. He paid the boy to regularly beat and torment the dog so that it would grow up to fear and hate any clan member it saw.

He taught the dog his own fear and hatred.

By the time it was grown, the dog had become indiscriminate and unpredictable in its aggression.

The dog had become so vicious it had to be put down.

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This was originally published as “Sins of the Father.” I meant for the title to convey a sense of generational distrust and meanness passed down through perhaps many generations. I changed the title to bring the attention to the fruits of that meanness. The culminating threat must be dealt with. Nevertheless, I want to be mindful that hatred exists only where the necessary causes and conditions for hatred are present. Buddha taught, “Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love. This is the eternal rule.”