If an equal or inferior person disparages you out of pride, place her, as you would your spiritual teacher, with respect on the crown of your head. This is the practice of Bodhisattvas. 

These jerks do not leave us alone, do they? They spread bad stories about us throughout three thousand worlds, deride us at public gatherings, betray our trust after we cared for them like our own children, and even cut off our head. Then someone who knows less than we do or has a lower social status or ranking in the company hierarchy, disparages us out of pride. At least this verse does not say that she does it in front of a big group, but she might. 

Is it just our pride that makes us feel so insulted by what they said? We could also be mistaking a difference of opinion as a personal criticism or assault. If we listen more closely, often people are just expressing their ideas about how to do something differently from our ways, but we feel insulted and put down because of how our mind interprets the situation. 

We are encouraged to respect the person who disparages us as if she were our spiritual teacher because she is pointing out which defilements we need to work on. Of course, we would rather she tells us in a sweet, loving tone while reminding us of all our good qualities, as our teacher would do. But she is still performing the same job by pointing out where our sore spots are and what we need to work on. We keep her on the crown of our heads and check in with her throughout the day to see how our practice is doing, and whether we are acting with compassion and seeing situations as empty. 

“365 Gems of Wisdom” First Volume (January — March) e-book is out now!