PM should ask what the Buddha would do

Readers will sympathise with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for complaining that he is always being criticised by an unnamed Thai-language newspaper. He can take comfort in the wise counsel of the Buddha, who observed: “They blame those who sit silent; they blame those who speak too much; those speaking little, too, they blame. In this world there is no one who is not blamed. There never was, there never will be, nor does there exist now, a person who is wholly blamed or wholly praised.” (Dhammapada 227-228, Narada Mahathera translation) 

The PM adds, “It only makes me mad, which affects my behaviour and stature as a leader when I fume. But I don’t know what to do, because I will be criticised tomorrow for saying this.”  What does the Buddha advise in such situations?  “The wise are restrained in deed; in speech, too, they are restrained; they are restrained in mind as well; yea, they are fully restrained.” (Dhp 234)  Restraining oneself from fuming, and from closing down newspapers, might be the wisest path. The lordly elephant, stately and majestic, proceeds with serene dignity through the jungle, indifferent to the little jackals yapping at his heels.

A Reader