Dedicated to Anguli Mala, An Enraged Jungle Dwelling Giant Who Became Good...

I read a story about this giant named Anguli Mala and I wanted to dedicate this picture I took to him.

There was this giant who lived in the jungle and he was very angry. His name is very fitting for this giant cause Anguli means "finger bone" and Mala, means "necklace or rosary". "Around his neck he more a necklace of 999 human finger bones- one from each of the people he had killed. So lacking pity or mercy was he that he was even planning to murder his own mother, whose finger bone could then also be strung around his neck.

Everybody has aspirations of some sort; Anguli Mala's was to add the thousandth bone to his prized collection. This was his single-minded desire. With that in mind, one day as he was walking down the jungle path, he spied a yellow-robed mendicant walking slowly alone. Another finger bone! Anguli Mala hurried forward, murder in his twisted mind and violence on his face. But when he reached his intended victim and gazed into the Buddha's peaceful shining countenance, he was unable to complete his plan of action.

"Who are you?" Anguli Mala asked.'"Why do you shine like that, and what is it about you that immediately calms and pacifies my blazing inner fires?"

"The Buddha replied, "I have calmed my own inner fires."

Anguli Mala was so awed that he knelt down and confessed, "I was coming to kill you, a saint, but now the bonfire raging inside has gone out. Why?"

"This," the Buddha told Anguli Mala, "is the effect of inner peace, enlightenment, nirvana." -Awakening the BUddha Within by Lama Surya Das

Anguli Mala became good. To me this giant was very strong, bitter, and just so angry but, later on he became kind, compassionate, and loving. He had so much courage to change his old self and become a new person who found inner peace and happiness.