The Bowl of Saki Commentary

This is literally true, but there is a much deeper significance. When someone offered injury to Buddha, he refused to accept the injury, classifying it as a gift, which whether acceptable or unacceptable, when refused was returned to the giver. The same idea is in Christ's, "Resist not evil." When one refuses to accept evil as evil, declining to recognize anything as harmful to the self, the intended harm or evil falls back upon the schemer.

The same law can be observed in the life of the great Sufi Bayazid Bistami. When he declared the universality of God in such a way as to betray the Great Secret, he called upon his disciples to kill him; but instead, their knives were turned back upon themselves. In other words, when we rise above duality, when we touch infinity, we can no longer be affected by the finite. And the one who wishes to do good to the sages receives good, while the one who desires to perform evil, receives evil. In that condition where one has risen above duality, the sage is the master of Karma, above the influence of Karma.