There is a story about a monk who had an extremely ugly body but a beautiful voice. People loved to hear him chant but recoiled when they saw him. Someone who had clairvoyant powers saw that in a previous lifetime, while constructing a stupa — a monument representing the Buddha’s mind — he continually complained and showed an ugly face. When the stupa was completed, he had a change of heart and offered a bell with a charming and elegant sound to the stupa. His ugly body was a result of his anger while making the stupa, and his beautiful voice was the result of having later offered the lovely-sounding bell to the stupa.

Thubten Chodron

from the book Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering

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