Anger
Mar 20, 2010 | Views: 64
"Where is anger for one freed from anger,
Who is subdued and lives perfectly equanimous,
Who truly knowing is wholly freed,
Supremely tranquil and equipoised?
He who repays an angry man in kind
Is worse than the angry man;
Who does not repay anger in kind,
He alone wins the battle hard to win.
He promotes the weal of both,
His own, as well as of the other.
Knowing that the other man is angry,
He mindfully maintains his peace
And endures the anger of both,
His own, as well as of the other,
Even if the people ignorant of true wisdom
Consider him a fool thereby." ~ The Buddha
Who is subdued and lives perfectly equanimous,
Who truly knowing is wholly freed,
Supremely tranquil and equipoised?
He who repays an angry man in kind
Is worse than the angry man;
Who does not repay anger in kind,
He alone wins the battle hard to win.
He promotes the weal of both,
His own, as well as of the other.
Knowing that the other man is angry,
He mindfully maintains his peace
And endures the anger of both,
His own, as well as of the other,
Even if the people ignorant of true wisdom
Consider him a fool thereby." ~ The Buddha
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How beautiful!
Anger arrests all development – full stop.
How can we grow when we have so much disturbing emotions brewing inside us? Especially when anger is the most destructive of all emotions. We will not be open to learning new things or even be able to carry a decent relationship with anyone if anger rules over us. Most likely, we’ll be isolated and end up very lonely. No one wants to be around an angry person.
How can we have any sort of peace when there are ‘earthquakes’ and ‘volcanoes’ erupting within us all the time? There would not be any moment of serenity. Our minds would be constantly disturbed. It is like a living hell. How can we be happy?
The scariest thing about anger is that it destroys everything in its path, including the one carrying that anger.
This stuck out most:
“He who repays an angry man in kind
Is worse than the angry man;
Who does not repay anger in kind,
He alone wins the battle hard to win.”
For how often have we always “repaid” an angry person with our own anger – answering back, shouting, saying hurtful things, getting the last word in, staying silent and ignoring another person… then don’t we become just as bad as the other person that we hate so much in that moment? Why do we just end up becoming the very thing or the very person we dislike?
Recalls to mind a stunning quote in rinpoche’s book “If not now, when?” (http://www.kechara.com/publications/publications/mind-body-spirit/if-not-now-when-the-peace-edition/ ) which goes:
“If people react negatively to you, and you react in the same way, then you are just the same as them. But, you say, they started it. Yes, they did but you continued it. What is the difference?”
Anger is a very powerful tool which will cause a lot of harm to yourself and others around you. Anger can be caused by hypertension which if not arrested by medication will cause sickness. Anger can also be the
cause of disharmony in the family. Anger can also make a person kill and cause them to be jailed extending to many other harms to them and
their family. So what should we do to counted these unhappy situations. Since anger is the most powerful tool to destroy us. Reading the Bodhisattvas vows is a reminder to us
that we need to control our minds to positive thinking with with compassion and wisdom. The bodhsattva vows is also a preparation for us to take the Highest Yoga Tantra if we prepare ourselves,by practicng and reading the Bodhisattavas vows.
It is said – ” An instance of anger can destroy over a thousand eons of positive imprints created”. There is no evil like hatred – hatred is poison, whereas there is no fortitude like patience……patience is medicine. Anger acts like a principlal obstacle to the development of patience. When we speak of anger, we are somewhat dealing with negative emotions, creating some kind of unhappiness or uneasiness to all beings! Such actions will ultimately lead to harms and bring sufferings to others and pains to oneself. One important technique shown to us to counter anger is to keep peace of mind, by not allowing ourselves to become frustrated or dissatisfied, as this is one of the main cause of anger. It seems the most effective means is, when one can overcome the forces of negative emotions by cultivating more positive qualities of mind, like love and compassion in accordance with our Guru’s teachings.
Shelly Tai on November29,2010 at6pm
Anger is negative emotion that we need to overcome, in most time when you are angry you will do things that will hurt others as well as ourselves, with our guru teaching of compassion and love it will help us to overcome this negative emotion.