Masters Consider Anger

For this posting, I am mostly going to quote some of my most favorite words and lessons on anger from great Masters whom I regard as my teachers along my path to hopefully and eventually awaken. I have a long long way to go so I need to repeat often. I hope that eventually all of this really sinks in and become part of my wisdom.

Patrul Rinpoche ( 1808-1887) in “The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones - The Practice of View, Meditation, and Action – A Discourse Virtuous in the Beginning, Middle, and End” (no. 35) writes (Padmakara Translation Group):

Overcome your enemy, hatred, with the weapon of love;
Protect your family, the beings of the six realms, with the skillful means of compassion;
Harvest from the field of devotion the crop of experience and realization.
Consumating your life’s work, recite the six-syllable mantra (Om Mani Padme Hung).

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991) composed a commentary on this great work, writing:

It is said that there is no greater evil than hatred and no greater virtue than patience. While a single moment of anger destroys countless aeons of merit and leads to unmitigated suffering in the hell realms, patience toward those who harm you and the sincere wish to bring them happiness will bring you swiftly onto the path taken by all the Buddhas.

There is no better way to deal with enemies than to feel great love for them, realizing that in former lives they have been your loving parents….

The great Indian Master Shantideva (8th century) wrote an entire chapter in the Bodhicharyavatara (The Way of the Bodhisattva) on Patience (Chapter 6). The entire chapter is really about eliminating anger through the application of patience. However, I won’t type out the entire Chapter here. You can go buy a great copy of this text from numerous sources. I have taken the following verses from the translation of the Padmakara Translation Group:

[6:3] Those tormented by the pain of anger
will never know tranquility of mind –
Strangers they will be to every pleasure;
Sleep departs them, they can never rest.

Here as elsewhere in the chapter, we are reminded that it is the person who is angry who shall surely suffer.

[6:39] If those who are like wanton children
Are by nature prone to injure others,
What point is there in being angry –
[For this is] like resenting fire for its heat?

[6:40] And if their faults are fleeting and contingent,
If living beings are by nature wholesome,
It’s likewise senseless to resent them –
[Might] as well be angry at the sky for having clouds?

I love these lines. Verse 39 says to me that if the person is evil at their core, then how can we be angry for them being who they are. Verse 40 says to me that if a person is good but had a fault that is only temporary, it would be senseless to resent them, as well.

And my all-time favorite verse of the entire Bodhicharyavatara:

[6:41] Although indeed it is the stick that hurts me,
I am angry at the one [who is holding it], striking me,
But he is driven and impelled by anger –
So it is his wrath I should resent [and not the person].

For me this always reminds me that I should not get angry at the person for whatever they have done to harm me. Rather I should resent the negative emotion that has engulfed their thinking. In this case the verse refers to his wrath (anger) but it could just as easily been his greed, envy, pride, or ignorance. Being angry at the person is just not getting to the source of the problem.

This whole chapter is worth memorizing. In fact the whole text by Shantideva is worthy to put to memory, contemplation, and reflection. My wonderful and gracious teacher Khenpo Choga Rinpoche has begun preparing a comprehensive commentary. You can obtain the introduction and first five chapters here.

Next, I offer Verse 20 from the equally powerful and great writing from the magnificent Gyalse Togme (1295-1369) know in English as “37-Practices of a Bodhisattva. The translation I am using here is that of Dr. C.T. Dorji from Bhutan. I like this translation because it seems to be the most authentic direct translation of the Tibetan:

If anger that dwells in our hearts lies neglected
And, turning instead to our external foes,
We try to destroy them and even kill thousands,
Then thousands of others will plague us still more.
So seeing this action is not the solution,
Let us muster the forces of mercy and love.
Turn inwards and tame the wild flow of our thinking –
The Sons of the Buddhas all practice this way.

Destroying our external foes – even killing them – will never solve the anger within. Rather it is the negative emotion within us that is the true enemy to be eliminated.

I pray that I and all beings can someday turn our focus on these internal enemies and stop looking to the external foes as if they were the cause of our pain and suffering.

Finally, I would like to recount one of my favorite teachings on anger from my teacher, Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche:

[Khenpo-la] If you were standing on a balcony and someone told you to jump, would you do it? Why not? What would you do if they tried to ‘help’ you off the balcony?

[Response] I wouldn’t jump. I would not jump because I would surely be hurt. Even if someone tried to help me off the balcony, I would resist, in order to avoiding harming myself.

[Khenpo-la] Anger will surely harm you just like falling from the balcony. This, I promise you! So likewise, if someone tries to make you angry, no matter what, you should do everything you can to avoid the anger. Exactly like you would to use all of your mite to avoid going over the balcony.

May you avoid falling off the balconies whether by choice or with the assistance of others.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff