Today’s Dhamma teaching continues with the subject of anger — Part Two.
In everyday life, most people accumulate unpleasant and rotten emotions within their minds.
As a result, their minds become corrupted, just as pure water becomes polluted when something rotten is placed into it. The water turns foul, producing a disgusting smell that may cause nausea, headaches, and other discomforts.
Unwholesome emotions work in much the same way. They cause irritation, resentment, and a tendency to become angry easily. They make the mind restless, agitated, and distressed, depriving it of happiness, tranquility, and coolness.
When such unpleasant emotions arise, we should find a way to release them as quickly as possible. We should not allow them to accumulate and remain within us for too long, because eventually they may develop into deeply ingrained habits that are difficult to overcome.
Furthermore, when we become angry with others, our anger does not necessarily cause them any suffering. Instead, we are harming and destroying ourselves.
Anger and resentment destroy the mind of the person who harbors them.
Why, then, should we destroy ourselves by allowing anger to overpower us?
If, after reflecting in this way, our anger and hatred still do not subside, the teaching advises us to contemplate kammassakatā — the principle that all beings are the owners of their own kamma.
Whatever actions beings perform, they become the heirs to those actions.
If someone becomes angry with us or harms us, that is their own kamma.
But if we become angry with them and harm them in return, we are creating kamma for ourselves.
If, after contemplating all these things, anger and resentment still do not subside, we should then recollect the conduct of the Buddha, our Great Teacher, both in His present life and in His previous lives.
If, even after recollecting the Buddha’s conduct, anger and hatred have still not disappeared from the mind, we should then reflect upon the relationships we have had with one another throughout the long wandering in saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death.
The Buddha once taught that, among beings wandering through the long cycle of existence, it is difficult to find anyone who has never been our mother, father, brother, sister, or relative.
The very person toward whom we now feel anger may once have been our mother or father.
That person may have endured great hardship and suffering to protect and preserve our life.
They may even have saved our life in the past.
Reflecting in this way, we should consider the relationships we may have shared throughout the long course of existence.
Yet sometimes, even after all these reflections, anger remains.
We may still feel irritated, resentful, and displeased, and therefore we continue to suffer.
But if we can make up our minds to let go of anger and think:
“What is the point of being angry? Anger only destroys me. I should stop being angry.”
Then the matter ends there. There is nothing more to it.
There is also moha (delusion), which means not knowing the truth, lacking proper understanding, or failing to recognize the reality of a situation.
It is ignorance of things as they truly are.
We believe that we know and understand, but in reality, we do not know things according to their true nature.
We continue wandering in an ocean of doubt, uncertainty, and ignorance.
These are the things that disturb our minds.
When such conditions continue to influence us, the turning wheels of the eight worldly conditions (lokadhamma) constantly enter our lives:
Gain and loss (lābha and alābha)
Status and loss of status (yasa and ayasa)
Praise and blame (pasaṃsā and nindā)
Happiness and suffering (sukha and dukkha)
These conditions continuously revolve through our lives, causing our minds to become disturbed and unsettled, with waves of emotion arising without rest.
It is like a boat constantly rocking and swaying as waves strike against it.
However, if our boat is sufficiently large, small waves will not cause it to sway very much.
Even when the waves become strong, if the boat is sturdy and well-built, it will remain safe.
It can withstand the waves and continue its journey until it reaches its destination.
The Buddha taught that there are five ways in which others may speak to us:
They may speak at an appropriate time or at an inappropriate time.
They may speak what is true or what is false.
They may speak gently or harshly.
They may speak words that are beneficial or words that are not beneficial.
They may speak with a mind of loving-kindness or with a mind filled with anger.
Regardless of how others speak to us, we should establish this determination within our minds:
“Our minds shall not be disturbed or shaken. We shall keep our minds firm and steady.”
We shall not utter unwholesome or harmful speech.
We shall show kindness and compassion toward that person through our words and through actions that are beneficial.
We shall maintain loving-kindness toward that person.
We shall radiate loving-kindness throughout the entire world, developing a mind that is like:
The great earth — which no one can completely dig away, no matter how much they try.
The open sky — upon which no one can permanently write or paint with any color.
The River Ganges, or any great river — which no one can set on fire by bringing a burning torch to it. Instead, the torch itself will eventually be extinguished.
A well-tanned catskin bag — carefully prepared by a skilled craftsman until it becomes as soft as down or cotton, so that no one can make it produce a sound by striking it.