4 Comments
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mtnbikemike
(Apr 30, 2015 at 7:35)
Anger is one of the three poisons – the other two are greed and ignorance – that are the primary causes of the cycle of samsara and rebirth. Purifying ourselves of anger is essential to Buddhist practice. Further, in Buddhism there is no such thing as “righteous” or “justifiable” anger. All anger is a fetter to realization.Buddhism teaches mindfulness. Being mindful of ourselves is part of that. When an unpleasant emotion or thought arises, do not suppress it, run away from it, or deny it. Instead, observe it and fully acknowledge it. Being deeply honest with yourself about yourself is essential to Buddhism. It’s important to understand that anger is something created by yourself. It didn’t come swooping out of the ether to infect you. We tend to think that anger is caused by something outside ourselves, such as other people or frustrating events. But my first Zen teacher used to say, “No one makes you angry. You make yourself angry.”Buddhism teaches us that anger is created by mind. However, when you are dealing with your own anger, you should be more specific. Anger challenges us to look deeply into ourselves. Most of the time, anger is self-defensive. It arises from unresolved fears or when our ego-buttons are pushed. As Buddhists we recognize that ego, fear and anger are insubstantial and ephemeral, not “real.” They’re ghosts, in a sense. Allowing anger to control our actions amounts to being bossed around by ghosts. Buddhism teaches that anger is never justified, however. Our practice is to cultivate metta, a loving kindness toward all beings that is free of selfish attachment. “All beings” includes the guy who just cut you off at the exit ramp, the co-worker who takes credit for your ideas, and even someone close and trusted who betrays you. For this reason, when we become angry we must take great care not to act on our anger to hurt others. We must also take care not to hang on to our anger and give it a place to live and grow.
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This is great Mike. Life is such a learning experience isn't it? I know that I personally am an extremely emotional person. I have only recently (in the last decade ) began to accept that about myself and embrace it rather than suppress it. It is hard work to recognize and admit things that you don't like about yourself...
I was given a sheet of paper once during a "Friendly" company take over. It was basically an intimidation routine in order to try and psychoanalyze the employees and put them into a controlled box. It was a list of every emotion I could think of, and asked something along the lines of,,,what kind of person do you consider yourself: angry, timid, frustrated, joyful, etc etc etc about 100 emotions....I marked all of the boxes and was met with aggression by the interviewer. He asked me why I didn't take the questionnaire seriously and was pretty pissed. I told him I took it very seriously and the reason I marked all of the boxes is because I am a human being who experiences all of the above at some point or another, at times all of the above in a single day, and that he should look more closely at himself and be honest with himself...I was not kept on with the company...
I was given a sheet of paper once during a "Friendly" company take over. It was basically an intimidation routine in order to try and psychoanalyze the employees and put them into a controlled box. It was a list of every emotion I could think of, and asked something along the lines of,,,what kind of person do you consider yourself: angry, timid, frustrated, joyful, etc etc etc about 100 emotions....I marked all of the boxes and was met with aggression by the interviewer. He asked me why I didn't take the questionnaire seriously and was pretty pissed. I told him I took it very seriously and the reason I marked all of the boxes is because I am a human being who experiences all of the above at some point or another, at times all of the above in a single day, and that he should look more closely at himself and be honest with himself...I was not kept on with the company...
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I suppose i should have included that at the time i was pretty pissed about it, but like you were saying anger is pretty funny in that it realy dosent matter...it was their deal not mine. I certainly couldnt have worked for or along side of any of those folks so what was i upset about, it was a blessing really i just didnt know it yet...shit happens for a reason even though at the time it may seem pretty f*cked up... 