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| Topic: Do you suffer Anger? Let me help you. | |
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Emptiness is a remedy for the foundation of all delusions — ignorance — so all the other delusions will disappear.
The minute one meditates on emptiness, anger for example, will stop. Anger arises when you believe in the false I, false object — all this which does not exist. So when one meditates on emptiness of the self and other objects, there is no foundation for anger. This is the most powerful antidote. But if it arises again, it is because there is no continuation of the meditation; the meditation, the mindfulness, has stopped. The problem is to remember the technique. Once you remember the technique, it always works. When you don't remember the technique, it is delayed and the delusion, anger and so forth, has already arisen and taken you over. Always think about Karma. Buddhists don't believe in God. This basic Buddhist philosophy helps you remember there is no separate mind outside of yours that creates your life, creates you karma. Whatever happens in one's own life comes from one's own mind. These aggregates, all the views of the senses, all of the feelings, happiness, sadness and so forth—your whole world comes from your consciousness. The imprints of past good karma and negative karma left on the consciousness manifest, become actualized. The imprints to have a human body, senses, views, aggregates, all the feelings—everything is realized at this time, and all of it comes from consciousness, from karma. If your meditation on emptiness is not effective, this teaching of karma is very powerful for us ordinary beings. The minute one meditates on karma, there is no room in the mind for anger because there is nothing to blame. Thinking of karma is practicing the basic Buddhist philosophy that there is no creator other than your mind. It is not only a philosophy but a very powerful technique. Anger is based on believing in a creator: somebody created this problem; this happened because of this person. In daily life, when a problem arises, instead of practicing the philosophy of no creator, we act as if there is a creator, that the problem was created by somebody else. Even if we don't use the word God, we still believe someone else created the problem. The minute you think of karma and realize there is no creator, there is no basis for the anger. We need to think: In the past I gave such a harm to sentient beings, therefore I deserve to receive this harm from another sentient being. When you get angry what you are actually saying is that you can harm others, but you feel that you should not receive harm from others. This is very illogical. So in this practice you say, 'I deserve this harm.' Another practice is to use this situation to develop compassion: I received this harm because of my karma. Who started all this? It's not because of the other person, it's because of your own actions. You treated other sentient beings this way in the past, that is why you receive harm now; your karma persuaded the person to harm you now. Now this person has a human birth and they harm you because of something you inspired in the past. By harming you now they are creating more negative karma to lose their human rebirth and to be reborn in lower realms. Didn't I make that person get lost in the lower realms? In this way you are using that problem to generate bodhicitta. This means one is able to develop the whole Mahayana path to enlightenment, including the six paramitas, whether sutra path or tantra path. One can cease all mistakes of the mind and achieve full enlightenment. Due to the kindness of that person you are able to generate compassion, free sentient beings from all the sufferings, to bring enlightenment, to cause perfect happiness for all sentient beings. One can also think in this way: by practicing compassion on that person, one is able to generate compassion towards all sentient beings. This person, who is so kind, so precious, is helping you stop harming all sentient beings, and on top of that, to receive help from you. By not receiving harm from you, peace and happiness come; also, by receiving help from you, numberless sentient get peace and happiness. All this peace and happiness that you are able to offer all sentient beings comes from this person. Similarly, one can practice patience in this way and is able to cease anger. There are many techniques for practicing patience; I don't need to go over all that now, but will write about it one day on a new thread one day perhaps. Another thing that is very good is the liberation in the palm of your hand: generally speaking one doesn't get angry at the stick that the person used to beat you. The stick itself is used by the person, so therefore there is no point in getting angry at the stick. Similarly, the person's body, speech and mind are completely used by the anger, by the delusion. The person's body, speech and mind become like a slave, completely used as a tool of the anger. The person themself has no freedom at all. So therefore, since the person has no freedom at all, they should become an object of our compassion. Not only that, one must take responsibility to pacify that person's anger. By whatever means you can find, help the person's mind, pacify the anger. One can meditate on how that person is kind, how that person is precious like Dharma, precious like Buddha, precious like Guru; kind like Buddha, like Guru or like Jesus if you wish. The conclusion is that if no one has anger towards us, we can never develop patience. If everybody loves us then we can never generate the precious quality of patience, the path of patience. So therefore there is an incredible need in our life for someone to have anger towards us. It is so precious, so important that someone has anger towards us. It's not precious for that person, but for us it's very precious. For that person it's torturous, it's like living in the lower realms. But for us, that person having anger towards us is so precious. We have a great need for this, a great need. It's important that someone loves you, but it is even more important that someone has anger towards you. You see, if someone loves you it does not help you benefit numberless sentient beings or actualize the entire path to enlightenment. So why is this person the most precious thing to me. Because they are angry with you. To you, this person's anger is like a wish-granting jewel. Yes it sounds absurd to you, but think about it for a moment. Also, your anger destroys merit, destroys your happiness, not only in day to day life but in long term happiness. As Bodhicaryavatara mentions, one moment of anger delays realizations for one thousand eons. Anger is a great obstacle, especially for bodhicitta realizations. Therefore, because this person is angry towards me, I am able to develop patience and overcome my own anger and complete the entire path to enlightenment. One can complete the two types of merit, cease all the obscurations, achieve enlightenment, and free all sentient beings and lead them to enlightenment. It is a hard concept to learn, but if you seek deeper you will understand what is meant by this article. |
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Buddhism seems more like the practice of keeping a society submissive while leaving the door open to those that are angry to be in control..
anger is the body's power that can be tapped into when needed and can give someone great strenght...anger that is controlled and focus can make you powerful, it's uncontrollable anger that makes one weak because it leads to irrational decision making also Buddhists claim not to worship a God but Buddha himself has place himself among the gods...people can claim to be God or Jesus but if you claim to be Buddha you will be killed ...that was the commandment that Buddha himself gave ...that commandment displayed how Buddha controlled and focus his anger to give his followers a justifiable reason to kill in his name |
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Edited by
smiless
on
Fri 01/30/09 08:33 AM
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Buddhism seems more like the practice of keeping a society submissive while leaving the door open to those that are angry to be in control.. anger is the body's power that can be tapped into when needed and can give someone great strenght...anger that is controlled and focus can make you powerful, it's uncontrollable anger that makes one weak because it leads to irrational decision making also Buddhists claim not to worship a God but Buddha himself has place himself among the gods...people can claim to be God or Jesus but if you claim to be Buddha you will be killed ...that was the commandment that Buddha himself gave ...that commandment displayed how Buddha controlled and focus his anger to give his followers a justifiable reason to kill in his name I find it hard to believe that Buddha commanded anyone to kill for the wisdom he shared. Those who teach this are not following what Buddha was teaching. He has also mentioned that no one needs to follow his knowledge and to first analyze and study what seems to work best for them.... Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what (you yourself) have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto. Buddha Buddha had many followers not because he demanded it, because what he taught agreed with many people to this very day. He sees himself as a simple monk or sage if you will. It is the people who idolize him more then this, but not because he demanded or asked for it. |
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Buddhism seems more like the practice of keeping a society submissive while leaving the door open to those that are angry to be in control.. anger is the body's power that can be tapped into when needed and can give someone great strenght...anger that is controlled and focus can make you powerful, it's uncontrollable anger that makes one weak because it leads to irrational decision making also Buddhists claim not to worship a God but Buddha himself has place himself among the gods...people can claim to be God or Jesus but if you claim to be Buddha you will be killed ...that was the commandment that Buddha himself gave ...that commandment displayed how Buddha controlled and focus his anger to give his followers a justifiable reason to kill in his name I find it hard to believe that Buddha commanded anyone to kill for the wisdom he shared. Those who teach this are not following what Buddha was teaching. "Maikuru" is supposely another Buddhist and he quoted that phrase to me in one of his posts ...does that mean he's not following the teaching of Buddha or is he considered to be a Zen Buddhist it appears you buddhists have you own denominations just like Christianity which is why religion and philosophy plays the same game... a passive side and a murderous side |
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Edited by
smiless
on
Fri 01/30/09 10:11 PM
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Buddhism seems more like the practice of keeping a society submissive while leaving the door open to those that are angry to be in control.. anger is the body's power that can be tapped into when needed and can give someone great strenght...anger that is controlled and focus can make you powerful, it's uncontrollable anger that makes one weak because it leads to irrational decision making also Buddhists claim not to worship a God but Buddha himself has place himself among the gods...people can claim to be God or Jesus but if you claim to be Buddha you will be killed ...that was the commandment that Buddha himself gave ...that commandment displayed how Buddha controlled and focus his anger to give his followers a justifiable reason to kill in his name I find it hard to believe that Buddha commanded anyone to kill for the wisdom he shared. Those who teach this are not following what Buddha was teaching. "Maikuru" is supposely another Buddhist and he quoted that phrase to me in one of his posts ...does that mean he's not following the teaching of Buddha or is he considered to be a Zen Buddhist it appears you buddhists have you own denominations just like Christianity which is why religion and philosophy plays the same game... a passive side and a murderous side I enjoy how you go "it seems" or "it appears" in front of each reply. Perhaps one should know how a religion or philosophy works before commenting on it, such as you have indicated that Buddha ordered to kill people who didn't believe in his philosophy. Buddhism in my opinion cannot be compared to Christianity. It doesn't have a record of mass murder, crusades, greed and lust for power. It is a simple philosophy that concentrates primarily on compassion, peace, how to deal with suffering, and life in general. It also doesn't believe in a God representive that one has to report to on a daily bases. It actually asks one to work on oneself(karma) and to understand that our minds are responsible for our actions. It is a peaceful philosophy that works well with those who wish to practice it. If it doesn't work for you then enjoy the ideology that works best for you. What is important is you can wake up in the morning enjoying it each day. Maikeru is not a Buddhist, but a Taoist. To see the difference please refer to the wikipedia for information. May you find inner peace wherever you go regardless of what you think of on Buddhism. |
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Edited by
funches
on
Sat 01/31/09 06:53 AM
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Buddhism in my opinion cannot be compared to Christianity. It doesn't have a record of mass murder, crusades, greed and lust for power. It is a simple philosophy that concentrates primarily on compassion, peace, how to deal with suffering, and life in general. that's my point ...it preachs submission and passivity just like Christianity preach love and end anger ..this goes against human nature ...even the christians tried submission in their getting thrown to the lions period before they wised up and started with the crusades Buddhists can be compared to the Amish ..there is no need to fight as long as there are others that will fight for your right not to fight |
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Maikeru is not a Buddhist, but a Taoist. To see the difference please refer to the wikipedia for information. the differences are not that great |
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Edited by
smiless
on
Sat 01/31/09 09:54 AM
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Buddhism in my opinion cannot be compared to Christianity. It doesn't have a record of mass murder, crusades, greed and lust for power. It is a simple philosophy that concentrates primarily on compassion, peace, how to deal with suffering, and life in general. that's my point ...it preachs submission and passivity just like Christianity preach love and end anger ..this goes against human nature ...even the christians tried submission in their getting thrown to the lions period before they wised up and started with the crusades Buddhists can be compared to the Amish ..there is no need to fight as long as there are others that will fight for your right not to fight Buddhism teaches how to deal with life in general. One doesn't have to practice it if one doesn't feel comfortable with its teachings. Buddhist don't make anyone have to learn its philosophy. They don't go door to door trying to get more members. Buddhist emphasize on peace, but it doesn't mean they believe that anyone can just knock on their door and kick their ass if that is what you mean. Buddhist Monks are more then capable of protecting themselves if attacked. It is called self defense, otherwise if they didn't do this it would be called foolishness as they always mention. But I must also add that they will walk a way from a fight and they will do everything to try to calm the mind before getting to that point. This is exactly what they work on. How to deal with anger, frustrations, depressions, etc. This is all parts of natural sufferings we go through as humans. They are aware of it and show a different idealogy that for most westerners are unfamiliar with and try to teach it to resolve differences. Some are skeptical of Buddhism or have misconstrued notions of its practices. It is a different culture and lifestyle foreign to most westerners, yet if one finds the time to study it, it can be very beneficial and satisfying. Does it work for everyone? I would say everyone has a different taste. Some like chocolate others like strawberry. Unfortunately, skeptiscm still continues for many who don't understand a different culture or philosophy. Instead one tries to be ignorant of its teachings without even trying to learn why a culture believes in the things they do. As I travelled many countries in my lifetime, my mind remained open learning the different philosophies available at its time. One thing I can tell you is that Buddhism doesn't go seeking a reason to conquer or force others to believe in their teachings, such as the Christians have with the crusades or burning of innocent people that they want to call as witches, or attacking the visigoths or anglo saxens because they were different and are later called barbarians. I wouldn't call a crusade or an attack on a belief system (wise) like you indicated. I would call that greed for power and foolishness to try to extend a religous belief system. Buddhism is a idealogy and not seeking to dominate the world with it. As a matter of fact it is one of the few religions that doesn't conflict with other religous belief systems. I have never met a Buddhist say that a Wicca is a terrible practice and one shouldn't do it, or see a Buddhist say you will not make it to enlightenment because you don't believe in our scriptures or teachings, or seen a group of Buddhist go and burn people on the stakes because they practice a different ideology. It is also one of the few that actually accept science as many religions have problems with what scientist discover. I am reading a book called The Convergenece of Science and Spirituality by the Dalai Lama. It is a study of how Buddhism and Science have much in common or at least show the willingness to learn from each other. It is a philosophy that believes one can find a solution by diplomacy one can say. Is it productive? yes sometimes and sometimes it doesn't work, just like the Dalai Lama is trying to find rights for his country. I would rather follow a person who promotes peace, has articulate diplomacy skills to have nations coexist in peace then one who urges war to proof his or her point. I am aware that many, especially in this country, believe that if war is neccessary it should be done. How many times have I heard "Because God whilst it!" and starts a war. It is a bad concept in my opinion for it only creates hatred and more violence in the end. Mediterrenean Mythologies are still fighting today over a religious lifestyle they believe one has to follow or else one is called a infidel, embezzle, etc. I don't see Buddhist doing this if one doesn't follow its philosophy and yes I must mention Buddha never forced anyone to believe in what he discovered. Buddhism is a good concept to follow and it allows people to accept coexistence if one wishes it. Buddhist and Taoist do have a difference, yet the two can get along with each other better then a Baptist and a Protestant for Christians and their denominations continue to lecture what is right and wrong in their bible. Buddhists don't have such intensive disagreements, perhaps just different practices is the only difference that are acceptable by the two. I live all my life non religious and live a good life. Now that I have time I like the studies of Buddhism, Native Indian Spirituality, as of other studies for enjoyment. I follow a little from every rule without even knowing they were written. Using what I felt as common sense is for many not common sense and many end up having to read scriptures for guidelines on what to believe or how to deal with certain things. There is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. All belief systems are interesting to study and Buddhism is truly a very comfortable and pleasant philosophy to enjoy. Well at least for me it is. May you find what works best for you with or without the knowledge of other religions, philosophies, or idealogies. It is a life we can cherish together as a people in peace if you wish. |
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anything seen as evil, create pupils of evil as god to a people, and anger be no different, perfectly given to solve the indifferent, and making it bad bring only to sad, gripping with fear that resound in the ear, chasing one far to only come near, to see illusions of refrain divide self by distain, ghastly images of self that distort and extort, ideas within a spieces that create only feces, creating only excrement that have need of a sacrament, a sacrament that when eatin, leave all tired and beaten.......
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anything seen as evil, create pupils of evil as god to a people, and anger be no different, perfectly given to solve the indifferent, and making it bad bring only to sad, gripping with fear that resound in the ear, chasing one far to only come near, to see illusions of refrain divide self by distain, ghastly images of self that distort and extort, ideas within a spieces that create only feces, creating only excrement that have need of a sacrament, a sacrament that when eatin, leave all tired and beaten....... Good morning Davidben1, This is how I interpet your paragraph. Anyone who sees evil will create evil apprentices to practice evil as a god to the people. Therefore anger is no different then good for it can resolve the indifferences, which makes it bad and bring depression leading to fear that repeats itself in everyone's ears, chasing away everyone that eventually with no other choice the people must reunite again one day. To see illusions of negativity divides both emotions of distort and extort that ideas within a species that create only a feces. Such lessons only create confusion that keeps all tired and beaten in the end. My answer: There are those who choose to see evil as a strength and preach it to others to create more to follow him or her. This belief usually is short lived and eventually realized that there was a much easier path to lead. You mention that anger is no different then good for it can resolve the indifference like the philosophy of( ying and yang ) does. Although anger is a natural suffering we humans endure, we can learn from anger to understand what good can do. We can also learn how to prevent anger or at least reduce it to where it isn't destructive to others. Difference of opinions can lead to where people naturally avoid each other, yet at times when the frustation decreases some get back together to try to work things out again. Some lessons are beneficial and satisfying that actually bring energy and reenergize a persons soul to do better in life. Not all lessons will lead to being tired and beaten. Well this was my first attempt in trying to understand the knowledge you try to share with us when you post. If I got it right is yet another question for many to contemplate on, yet this is how I interpeted your writing. |
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Edited by
davidben1
on
Sat 01/31/09 11:27 AM
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my most total sum be anger is not a human suffering, but only a tool to create more good, as ALL human emotions are, but teachings in theory PROMOMTE half of emotions are good, and half are bad, WHICH THIS IN ITSELF, CREATE THE OTHERS TO BE USED AS BAD???
to say anger to be surmized as evil, created by belief of the brain, ALL THE embellishments of anger that are hated??? so the belief's as these MAKES A PERPETUAL REPEATING CIRLCE UNTO EXPLOSION OR IMPLOSION??? ALL HUMAN EMOTIONS ARE EXPERT AND CRITICAL FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL, AND FOR LEARNING OF UNDERSTANDING OF A SPIECES OF ITSELF??? SINCE LOVE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT HATE, then to make hate bad, REMOVE LOVE AS WELL TO EXIST??? if we like hot water, BUT OUTLAW COLD, WE HAVE FALLEN TO STUPIDY OF ILLUSIONS OF GOOD AS ONLY HOT??? to think of it more as HUMANS ARE TO BE STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLLOR LARGE ANGERS AND NOT ONE THOUGHT ENTER THAT THIS OTHER IS EVIL, and only chuckles of DEEPER MORE WISE UNDERSTANDINGS OF EACH OTHER ARE FELT??? in others words, PROMOTING A STRONGER PEOPLE, NOT A WEAKER PEOPLE, BY CREATING A SELF REPEATING TRAP THAT HAS NO EXIT!!! IN OTHER WORDS, ONCE PERPETUATED THAT TRUE FRIENDS WOULD NOT LIE, NOT STEAL, NOT SHOUT, NOT MUTTER, NOT SPEAK PROFANE, NOT HAVE ANY ANGER, NOT SHOW ANYTHING BUT KIND??? WHEN THE MEN THAT THESE RELIGIONS WERE FOUNDED UPON, HAD ALL THESE SAME EMOTIONS, AND MANY ONLY SEPERATED THEMSELVES FROM ANY SITUATION OR PEOPLE THAT IT DID NOT LIKE, and then declared self as divine, BY TELLING HOW "EMOTIONAL MAKE-UP" OF OTHERS WAS FLAWED??? UNSANITY UNTO OBLIVION!!! SO THESE UTOPIAN IDEAS CREATED HELL, AS LOVE ALWAYS MUST BE CONSIDERED UNCONDITIONAL, TO EXIST??? SO ANGER, HATE, MALICE, IGNORANCE, AND ALL OTHER THINGS HATED, ONLY GO AWAY WHEN THEY ARE "ACCEPTED AS NORMAL", NOT SRCUTINIZED BY ONE'S SAYING SELF HAS NO ANGER NO MALICE, NO BIAS, NO RACISM, then these telling others HOW to be AS GOOD AS SELF??? IS THIS NOT WHAT MANY "NON-RELIGIOUS" ONE'S STOOD AGAISNT, and a few within religion as well, AS TO NOT EMBRACE THE "REAL" OF ALL THINGS OF HUMANINTY, IS THE GREATEST TREASON AGAINST A SPIECES AGAINST ITSELF??? |
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SMILES........
the same as to say, anger only reveal something already there, buried deep down inside, a thing that wish to hide, as fear of not good create insecurity inside, or no anger would come forth, so to make anger bad, only layer thick insecurity and build it high, so anger most root out, as to prick a plant to make it thrive, and without it all would die, and not using it only keep unconditional love from flowing forth from inside...... anger known within self to be good set free a river of love from which none can hide.... |
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Emptiness is a remedy for the foundation of all delusions — ignorance — so all the other delusions will disappear. The minute one meditates on emptiness, anger for example, will stop. Anger arises when you believe in the false I, false object — all this which does not exist. So when one meditates on emptiness of the self and other objects, there is no foundation for anger. This is the most powerful antidote. But if it arises again, it is because there is no continuation of the meditation; the meditation, the mindfulness, has stopped. The problem is to remember the technique. Once you remember the technique, it always works. When you don't remember the technique, it is delayed and the delusion, anger and so forth, has already arisen and taken you over. Always think about Karma. Buddhists don't believe in God. This basic Buddhist philosophy helps you remember there is no separate mind outside of yours that creates your life, creates you karma. Whatever happens in one's own life comes from one's own mind. These aggregates, all the views of the senses, all of the feelings, happiness, sadness and so forth—your whole world comes from your consciousness. The imprints of past good karma and negative karma left on the consciousness manifest, become actualized. The imprints to have a human body, senses, views, aggregates, all the feelings—everything is realized at this time, and all of it comes from consciousness, from karma. If your meditation on emptiness is not effective, this teaching of karma is very powerful for us ordinary beings. The minute one meditates on karma, there is no room in the mind for anger because there is nothing to blame. Thinking of karma is practicing the basic Buddhist philosophy that there is no creator other than your mind. It is not only a philosophy but a very powerful technique. Anger is based on believing in a creator: somebody created this problem; this happened because of this person. In daily life, when a problem arises, instead of practicing the philosophy of no creator, we act as if there is a creator, that the problem was created by somebody else. Even if we don't use the word God, we still believe someone else created the problem. The minute you think of karma and realize there is no creator, there is no basis for the anger. We need to think: In the past I gave such a harm to sentient beings, therefore I deserve to receive this harm from another sentient being. When you get angry what you are actually saying is that you can harm others, but you feel that you should not receive harm from others. This is very illogical. So in this practice you say, 'I deserve this harm.' Another practice is to use this situation to develop compassion: I received this harm because of my karma. Who started all this? It's not because of the other person, it's because of your own actions. You treated other sentient beings this way in the past, that is why you receive harm now; your karma persuaded the person to harm you now. Now this person has a human birth and they harm you because of something you inspired in the past. By harming you now they are creating more negative karma to lose their human rebirth and to be reborn in lower realms. Didn't I make that person get lost in the lower realms? In this way you are using that problem to generate bodhicitta. This means one is able to develop the whole Mahayana path to enlightenment, including the six paramitas, whether sutra path or tantra path. One can cease all mistakes of the mind and achieve full enlightenment. Due to the kindness of that person you are able to generate compassion, free sentient beings from all the sufferings, to bring enlightenment, to cause perfect happiness for all sentient beings. One can also think in this way: by practicing compassion on that person, one is able to generate compassion towards all sentient beings. This person, who is so kind, so precious, is helping you stop harming all sentient beings, and on top of that, to receive help from you. By not receiving harm from you, peace and happiness come; also, by receiving help from you, numberless sentient get peace and happiness. All this peace and happiness that you are able to offer all sentient beings comes from this person. Similarly, one can practice patience in this way and is able to cease anger. There are many techniques for practicing patience; I don't need to go over all that now, but will write about it one day on a new thread one day perhaps. Another thing that is very good is the liberation in the palm of your hand: generally speaking one doesn't get angry at the stick that the person used to beat you. The stick itself is used by the person, so therefore there is no point in getting angry at the stick. Similarly, the person's body, speech and mind are completely used by the anger, by the delusion. The person's body, speech and mind become like a slave, completely used as a tool of the anger. The person themself has no freedom at all. So therefore, since the person has no freedom at all, they should become an object of our compassion. Not only that, one must take responsibility to pacify that person's anger. By whatever means you can find, help the person's mind, pacify the anger. One can meditate on how that person is kind, how that person is precious like Dharma, precious like Buddha, precious like Guru; kind like Buddha, like Guru or like Jesus if you wish. The conclusion is that if no one has anger towards us, we can never develop patience. If everybody loves us then we can never generate the precious quality of patience, the path of patience. So therefore there is an incredible need in our life for someone to have anger towards us. It is so precious, so important that someone has anger towards us. It's not precious for that person, but for us it's very precious. For that person it's torturous, it's like living in the lower realms. But for us, that person having anger towards us is so precious. We have a great need for this, a great need. It's important that someone loves you, but it is even more important that someone has anger towards you. You see, if someone loves you it does not help you benefit numberless sentient beings or actualize the entire path to enlightenment. So why is this person the most precious thing to me. Because they are angry with you. To you, this person's anger is like a wish-granting jewel. Yes it sounds absurd to you, but think about it for a moment. Also, your anger destroys merit, destroys your happiness, not only in day to day life but in long term happiness. As Bodhicaryavatara mentions, one moment of anger delays realizations for one thousand eons. Anger is a great obstacle, especially for bodhicitta realizations. Therefore, because this person is angry towards me, I am able to develop patience and overcome my own anger and complete the entire path to enlightenment. One can complete the two types of merit, cease all the obscurations, achieve enlightenment, and free all sentient beings and lead them to enlightenment. It is a hard concept to learn, but if you seek deeper you will understand what is meant by this article. Best relief I've felt in a long time was this sensation of feeling hollow (empty). |
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Emptiness is a remedy for the foundation of all delusions — ignorance — so all the other delusions will disappear. The minute one meditates on emptiness, anger for example, will stop. Anger arises when you believe in the false I, false object — all this which does not exist. So when one meditates on emptiness of the self and other objects, there is no foundation for anger. This is the most powerful antidote. But if it arises again, it is because there is no continuation of the meditation; the meditation, the mindfulness, has stopped. The problem is to remember the technique. Once you remember the technique, it always works. When you don't remember the technique, it is delayed and the delusion, anger and so forth, has already arisen and taken you over. Always think about Karma. Buddhists don't believe in God. This basic Buddhist philosophy helps you remember there is no separate mind outside of yours that creates your life, creates you karma. Whatever happens in one's own life comes from one's own mind. These aggregates, all the views of the senses, all of the feelings, happiness, sadness and so forth—your whole world comes from your consciousness. The imprints of past good karma and negative karma left on the consciousness manifest, become actualized. The imprints to have a human body, senses, views, aggregates, all the feelings—everything is realized at this time, and all of it comes from consciousness, from karma. If your meditation on emptiness is not effective, this teaching of karma is very powerful for us ordinary beings. The minute one meditates on karma, there is no room in the mind for anger because there is nothing to blame. Thinking of karma is practicing the basic Buddhist philosophy that there is no creator other than your mind. It is not only a philosophy but a very powerful technique. Anger is based on believing in a creator: somebody created this problem; this happened because of this person. In daily life, when a problem arises, instead of practicing the philosophy of no creator, we act as if there is a creator, that the problem was created by somebody else. Even if we don't use the word God, we still believe someone else created the problem. The minute you think of karma and realize there is no creator, there is no basis for the anger. We need to think: In the past I gave such a harm to sentient beings, therefore I deserve to receive this harm from another sentient being. When you get angry what you are actually saying is that you can harm others, but you feel that you should not receive harm from others. This is very illogical. So in this practice you say, 'I deserve this harm.' Another practice is to use this situation to develop compassion: I received this harm because of my karma. Who started all this? It's not because of the other person, it's because of your own actions. You treated other sentient beings this way in the past, that is why you receive harm now; your karma persuaded the person to harm you now. Now this person has a human birth and they harm you because of something you inspired in the past. By harming you now they are creating more negative karma to lose their human rebirth and to be reborn in lower realms. Didn't I make that person get lost in the lower realms? In this way you are using that problem to generate bodhicitta. This means one is able to develop the whole Mahayana path to enlightenment, including the six paramitas, whether sutra path or tantra path. One can cease all mistakes of the mind and achieve full enlightenment. Due to the kindness of that person you are able to generate compassion, free sentient beings from all the sufferings, to bring enlightenment, to cause perfect happiness for all sentient beings. One can also think in this way: by practicing compassion on that person, one is able to generate compassion towards all sentient beings. This person, who is so kind, so precious, is helping you stop harming all sentient beings, and on top of that, to receive help from you. By not receiving harm from you, peace and happiness come; also, by receiving help from you, numberless sentient get peace and happiness. All this peace and happiness that you are able to offer all sentient beings comes from this person. Similarly, one can practice patience in this way and is able to cease anger. There are many techniques for practicing patience; I don't need to go over all that now, but will write about it one day on a new thread one day perhaps. Another thing that is very good is the liberation in the palm of your hand: generally speaking one doesn't get angry at the stick that the person used to beat you. The stick itself is used by the person, so therefore there is no point in getting angry at the stick. Similarly, the person's body, speech and mind are completely used by the anger, by the delusion. The person's body, speech and mind become like a slave, completely used as a tool of the anger. The person themself has no freedom at all. So therefore, since the person has no freedom at all, they should become an object of our compassion. Not only that, one must take responsibility to pacify that person's anger. By whatever means you can find, help the person's mind, pacify the anger. One can meditate on how that person is kind, how that person is precious like Dharma, precious like Buddha, precious like Guru; kind like Buddha, like Guru or like Jesus if you wish. The conclusion is that if no one has anger towards us, we can never develop patience. If everybody loves us then we can never generate the precious quality of patience, the path of patience. So therefore there is an incredible need in our life for someone to have anger towards us. It is so precious, so important that someone has anger towards us. It's not precious for that person, but for us it's very precious. For that person it's torturous, it's like living in the lower realms. But for us, that person having anger towards us is so precious. We have a great need for this, a great need. It's important that someone loves you, but it is even more important that someone has anger towards you. You see, if someone loves you it does not help you benefit numberless sentient beings or actualize the entire path to enlightenment. So why is this person the most precious thing to me. Because they are angry with you. To you, this person's anger is like a wish-granting jewel. Yes it sounds absurd to you, but think about it for a moment. Also, your anger destroys merit, destroys your happiness, not only in day to day life but in long term happiness. As Bodhicaryavatara mentions, one moment of anger delays realizations for one thousand eons. Anger is a great obstacle, especially for bodhicitta realizations. Therefore, because this person is angry towards me, I am able to develop patience and overcome my own anger and complete the entire path to enlightenment. One can complete the two types of merit, cease all the obscurations, achieve enlightenment, and free all sentient beings and lead them to enlightenment. It is a hard concept to learn, but if you seek deeper you will understand what is meant by this article. Best relief I've felt in a long time was this sensation of feeling hollow (empty). I didn't "make" it happen. I awoke one morning and it was already there. "I" can't do a thing. The more I "try" the more frustrated I become (angry). |
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