The Emotion That Destroys You First The Buddha s Warning

The Buddha explains fixing a problem using a mind full of anger is like picking up a hot piece of coal to throw at someone. The first person that gets hurt is yourself. But removing anger isn't an easy task. The Buddha explains five different ways that we can do so. But before we get to the first one, let me tell you about Buddhist monks. Monks have a group of monastery rules to follow. For example, we're not allowed to admire ourselves in the mirror. We're not allowed to go swimming. We're only allowed to grow our hair to a maximum of one inch. We have a total of 227 precepts to follow. And we have a whole selection about robes. Robes are these things that I'm wearing now. Here are some of those precepts. Monks don't ever spend a single night without their three robes. They're not allowed to keep an extra robe for more than 10 days. And we're not allowed to ask anyone who's not a relative for a robe either. Back during the Buddha's time, cloth was something that was really expensive. So what monks did was they wandered around looking for abandoned pieces of cloth so they could sew their robes. When they did find something, eventually, it would often be quite dirty or something they couldn't use. But if there was a good part of the cloth that they could use, they would rip it off. They would pay attention to that good part and discard the bad qualities of the cloth. The Buddha explains that there are three types of actions. Actions through body, actions through speech, and actions through mind. When we're going around in the world, we meet a person whose bodily actions are really good. He gives to charity, he doesn't steal, he doesn't drink, etc, etc. But his use of speech isn't so great. He says hurtful things. He lies, he gossips, he tells tales. And we fall out with him because of this. You should not get angry at this person. He says you should treat his qualities like the monk treats the cloth. Just like the monk discards looking at the dirty parts of the cloth and only takes away the good part. When we meet someone with bad speech, don't pay attention to the bad speech. Discard it. Only look at the good bodily actions that he does. Now imagine you're travelling through the forest and you're very thirsty. You arrive at a lake where there is fresh, cool water. But on the surface of the lake, there's a small layer of algae. You carefully step into the water and gently push the algae away to take a drink. This is where we meet the second type of person. He's the opposite. His speech is good. He uses kind words, he speaks the truth, he doesn't talk bad about people or talk behind other people's backs. But his bodily actions are no good. He steals, he's stingy, he doesn't share, he drinks alcohol. Just like you discard and push away the algae to take a cool drink of water. Discard and don't pay attention to his bad bodily qualities. Pay attention to the good verbal qualities that he does have. Okay next. Your water situation becomes even worse. You end up finding some water but it's literally some water that's filled up into the footprint of an animal that's been left to night in the mud. You can't scoop it up because it makes the dirt rise. So you carefully get down on all fours and putting your head close to the footprint in front of you, you gently take a drink, being really careful not to stir the water. There are some people whose bodily actions are bad, verbal actions are bad. But the Buddha's discourses says this person from time to time, he gets an openness and clarity of heart. He goes to a charity gala, a meditation session. One must try really hard to focus on this bit of good that he does have. The bit of good he does from time to time. It's not easy. Just like it's not easy to take a drink from that footprint of the animal without stirring the water. It's not easy to see the good qualities of this person. Then you get the person who's bad in body and bad in speech and doesn't do anything good from time to time either. Even then, not to hold any anger in your heart for such a person either. Suppose there is a person travelling along a road and they were sick, suffering and gravely ill. And it was a long way to a village and they didn't have any suitable food or medicine or even a friend. When you see this person along the way, your mind looks on with compassion, kindness and sympathy. In the same way, when you see a person who's impure in body and speech, look at them with compassion and kindness. Sometimes our minds have the nature to be angry at good people too. If a person is good in body and speech, look at him the same way a man travelling across a desert looks at an oasis that he finds. There's plenty of room to be happy with the oasis. In the same way, you should not get angry at a person who has abundant qualities in body and speech. In a famous sutta called the Mettanisamsa Sutta, the Buddha says that a person who prevents himself from getting angry and practises loving kindness enjoys 11 benefits. Here are some of them. He sleeps well. He wakes up easily. He doesn't see bad dreams. He becomes likeable to other humans. He becomes likeable to non-humans as well. His mind concentrates quickly and his complexion becomes serene. He dies peacefully. The Buddha says, anger blinds you from seeing what is right and what is wrong. If you really observe with mindfulness, you'll notice before you do anything to anyone else, the first person that anger upsets is yourself. So keep these similes in mind and try your best to never get angry. Namo Buddhaya.