Anger and Escapism (sutra)

Ven. Ñanamoli, Kodhana Sutra, "The Wretchedness of Anger" (AN 7.60) from The Practice of Loving-Kindness (Metta), Buddhist Publication Society (BPS.lk), edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Grrr, I'll f'n kill all of you, or if I can't then I'll kill myself! That'll teach you! (Tess_Athey)

(Slipknot, "Eyeless") WARNING: Profanity, shocking levels of anger and aggression! ...How many times have you wanted to kill everything and everyone? Say you'll do it, but you never will. You can't see California without Marlon Brando's eyes! I am my father's son 'cause he's a phantom, a mystery, and that leaves me nothing! How many times have you wanted to die?

Letting go of anger=wise; learning how=smart.

"Disciples, seven things gratifying and helpful to an enemy befall one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man. What are the seven?
 
1. "Here, disciples, an enemy wishes for an enemy: 'Let that person be ugly.' Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's beauty. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, even if well bathed, well anointed, with well trimmed hair, clothed in white, yet one is ugly through being prey to anger. This is the first thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man.
 

When in the dark, focus on the light.

2. "An enemy also wishes for an enemy: 'Let that person recline in pain.' Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's reclining in comfort. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, for all that one may recline on a couch spread with throw rugs, blankets, pillows with deerskin covers, a canopy, and red cushions for head and feet, one nevertheless reclines in pain through being prey to anger. This is the second thing gratifying to an enemy that befalls one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man.
 
3. "An enemy also wishes for an enemy: 'Let that person have no prosperity.' Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's prosperity. Now when one is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, one mistakes bad for good and one mistakes good for bad, and each being taken wrongly in the other's sense, these things conduce to one's harm and suffering for a long time, through one falling prey to anger. This is the third thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man.

Holding on to anger (dosa) is like grasping a hot coal with the intention of harming someone with it. Whether or not anyone else gets burned, you certainly will. - The Buddha

.

4. "An enemy also wishes for an enemy: 'Let that person not be rich.' Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's having riches. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, should one have riches gained by endeavor, built up by strength of arm, earned by sweat, lawful and lawfully acquired, yet the king's treasury gathers it (in fines) through one falling prey to anger. This is the fourth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man.
 
5. "An enemy also wishes for an enemy: 'Let that person not be famous.' Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's having fame [renown, esteem]. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, what fame one may have acquired by diligence one loses through being prey to anger. This is the fifth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man.

We are surrounded by people and external disturbances. We cannot always live in splendid isolation. Right meditation and mindfulness are not "escapism." They are not meant to provide hiding-places. Instead, they train the mind to face, understand, and surmount what comes up, which means overcoming numerous obstacles in life and meditation. More

  
6. "An enemy also wishes for an enemy: 'Let that person have no friends.' Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's having friends [being popular]. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, the friends one may have, one's companions, relatives and kin, will keep away because of one's anger. This is the sixth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who falls prey to anger, whether woman or man.
 
7. "An enemy also wishes for an enemy: 'Let one on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a state of deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in [the lowest, most terrible] hell.'
 

Wisdom gives rise to compassion (Kingstone_13).

"Why? No enemy relishes an enemy's (rebirth) in a good destination. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, one misconducts oneself in body, speech, and mind, and by this misconduct in body, speech, and mind, on the dissolution of the body, after death, one reappears in a woeful state of deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in [the lowest, most terrible] hell, through one falling prey to anger. This is the seventh thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry, whether woman or man."

When anger does possess a person,

one looks ugly; one reclines in pain;

What benefit one may come by

One misconstrues as mischance;

One loses property (through fines)

Because one has been working harm

Through acts of body and speech

By angry passion [in mind] overwhelmed;

The wrath and rage that madden one

Gain one a name of ill-repute;

One's fellows, relatives, and kin

Will seek to shun one from afar;

And anger is the parent of misery:

This fury does so cloud the mind

Of a person that one cannot discern

This fearful inner danger.

An angry person no meaning knows,

No angry person sees the Dharma,

So wrapped in darkness, as if blind, 

     Is one whom anger dogs.

 

Someone a man in anger hurts,

But when one's anger is later spent

With difficulty or with ease,

One suffers as if seared by fire.

One's look betrays the sulkiness

Of some dim smoky smoldering glow.

When may flare up an anger-blaze

That sets the world of ours aflame.

One has no shame or conscience curb,

No kindly words come forth from one,

There is no island refuge for

     The person whom anger dogs.

 

Such acts as will ensure remorse,

Such as are far from the true Dharma:

It is of these that I would tell,

     So harken to my words.

 

Anger makes person a parricide,

Anger makes one a matricide,

Anger can make one slay a saint (arhat)

As one would kill an ordinary person.

Nursed and reared by a mother's care,

One comes to look upon the world,

Yet the common person in anger kills

The being who gave one life.

No being but seeks one's own good,

None dearer to one than oneself,

Yet people in anger kill themselves,

Distraught for reasons manifold:

For crazed they stab themselves with daggers,

In desperation swallow poison,

Perish hanged by ropes, or fling

Themselves over a precipice.

Yet how their life-destroying acts

Bring death unto themselves as well,

That they cannot discern, and that

     Is the ruin anger breeds.

This secret place, with anger's aid,

Is where mortality sets the snare.

To blot it out with discipline,

With vision, strength, and understanding,

To blot each fault out one by one,

The wise person should apply oneself,

Training likewise in the true Dharma;

"Let smoldering be far from us."

Then rid of wrath and free from anger,

And rid of lust and free from envy,

Tamed, and with anger left behind,

     Taintless, they reach nirvana.

 

"You will not be 'punished' for you anger; you will be punished by your anger."

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