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| 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.
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| 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 t
he 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.'
"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,
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.
