+42 more
posted on Aug, 11 2011 @ 07:17 AM
Why So Angry?
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." -
Buddha
Such a simple thing to understand, yet how many of us truly understand this? Maybe some of us truly do yet we strangely believe that anger is useful
in the sense that it is a motivational driver for establishing justice. We are angry at politicians. We are angry at war. We are angry at bad drivers.
We are angry at our bosses or co-workers or customers or clients, at our spouses or children or parents. We are angry at people who use words like
"enlightenment" or "God" or "spirituality". We are angry at the world. And why? What use does it have? Do we think it will fix our problems?
What if we realized that we could still be motivated to seek change, be that in the political realm or at our work place or in our personal life or on
an internet forum like ATS, without becoming angry? Would we choose this way over anger?
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” - Buddha
One day a man found out that his brother had renounced worldly life to become a monk, and he became very angry. He set off on foot to find the Buddha,
and upon finding him, he began to abuse the Buddha. He yelled at him, spit on him and even struck him with his fist. The Buddha did not flinch,
instead he remained as calm and as blissful as he always was. “If you offered some food to a guest who came to your house, and the guest left
without eating any of it, who would the food belong to?” the Buddha asked the man.
The man was confused by this seemingly very strange question, but upon reflection he replied, "Of course, it would belong to me!" The Buddha shook his
head in agreement and then said, “In the same way, I do not wish to accept your abuse, so the abuse belongs to you.” The man then realized this
truth and bowed to the Buddha's feet in forgiveness. The Buddha told him there was no need for forgiveness and asked the man to sit with them in
discussion. The man soon after became a monk, just like his brother.
Such a simple story, but the implications are tremendously powerful! The Buddha was being verbally and physically abused and managed to fix the
problem without becoming angry in the least bit. This is not surprising though because an awakened one will never become angry. But let us not place
the Buddha on a pedal stool and act like we too cannot awaken to this simple realization today; that when we are angry at something or someone else,
we are only hurting ourselves and making our lives that much more difficult than they already are. When we truly realize this simple fact, the doors
of real lasting and powerful change will open wide.
"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.” - Buddha
Peace.
edit on 11-8-2011 by LifeIsEnergy because: (no reason given)