Transcript

How do you react when someone wrongs you? Do you lash out? Or do you try to rise above it? And if you don't vent your anger, do you manage to transform it? Or do you only bottle it up? It takes years for a tree to grow and bear fruit. It takes only a moment to cut that tree down. If wisdom, compassion and peace are the trees we grow, anger is the AX that cuts them down. Anger, conflict, hatred, the Buddhist tradition has long recognized these as key hindrances to awakening and root causes of suffering. In this video, we look at two Buddh stories that teach us constructive ways of dealing with anger. These stories show ways of responding to conflict that may benefit both ourselves and those around us, whether you need help dealing with your own anger or that of others, you will find some useful insight here. Our anger can be directed at ourselves, our partners, our children, friends or total strangers, whatever the case, suffering follows. World events today are a tragic display of the power of anger. Should we allow it to create Hell on Earth. Let's see how Buddhist teaching can help us prevent that.

The first story we will explore is an ancient one. It comes from the Pali canon, the oldest collection of Buddhist scripture. This story is fascinating in that it recounts an incident where the Buddha himself became the target of anger and abuse. His response in this situation is a profound teaching in and of itself, a teaching even Nietzsche praises in his autobiography after reading the Dhammapada, hatred is never ended by hatred in this world, by non hatred alone is hatred ended. This is law eternal. The story tells of a time when the Buddha sets up camp with his disciples close to a brahman clan. For context, the Brahman caste was the religious authority at the time and dominated the social hierarchy. Even kings had to pay their respects to the priests. Wandering ascetics like the Buddha and his monks were very much the opposite of the Brahmins. They lived outside of society, refused to define themselves by caste and explored alternative ways of living. You could say they were hippies. Before the Hippies were a thing, this was something of a threat to the Brahmins, who were keen on keeping things as they were.