Anger is Māra's weapon

Essays
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Today’s world has become ever more divided. There is anger and hatred from both sides and it is not surprising that those frustrations sometimes also leak into this forum. It is then important for all of us to remember the Buddha’s teachings.

Anger is a bad adviser, it clouds our thinking. It is not another person or a group that is our enemy. Our enemy is hatred itself. Anger makes us blind, we cannot see and we cannot fly. We feel self-righteous, unable to see the truth, unable to see that anger and hatred cannot be fought with anger and hatred, but only with love, compassion and understanding. We should refuse to be roused to anger, than we remain free of mistakes ourselves and only then can we fight injustice coming from the right place. Only when we speak kinds words, with true metta, will our message be heard; anger only creates negativity.

We are called to keep still in the face of our own anger, not to vent it out to others on the outside, but to recognize it for what it is: our own anger, inside ourselves. Others are never the cause of our anger, we ourselves are. The first person we hurt with anger is ourselves. If we can see this, and if we can see the anger inside of us with some equanimity, then slowly it will begin to dissipate and we can let compassion into our hearts.

Our moderator team is doing a great job and I recognize that it is not always so easy. When stepping in the way of anger, anger might turn towards them. Of course we all have our views and opinions and that is fine, but let’s all try to remember that the mods are there for a purpose, to keep this forum a safe place for us to come and feel supported, a haven where we can refuel before going back out into the world, a place where we are reminded of the Buddha’s teachings and use them in our everyday lives. It might not always be so easy, but lets try to keep right speech, free from blaming and free from anger.

‘Mā vo kodho ajjhabhavi,
mā ca kujjhittha kujjhataṃ;
Akkodho avihiṃsā ca,
ariyesu ca paṭipadā;
Atha pāpajanaṃ kodho,
pabba­tovā­bhimad­datī’”ti.

“‘Do not let anger overpower you;
Do not become angry at those who are angry.
Non-anger and harmlessness always dwell
Within the hearts of the noble ones.
Like a mountain avalanche
Anger crushes evil people.’”

SN 11.25

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Sādhu, sādhu, sādhu :anjal:

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Sadhu, Ayya!

My personal take on the issue: any opinions are fine and equally valuable unless they are openly hateful, but when you share them, when you are writing your comment, imagine the Lord Buddha, your parents and/or your children sitting together and watching you as if you were talking right in front of them. Would you like to be a bit abrasive in front of the Lord Buddha or your mum? Would you like to say what you want to say at all? Or if you are arguing with someone should you go on arguing? This is how you can develop an appreciation for the Right Speech.

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Anger is Māra’s weapon

And sometimes the ways of Mara are a little bit esoteric.

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The Mara is armed with anger and attachment. But the Mara is built of pure ignorance. If you stay fighting the Mara’s weapons, the Mara will continue to laugh at you.
When you have disarmed the Mara, there is only its extermination. And it’s not a sweet fight.

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There is no question that this is the most important Buddhist teaching on anger. This is also very helpful in the internal world. The question, then, in my mind, is how to apply this idea to very difficult external situations. If we take life under an authoritarian regime as an example (and many would say we’re starting to see signs of new regimes cropping up), how can one fight a machine gun with metta? One path is to say that metta is not intended to be a philosophy of warfare or resistance, but rather a philosophy of inner transformation and development. Another path is to say that metta is the underlying philosophy of action in this kind of situation, which has value even in the case of mortal danger. There is also the question of how the Five Precepts of the layperson would apply to such circumstances; the severity of certain dire situations seems to make absolute moral conjecture difficult if not impossible. Is it possible to fight with metta in mind? These are the kinds of issues the Tibetans face under the Chinese, and the Germans under the Nazis.

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I understand that as you believe there are only five precepts, you have not come to understand the mechanism of functioning of the noble eightfold path which would imply that you still suffer.
When you have eradicated attachment and aversion, what remains is to end ignorance. And it is a very arduous task because we are surrounded by ignorant, foolish and stupid people everywhere.
Surviving when you are aware of ignorance is not to spend time throwing flowers of love and peace. You become something similar to a Diogenes

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This is indeed a question that comes up often. It is important to remember that nonviolence does not mean inaction or passivity. There are many things you can do without resorting to violence.

But we have to start with ourselves, to see the causes of anger and hatred inside of us. Only when we rid ourselves of anger and develop compassion, can we see things with wisdom and take appropriate action in difficult situations. Maybe sometimes the effects are not immediately visible, but ultimately much more long-lasting.

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She is still alive and president of the country now so she must have done something right.

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Yes, all of this is quite true. I hope the world becomes more peaceful to make way for the dhamma. Since that probably won’t happen, I will need to strengthen my practice and continue to ask questions. :sunglasses:

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