This is a spinoff from another thread about sutta references related to emotions. The reference for resentment had the following txt from AN 5.161:
“Mendicants, a mendicant should use these five methods to completely get rid of resentment when it has arisen toward anyone.
“Pañcime, bhikkhave, āghātapaṭivinayā yattha bhikkhuno uppanno āghāto sabbaso paṭivinetabbo.
What five?
Katame pañca?
You should develop love for a person you resent.
Yasmiṁ, bhikkhave, puggale āghāto jāyetha, mettā tasmiṁ puggale bhāvetabbā;
That’s how to get rid of resentment for that person.
evaṁ tasmiṁ puggale āghāto paṭivinetabbo.
You should develop compassion for a person you resent. …
Yasmiṁ, bhikkhave, puggale āghāto jāyetha, karuṇā tasmiṁ puggale bhāvetabbā;
evaṁ tasmiṁ puggale āghāto paṭivinetabbo.
You should develop equanimity for a person you resent. …
Yasmiṁ, bhikkhave, puggale āghāto jāyetha, upekkhā tasmiṁ puggale bhāvetabbā;
evaṁ tasmiṁ puggale āghāto paṭivinetabbo.
You should disregard a person you resent, paying no attention to them. …
Yasmiṁ, bhikkhave, puggale āghāto jāyetha, asatiamanasikāro tasmiṁ puggale āpajjitabbo;
evaṁ tasmiṁ puggale āghāto paṭivinetabbo.
You should apply the concept that we are the owners of our deeds to that person:
Yasmiṁ, bhikkhave, puggale āghāto jāyetha, kammassakatā tasmiṁ puggale adhiṭṭhātabbā:
‘This venerable is the owner of their deeds and heir to their deeds. Deeds are their womb, their relative, and their refuge.
‘kammassako ayamāyasmā kammadāyādo kammayoni kammabandhu kammapaṭisaraṇo,
They shall be the heir of whatever deeds they do, whether good or bad.’
yaṁ kammaṁ karissati kalyāṇaṁ vā pāpakaṁ vā tassa dāyādo bhavissatī’ti;
That’s how to get rid of resentment for that person.
evaṁ tasmiṁ puggale āghāto paṭivinetabbo.
A mendicant should use these five methods to completely get rid of resentment when it has arisen toward anyone.”
Ime kho, bhikkhave, pañca āghātapaṭivinayā, yattha bhikkhuno uppanno āghāto sabbaso paṭivinetabbo”ti.
Three questions:
Why is mudita not included? (given that the other brahmaviharas are)
I was under the impression that equanimity and the refrain about being the owner of actions etc. go hand in hand and were essentially the same. Here, why are they listed as two separate items?
How exactly is equanimity towards a person developed without bringing in the refrain about ownership of actions?
The second and the third question are essentially the same.
I’m not sure, but possibly because of the difficulty it might entail. Unless one is uncommonly high-minded, there’s a good chance that bringing to mind the success and accomplishments of those whom one resents will lead one to resent them even more.
Having said that, I note that the sutta immediately after the one you quote gives another five methods, all of which are essentially forms of muditābhāvanā. Perhaps this second sutta is for more accomplished yogis.
That is the case with upekkhā brahmavihāra in the Visuddhimagga, but I don’t think the strict equation of the two is found in the suttas.
The Getting Rid of Resentment (Āghātavinaya) section of the Visuddhimagga both reiterates the approaches outlined in your sutta and then adds a few more. For example,
But if he is still unable to stop it in this way, he should try resolution into elements. How? “Now, you who have gone forth into homelessness, when you are angry with him, what is it you are angry with? Is it head hairs you are angry with? Or body hairs? Or nails? … Or is it urine you are angry with? Or alternatively, is it the earth element in the head hairs, etc., you are angry with? Or the water element? Or the fire element? Or is it the air element you are angry with? Or among the five aggregates or the twelve bases or the eighteen elements with respect to which this venerable one is called by such and such a name,
which then, is it the materiality aggregate you are angry with? Or the feeling aggregate, the perception aggregate, the formations aggregate, the consciousness aggregate you are angry with? Or is it the eye base you are angry with? Or the visible-object base you are angry with? … Or the mind base you are angry with? Or the mental-object base you are angry with? Or is it the eye element you are angry with? Or the visible-object element? Or the eye-consciousness element? … Or the mind element? Or the mental-object element? Or the mind-consciousness element you are angry with?”
For when he tries the resolution into elements, his anger finds no foothold, like a mustard seed on the point of an awl or a painting on the air.
Venerable @Dhammanando Thank you very much! I should have read a couple of suttas around that one, which I will now. Visuddhimagga references were also very helpful. I will look through the relevant section.
Initially, I thought mudita should be the exact antidote for resentment, but as you point out, it might be better as a later step.
