In the famous "Song of Enlightenment", Chan Master
Hsuan Chuen of Yung Chia (the Dharma successor of the
Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng) wrote the following stanzas:
"Let yourself be criticized and abused,
Those who lift torches to burn Heaven just tire
themselves!
When I hear their wrathful words, it's just as though
it were ambrosial truth;
Thus smelted and refined, suddenly one enters the
Inconceivable.
Contemplate vicious and offensive words as merit and
virtue,
The scandal-monger then becomes one's wise friend and
a good advisor.
If we do not become angry at gossip,
We will right there manifest the Compassion of the
Unborn."
There you have it -- the instructions are clear as
day. Just understanding the above two stanzas and
taking them to your heart will give you the miraculous
mani-pearl that will dispell all your doubts.
However, in my experience, many people, even after
learning the truth about anger, still have trouble
adhering to the teaching. Further explanation may be
necessary (I will just briefly touch on some knotty
issues here):
The first thing that the Buddha taught was the
all-pervading significance of giving. Giving is a
virtue that sets us on the proper path. And, it is the
practice that needs no learning -- everyone knows
spontaneously how to give. What's more, the only way
to ever experience happiness and bliss as a human
being is to be in the position to give. Jails are full
of miserable people who, at one point or another, were
disabled from the ability to give, and that untenable
position drove them to commit unspeakable crimes.
So, give, give yourselves away boldly, because the
more you give, the more will there be to give, and
this will make you exceedingly happy.
However, there is a danger inherent in the practice of
giving in that it can result in wantonness and
arrogance. To circumvent that, the Buddha spoke next
about discipline. Giving without discipline is a risky
venture. Consider a farmer who has been cultivating
his field, and who was rewarded for his generosity by
an exceedingly rich harvest. He now has two choices:
1. Wallow in the dough (he might just sell all his
yield and take off for Vegas, where he will burn all
his wealth in one night)
2. Exercise more disciplined approach, where he will
organize his yield in such a way that he may sell a
portion and buy more land, then allocate another
portion for cultivating all this land for the next
year, and so on.
>From this we see that the practice of discipline must
go hand in hand with the practice of generosity.
However, once we get onto such a path, one thing is
guaranteed to happen -- we will inevitable collide
with other people. We will cross paths, step on other
people's toes, and vice versa. When this happens,
anger arises.
It has been said that one moment of anger has the
power to destroy the results of numerous cycles of
good effort. Because of that, anger and wrath are
considered as the most insidious emotions in the
Buddhist practice.
Knowing that, we see that it is vitally important to
practice the antidote of anger. And the Buddha himself
spoke of that, immediatelly after he had explained the
importance of having the virtue of discipline. The
third virtue that the Buddha spoke of is patience.
The above two stanzas speak about the virtue of
patience. The most important thing is to abstain from
allowing the feelings of anger to take hold. Practice
patience, therein you will discover the ambrosia of
true bliss.
Alex
--- nypd25838 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Im wondering how one finds the balance between
> assertiveness and
> speaking the truth of how you feel( where the other
> person will
> become defensive and feel judged ) ... vs. remaining
> unaffected when
> someone offends you and trying to let it pass
> through you .( And
> then the offending keeps representing itself in
> different ways over
> and over again. So, if you are trying to practice
> right speech and
> the other person you are communicating with has no
> regard for being
> truthful ...how are you supposed to remain composed
> and what is the
> mindset as far as why this person would act so
> insulting . I mean do
> you give compassion to this person. How do you
> neutralize situations
> like this in all forms of relationships whether it
> be a boss with a
> huge ego or a stranger who tells you off because he
> thinks you cut
> him off in line ...to the more personal with family
> members like the
> intrusive mother in law .This is a obstacle for me
> and I welcome all
> thoughts or answers to this . I think if I can
> figure this out it
> will solve a lot for me.
>
>
>
>
=====
No karma was produced during the composition of this letter
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