Hey,
Everybody,
It's Judy,
And this is Wake Up Call 550.
We're on Chapter 17 of the Dhammapada,
Which is called Anger in both of the translations that we're looking at,
Gilfransdale's translation and the Thomas Byram Ram Dass translation.
And so the verses are about the harm anger can cause and how to let anger go.
And so you've probably heard in the ancient texts,
Anger is said to have a honeyed tip and a poisoned root.
And looking out into the world,
I mean,
You don't have to look too far.
I look at Tennessee this morning.
Isn't that about right?
You know,
There can be such a rush of righteousness that accompanies anger.
We just know something is wrong or someone is wrong,
And anger is the expression of that knowing,
Right?
Feels appropriate,
Feels useful,
Feels necessary,
So we fire away.
And we let the anger,
We let the arrow of anger fly.
And the trouble is that that's not letting anger go,
That's firing it up.
And that's why the texts also say that anger is like carrying around a hot coal and expecting the other person to get burned.
You know,
The fire of anger will burn us up and poison our relationships and poison our world.
If you know somebody with a lot of anger,
And even if it's justified,
You know it can be a little toxic to be around them.
And then there's the foundational teaching that's in play here too,
Which is whatever we think and contemplate becomes the inclination of the mind.
So If anger is my frequent companion,
I'm cultivating a mind that inclines toward anger.
So chapter 17,
It seems to me to be making three points.
The first one is,
Those who master anger are in charge.
It says,
The one who keeps anger in check as it arises,
As one would a careening chariot,
I call a charioteer.
Others are mere rain holders.
Second thing is the task or the invitation is to master anger in body,
Speech and mind.
And the verses say,
Guard against anger erupting in your body,
Be restrained with your body,
Letting go of bodily misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your body.
Says the same about anger erupting in speech and says the same about anger erupting in our minds.
And this is the word that at least Gil uses in his translation is this eruption.
And then three,
It says we can master,
Or again,
It's kind of a violent word,
Conquer anger.
And it's anger in its various forms.
Then it gives some forms,
Anger with non-anger,
Wickedness with goodness,
Stinginess with giving,
And lies with truth.
And so this kind of points to,
Oh,
Let's look at a definition of anger,
Right?
Because the Dhammapada has wickedness in there and stinginess in there and lying in there.
So definition of anger,
I mean,
Some anger is obvious.
It's not subtle.
Somebody hearing a certain set of words that I use knows I'm angry.
Maybe somebody who sees me knows that.
It's that kind of know it when I see it kind of anger.
But there are more subtle forms.
The one that I notice the most often is snarkiness.
And it feels so welcome in the world right now.
And because of that,
I think it can fly under the radar.
And so can other things like impatience and frustration and sarcasm.
And denigration,
Derision.
Um And you know,
It's because some of this,
We're so smart,
Right?
All these lawyers,
We're all so smart.
We know how to make it funny,
Right?
So I denigrate someone and I justify it because it's funny or I'm snarky,
But I'm sort of making a joke.
But from a mindfulness perspective,
With all forms of anger,
There's just this invitation to let it go.
And it's true even when the anger arises from how much we're hurt or how much we care that we still want to let the anger go and get to the more primary emotions of what's going on.
So chapter 17,
First it gives us this incentive,
The one who keeps anger in check as it arises,
As one would a careening chariot.
I call it charioteer,
Others are merely rain holders.
So we're told we're in charge when we keep our anger in check.
So maybe we can't prevent anger from arising,
But we can keep it in check when it does.
And I would say to do this,
We need to be paying attention so we don't miss it.
So we need present moment attention,
Right?
The first part of mindfulness to know that anger is arising.
And then we need those two additional qualities.
We need courage and grace,
Right?
Because if we're paying attention,
But we lack courage,
Then we might see anger,
Our anger,
But turn away.
Or I should speak for myself.
When I'm paying attention and I lack courage,
I might see my anger,
But then turn away.
Right?
Because seeing anger,
Impatience,
Frustration,
Snarkiness,
All the cousins can be painful.
And I personally would just much rather not acknowledge those qualities in my own mind body or in the way I've just acted or spoken to someone.
So courage.
And then it also takes grace,
Because if I meet my snarkiness,
For example,
With derision,
Really,
Judy,
Really,
Again,
Then I'm cultivating derision and I'm probably cultivating snarkiness too,
Right?
So I need to be graceful with what I notice.
I need to be self-compassionate.
You need to remember to say,
Right now anger is present.
You know,
Right now it's like this.
Okay,
Next point is that anger arises or erupts in three ways in the body,
In our words,
And in our minds,
And this feels very true.
Right,
Sometimes my body clenches up or heats up.
Sometimes I say something and then I immediately wanna pull it back in or I write something.
Sometimes my mind goes into lockdown because it's so agitated.
And so the mindfulness instruction for all unwholesome states is to guard against them arising or erupting.
And then abandon them when they do.
And then the Dhammapada gives us some specificity.
It says guard against anger erupting.
In the body,
In speech,
And in the mind.
Then it says be restrained.
Let go.
And practice good conduct.
So guard,
Be restrained,
Let go,
And practice good conduct.
And I take these to be a kind of a sequence.
Um.
.
.
And then it gives us a way to do this too.
To follow this sequence.
And it basically says,
Once we guard against and then it erupts anyway,
We're restrained,
We let go.
And then what?
It's the good conduct,
Utilize non-anger,
Goodness,
Generosity,
And truth.
So non-anger,
Summon well wishes,
Right?
Even if it's someone who we perceive is causing harm,
Remember that they also just want to be happy.
However warped their sense of happiness may be,
Maybe have some compassion towards them.
And then second,
Inclined towards goodness,
Meaning,
Remember,
We're all in this together.
And we don't get away with anything and we don't want to cause harm.
Third is inclined towards generosity.
And that's always a reminder for me anyway,
To be generous towards the other humans or the situation when things seem off or worse than that.
And give the benefit of the doubt that if the people involved could do better,
They would.
And remembering to stay as open-hearted as I can.
And then the fourth invitation to incline towards truth feels like it's about looking inside.
And it's kind of that loop and not denying that anger or one of her progeny is is happening and then dip underneath let it go dip underneath to why which is usually because there's something there's something in the heart that needs to be addressed.
And then lead with vulnerability and lead with courage,
Lead with why we care.
And the last thing I wanna say is I don't feel like any of this is conceptual,
Right?
I feel like it's direct moment by moment portable practice,
Right?
It's noticing anger,
Taking a breath,
Reminding myself there's another way.
Intentionally,
Even if it's reluctantly or creakily or even I need like a little crowbar.
Shifting into kindness and goodness and generosity and truth.
Okay,
So let's sit down.
Okay,
So finding your posture and letting all the words go.
And finding the breath,
Beginning to pay attention.
To the breath in the body.
Breath as it flows in and out of the body.
And then once there's some stability,
Some ease.
With being right here in the present moment.
I see if you have a recollection.
Of having encountered anger.
In yourself.
And maybe not the thing that has evoked the most anger,
But something small.
I'd say the smaller,
The better.
And just noticing how does it feel in the body.
The recollection may be more muted or it may not be.
Just exploring how does it feel in the body.
And can you see how it feels in the mind as well,
Just this very focused exploration.
And no judgment at all.
It might have felt empowering or zingy or.
.
.
However it feels now,
Maybe it still feels righteous,
Just noticing,
Just gaining familiarity.
And then notice.
Kindness is available if you can shift.
From this small anger.
To kindness,
To goodness,
To generosity.
And again,
No judgment if it's not possible,
Just being very loving with yourself.
And if it is,
Also being very loving with yourself.
And now just taking the last few breaths that we are together to be grateful for your practice.
Thanks everybody,
Great to see you.
Take good care,
Be safe out there.
