JOIN USI am a fiery person. Astrologically, Mars is all over my chart ready to set me off. The astrologers are kind enough to call it righteous anger. No matter, I have to work very hard at staying calm in explosive situations. I learned a special method from His Holiness, using my anger to fuel my compassion.
He says, “Anger is often just suffering that has not met with compassion. If someone is annoying you or making you angry, you can use that as an opportunity to counter your own anger with the cultivation of compassion. But if annoyance is too powerful – if you find the person so repulsive that you cannot bear to be in his presence – it may be better to look for the exit!” Rarely, I do have to make a quick exit until I can see Mr Repulsive in a kinder light. If after some time, I cannot see any improvement, I will write the story without emotion—just give the facts of the case. Usually, this method will make me calm. Dalai Lama, stream of unending compassion, has taught, “Here is the principle: if your anger is not too strong, it is better to meet events or people who annoy you head on. But if the encounter is not possible, work on yourself by yourself.”
He admits to working on himself frequently, particularly regarding the Chinese government’s continuing abuse, imprisonment and execution of his people. When he escaped to India, 87,000 people in the Lhasa area alone had been killed. Thousands fled to avoid “democratic reforms”: seizing of property, enslaving workers, reeducating them, abolishing the clergy, dividing people into castes, resettling the formerly independent country of Tibet with Chinese, and imprisoning or killing those who would not co-operate.
He says, “In Buddhism, it is standard practice to reflect again and again on the disadvantages and destructive nature of anger. By doing so the mental affliction will gradually diminish.”
According to him, the intense energy of anger can be transformed. It is possible, he instructs, to use a negative force to fuel a positive action.
“In ancient time, if there was war, the effect was limited,” he said. Today, because of external material progress, the potential for destruction is beyond imagination. When I visited Hiroshima, though I knew something about the nuclear explosion there, I found it very difficult to see it with my own eyes and to meet with people who actually suffered at the moment of the bombing. I was deeply moved. Though we might regard someone as an enemy, on a deeper level an enemy is also a human being who also wants happiness, and also has the right to be happy.”