Wednesday, October 13, 2010

How to subdue hatred or anger towards another person...



In one sutta Ven. Sariputta spoke about 5 types of people and how we can subdue hatred towards them.

Here is one example:

"And as for a person who is impure in his verbal behavior, but pure in his bodily behavior, how should one subdue hatred for him?

Just as when there is a pool overgrown with slime & water plants, and a person comes along, burning with heat, covered with sweat, exhausted, trembling, & thirsty. He would jump into the pool, part the slime & water plants with both hands, and then, cupping his hands, drink the water and go on his way. In the same way, when the individual is impure in his verbal behavior but pure in his bodily behavior, one should at that time pay no attention to the impurity of his verbal behavior, and instead pay attention to the purity of his bodily behavior. Thus the hatred for him should be subdued.
Aghatavinaya Sutta: Subduing Hatred (2)
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

You can look at the good side of a person, (verbal, bodily or mental behavior) even sometimes its difficult to find. There has be some good in everybody and if we look hard enough and we will find. This way we can subdue hatred towards that person. One such example is shown in the simile above. It is like getting a drink of water with difficulty from a slimy pond covered with water plants.

If you want to read all the other examples, please follow the link below:

1 comment:

Craig said...

Placing your attention on the good qualities of someone who pushes your buttons is a great, and I think overlooked, anger management strategy. After all, when we are stuck in an angry state of mind, we are focused on the negative qualities of a person or a situation. Thanks for the wisdom!