Unexpected Freedom

Meeting our AngerBuddha’s encouragement was that we should do whatever ittakes to endure it. We can consciously choose to meet ourrage. We can choose not to act it out or repress it. We canchoose to endure it.In the case of coping with truly overwhelming passion, asimile the Buddha used was that of a strong man pushingdown a weaker man in a fight. We are actually holdingsomething down. It’s as though we were dealing withsomeone who is deranged. Imagine you are in a public placewhere everybody is calmly going about their normalbusiness, but a mad person turns up, drunk or unhinged,behaving in a dangerous manner – someone really out ofcontrol. In such a situation we just pin them down to thefloor and hold them there. We don’t introduce ourselves andsay, ‘Shall we share our feelings? Let’s talk about it together.’What is called for is to restrain them and hold them untilthey recover their senses. Only then can we relate in a morecivil manner.So mindful restraint is the first line of defence against anattack by wild anger. We don’t make it worse by following it.Although it may test our ability to the point of feeling like wemight crack, it will eventually pass.Believing in AngerAnother aspect of wisely reflecting on our anger is toconsider whether it is really the case – as we can believewhen we are fired up – that following such passion willmake things better. One evening after giving a talk on angerat the monastery somebody asked the question, “How can Ilet go of anger when it feels so good to follow it?” They said,“I just love having a go at one particular person who I thinkis really stupid.” I didn’t know what to reply to them. If we75