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The Buddha’s Alternative to Acting out in Anger

Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains how to use the three fabrications—bodily, verbal, and mental—to understand and skillfully work with anger.

One of the Buddha’s most important insights was that what we experience in the present moment is not entirely caused by the past. Some of our experiences do come from past karma. But the important part is how we shape the raw material coming in from the past through our present intentions. The Buddha calls this process of shaping sankhara, or fabrication.

There are three kinds of sankhara. There is a bodily fabrication, which is the in- and out-breath. There is a verbal fabrication, which the texts call directed thought and evaluation. It’s basically how you talk to yourself, the questions you ask, and the judgments you pass on things. And then there’s a mental fabrication, which is felt as perceptions. Feelings here are not emotions; they are more feeling tones: a tone of pleasure, a tone of pain, or a tone of neither pleasure nor pain. Perceptions are the labels you apply to things. If you were to compare verbal fabrication with perceptions, verbal fabrication would be full sentences or questions; perceptions are individual words or images.

The way you identify things is through these three processes. We shape the raw material coming in from the past and turn it into our experience of the present moment. The problem is that we tend to do this in ignorance. This is why instead of creating the happiness that we want, we end up creating stress and suffering. The Buddha tells us to do these processes with knowledge, and they can turn into the path to the end of suffering.

Anger is a case in point. All three of these fabrications go into creating a sense of anger. Say that you have witnessed a situation that you don’t like, one you’d like to see changed, and you’re upset about it. The way you breathe is going to aggravate the anger. You tend to breathe in a tight, tense way. You can talk to yourself, both about the situation and about anger itself, in ways that aggravate it. You can focus more and more on how horrible the situation is and how quickly it needs to be changed. You can also talk to yourself about anger and think your anger is justified. It’s your way of showing that you can influence the world and that you can get things done through your anger.

And then there are the perceptions and feelings. The feelings, in this case, would be feelings of discomfort because the breath is uncomfortable and the way you’re talking to yourself is uncomfortable. And then there are the perceptions: your perceptions about the situation—the person who has done or said something horrible is either a monster or a pig—and your perception of anger as being your way of showing your power in the world and being a warrior in the world. Now, the problem is many times we act on our anger thinking that we’re doing something skillful, something that’s to our benefit or the benefit of those we love. We find out later that this is not the case and that we’ve actually created trouble for ourselves. This is where the Buddha says we have to bring knowledge to these processes.

First, we have to understand the anger in terms of these types of fabrication so we can take it apart and replace it with better fabrications. The techniques you learn with breath meditation help you right here so that you can reflect on what you’re doing as you focus on the breath. Of course, you have bodily fabrication in the breath itself. You have verbal fabrication in the questions you’re asking about how to breathe comfortably, how to let those comfortable breath sensations spread through the body, and how to keep the mind with the breath. Then there are mental fabrications, your perceptions you have of the breath as being a whole body process, the feelings of ease that you can create by the way you breathe. You have hands-on experience in these types of fabrication. You see how they can be used to create a sense of well-being right here, right now.
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And then you can bring that knowledge to the rest of your life.

The techniques we learn on the meditation cushion are not meant just for the cushion. After all, we’re not creating suffering for ourselves only on the cushion. We go through life. So we’re going to take those techniques and use them on a day-to-day basis.

The first thing to take is bodily fabrication. As you talk to yourself, remind yourself of all the stupid things you’ve done under the power of anger. It might be good to step back from the anger. See what you can do to take it apart. And then you focus on verbal fabrication. How are you breathing? Can you breathe in a way that calms you down? Think of the breath going all the way down to the feet, nourishing every part of the body. That sense that you have to get it out of your system begins to dissolve away. For the most part, we think that we have only two choices: either we get it out of our system by acting on the anger or we bottle it up. Neither way is helpful. If we bottle anger up, it becomes a thing that goes underground and shows its tentacles someplace else. If we act on anger, we end up creating trouble for ourselves.

Here the Buddha is giving you an alternative to that sense of tightness. You have a body, and you can breathe through it. Dissolve it with good breath sensations. This may take time because that first burst of anger probably released some hormones into your bloodstream, and they’re still having their effect. And sometimes we read those signs as signs that we still are angry even though the actual anger may have passed. We stir it up again. Just remind yourself that it may take some time, but you can breathe in a way that calms down the sense of tension, tightness, and irritability in the body. This process allows you to look at the anger more objectively, more calmly, and to look at the situation more calmly and see what needs to be done.

This is where you bring in verbal fabrication. Ask yourself: Is that person or that situation as bad as you think it is? Is it as unbearable as you think it is? Here the Buddha gives you some ways of talking to yourself when someone has said something unpleasant or hurtful. He recommends two ways of depersonalizing the issue. One is just to tell yourself that the unpleasant sound has made contact with the ear. It’s there because of the contact, and when the contact goes, that’s the end of that unpleasant sound. How many times have you thought that when someone curses you or when someone says something harsh and vile? It’s not the first thing that occurs to you. But it’s useful because you realize that from that point on, once the contract has ended, the fact that it’s reverberating around in your mind is based on what you’re doing now. The action of the other person is over and done with. Do you want to keep on stabbing yourself with those words? It’s your choice.

The second way of depersonalizing words is to remind yourself that human speech has all kinds. The nature of human speech is that there’s kind speech and unkind speech, true speech and untrue speech, where it’s said with an attitude that means well to you and where it’s said with an attitude that doesn’t mean well to you. This is the nature of human speech everywhere. The fact that you’re subjected to that kind of unkind or untrue or ill-intentioned speech is nothing out of the ordinary. All too often we find a situation horrible or totally unbearable. Everything is so extraordinary that we have extraordinary rights to react in a way. It’s not all that skillful. But when you realize this is the nature of the human world, this is the nature of human speech, you back off. You realize that the action was not extraordinary, so your rights are not extraordinary either.

These are some ways of helping you pull yourself out of the unskillful verbal fabrication that finds the situation unbearable.
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Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai Forest Tradition. He currently serves as abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County, California and is a frequent contributor to Tricycle. His latest book is Good Heart, Good Mind: The Practice of the Ten Perfections. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s talks, writings, and translations are all freely available at his website, dhammatalks.org.

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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
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Dhammapada Verse 118
Lajadevadhita Vatthu

Punnace puriso kayira
kayira nam punappunam
tamhi chandam kayiratha
sukho punnassa uccayo.

Verse 118: If a man does what is good, he should do it again and again; he should take delight in it; the accumulation of merit leads to happiness.

The Story of Lajadevadhita

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (118) of this book, with reference to Laja, a female deva.

At one time Thera Mahakassapa stayed in the Pippali cave and remained in sustained absorption in concentration (samapatti) for seven days. Soon after he had arisen from samapatti, wishing to give someone a chance of offering something to a thera just arisen from samapatti, he looked out and found a young maid frying corn in a field-hut. So he stood at her door for alms-food and she put all the pop corn into the bawl of the thera. As she turned back after offering pop corn to the thera, she was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. She was reborn in Tavatimsa deva world and was known as Laja (pop corn) devadhita.

Laja realized that she was reborn in Tavatimsa because she had offered pop corn to Thera Mahakassapa and felt very grateful to him. Then she concluded that she should keep on doing some services to the thera in order to make her good fortune more enduring. So, every morning she went to the monastery of the thera, swept the premises, filled up water pots, and did other services. At first, the thera thought that young samaneras had done those services; but one day, he found out that a female deva had been performing those services. So he told her not to come to the monastery any more, as people might start talking if she kept on coming to the monastery. Lajadevadhita was very upset; she pleaded with the thera and cried, "Please do not destroy my riches, my wealth." The Buddha heard her cries and sent forth the radiance from his chamber and said to the female deva, "Devadhita, it is the duty of my son Kassapa to stop your coming to the monastery; to do good deeds is the duty of one who is anxious to gain merit."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 118: If a man does what is good, he should do it again and again; he should take delight in it; the accumulation of merit leads to happiness.

At the end of the discourse, Lajadevadhita attained Sotapatti Fruition.

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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
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Forwarded from Buddha Dharma books
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Pandita Aggamaha Thera Maitreya Mahanayaka Gomes Jayasili (Jacquetta) Ananda Balangoda

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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
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Maha Bodhi temple, bodhgaya, Bharat.
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Dhammapada Verses 119 and 120
Anathapindikasetthi Vatthu

Papopi passati bhadram
yava papam na paccati
yada ca paccati papam
atha papo papam passati.

Bhadropi passati papam
yava bhadram na paccati
yada ca paccati bhadram
atha bhadro bhadrani passati.

Verse 119: Even an evil person may still find happiness so long as his evil deed does not bear fruit; but when his evil deed does bear fruit he will meet with evil consequences.

Verse 120: Even a good person may still meet with suffering so long as his good deed does not bear fruit: but when it does bear fruit he will enjoy the benefits of his good deed.

The Story of Anathapindika

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (119) and (120) of this book, with reference to Anathapindika, the famous rich man of Savatthi.

Anathapindika was the donor of the Jetavana monastery, which was built at a cost of fifty-four crores. He was not only generous but also truly devoted to the Buddha. He would go to the Jetavana monastery and pay homage to the Buddha thrice daily. In the mornings he would bring along rice gruel, in the day-time some suitable rich food or medicine and in the evenings some flowers and incense. After some time Anathapindika became poor, but being a sotapanna he was not shaken by misfortune, and he continued to do his daily acts of charity. One night, the spirit guarding the gate to the house of Anathapindika appeared to him in person, and said, "I am the guardian of your gate. You have been offering your property to Samana Gotama with no thoughts of your future. That is why you are now a poor man. Therefore, you should make no more offerings to Samana Gotama and should look after your own business affairs and get rich again"

Anathapindika drove the guardian spirit out of his house for saying such things, and as Anathapindika was a sotapanna the guardian spirit could not disobey him and so had to leave the premises. He had nowhere to go and wanted to return but was afraid of Anathapindika. So, he approached Sakka, king of the devas. Sakka advised him first to do a good turn to Anathapindika, and after that, to ask his pardon. Then Sakka continued, "There are about eighteen crores taken as loans by some traders which are not yet repaid to Anathapindika; another eighteen crores buried by the ancestors of Anathapindika, which have been washed away into the ocean, and another eighteen crores, which belong to no one, buried in a certain place. Go and recover all these wealth by your supernatural power and fill up the rooms of Anathapindika. Having done so, you may ask his pardon". The guardian spirit did as instructed by Sakka, and Anathapindika again became rich.

When the guardian spirit told Anathapindika about the information and instructions given by Sakka, about the recovery of his riches from underneath the earth, from within the ocean and from the debtors, he was struck with awe. Then Anathapindika took the guardian spirit to the Buddha. To both of them the Buddha said, "One may not enjoy the benefits of a good deed, or suffer the consequences of a bad deed for a long time; but time will surely come when his good or bad deed will bear fruit and ripen".

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 119: Even an evil person may still find happiness so long as his evil deed does not bear fruit; but when his evil deed does bear fruit he will meet with evil consequences.


Verse 120: Even a good person may still meet with suffering so long as his good deed does not bear fruit: but when it does bear fruit he will enjoy the benefits of his good deed.

At the end of the discourse, the guardian spirit of the gate of Anathapindika's house attained Sotapatti Fruition.

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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
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Anyone who wants to develop the fire kasina should apprehend the sign in fire. Herein, when someone with merit, having had previous practice, is apprehending the sign, it arises in him in any sort of fire, not made up, as he looks at the fiery combustion in a lamp’s flame or in a furnace or in a place for baking bowls or in a forest conflagration, as in the Elder Cittagutta’s case. The sign arose in that elder as he was looking at a lamp’s flame while he was in the Uposatha house on the day of preaching the Dhamma.

The counterpart sign appears motionless like a piece of red cloth set in space, like a gold fan, like a gold column. With its appearance he reaches access jhana and the jhana tetrad and pentad in the way already described.

Partial excerpts from the Visuddhimagga : Chapter 5: the Fire Kasina
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Dhammapada Verse 121
Asannataparikkhara Vatthu

Mavamannetha papassa
na mandam agamissati
udabindu nipatena
udakumbhopi purati
balo purati papassa
thokam thokampi acinam.

Verse 121: One should not think lightly of doing evil, imagining "A little will not affect me"; just as a water-jar is filled up by falling drops of rain, so also, the fool is filled up with evil, by accumulating it little by little.

The Story of a Careless Bhikkhu

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse (121) of this book, with reference to a bhikkhu who was careless in the use of furniture belonging to the monastery.

This bhikkhu, after using any piece of furniture, such as a couch, a bench or a stool belonging to the monastery, would leave it outside in the compound, thus exposing it to rain and sun and also to white ants. When other bhikkhus chided him for his irresponsible behaviour, he would retorted, "I do not have the intention to destroy those things; after all, very little damage has been done," and so on and so forth and he continued to behave in the same way. When the Buddha came to know about this, he sent for the bhikkhu and said to him, "Bhikkhu, you should not behave in this way: you should not think lightly of an evil, however small it may be, because it will become big if you do it habitually."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 121: One should not think lightly of doing evil, imagining "A little will not affect me"; just as a water-jar is filled up by falling drops of rain, so also, the fool is filled up with evil, by accumulating it little by little.

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