Transform Anger. . .

One of the most important missions of a practicing Buddhist is to transform the “poison” of anger. Anger is perhaps the most dangerous of the Buddhist “kleshas”, or poisons. For this reason, there are more practices in all schools and traditions of Buddhism for resolving, pacifying and transforming anger than any other of the principal kleshas or poisons: which include anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, and others. In Buddhist teachings, anger is most often metaphorically compared to either an “out of control forest fire” or a “rampaging elephant.” Why these two? Simply because anger reacts and destroys quickly; we often don’t have time to control it — it tends to explode destructively outwards: angry words that hurt, angry fists that bruise, angry weapons that kill, and angry actions that destroy relationships. You can think in Buddhist terms — wisdom solutions and compassion solutions. Wisdom solutions would include:

• mindfulness practice (even “live” on that angry phone call or meeting)
• analysis of anger meditation
• practicing patience

Compassion solutions would include:

• metta and loving kindness meditation
• substitution method: think of the positive aspects of a person or situation, to help put the negative in perspective.

Mindfulness is the most-often recommended method. The often cited: “the past is gone, the future is not here yet” thought, combined with relaxing the mind into an observant state where we observe only the present moment. Although it’s “easier said than done” it really does work. For this reason, daily mindfulness practice is a good strategy – The  Buddha, of course, taught these methods more than 2500 years ago.