Thich Nhat Hanh

I’ve been reading the spiritual book Taming The Tiger Within, and came across some very powerful verses about anger. I feel they provide some great insights that makes us think about how we usually deal with our anger (which is usually in destructive, non-helpful ways). Perhaps the following 10 verses can help you deal with your anger a little better:

“When you say something unkind, when you
do something in retaliation, your anger increases.
You make the other person suffer, and they try hard
to say or do something back to make you suffer,
and get relief from their suffering. That is
how conflict escalates.”

“Just like our organs, our anger is part of us.
When we are angry, we have to go back to ourselves
and take good care of our anger. We cannot say,
‘Go away, anger, I don’t want you.’ When you have
a stomachache, you don’t say, ‘I don’t want you
stomach, go away.’ No, you take care of it.
In the same way, we have to embrace and
take good care of our anger.”

 

“Just because anger or hate is present does not
mean that the capacity to love and accept
is not there; love is always with you.”

 

“When you are angry, and you suffer, please go
back and inspect very deeply the content, the nature
of your perceptions. If you are capable of removing
the wrong perception, peace and happiness will
be restored in you, and you will be able to
love the other person again.”

 

“When you get angry with someone, please don’t
pretend that you are not angry. Don’t pretend that
you don’t suffer. If the other person is dear to you,
then you have to confess that you are angry, and that
you suffer. Tell him or her in a calm, loving way.”

 

“In the beginning you may not understand the
nature of your anger, or why it has come to be.
But if you know how to embrace it with the
energy of mindfulness, it will begin
to become clear to you.”

 

“Anger is like a howling baby, suffering and crying.
Your anger is your baby. The baby needs his mother
to embrace him. You are the mother.
Embrace your baby.”

 

“Anger has roots in nonanger elements. It
has roots in the way we live our daily life. If we
take good care of everything in us, without
discrimination, we prevent our negative energies
from dominating. We reduce the strength
of our negative seeds so that they
won’t overwhelm us.”

 

“In a time of anger or despair, even if we feel
overwhelmed, our love is still there. Our capacity to
communicate, to forgive, to be compassionate is
still there. You have to believe this. We are more
than our anger, we are more than our suffering.
We must recognize that we do have within
us the capacity to love, to understand,
to be compassionate, always.”

 

“When we embrace anger and take good care of
our anger, we obtain relief. We can look deeply into
it and gain many insights. One of the first insights
may be that the seed of anger in us has grown too
big, and is the main cause of our misery. As we
begin to see this reality, we realize that the other
person, whom our anger is directed at, is only
a secondary cause. The other person is
not the real cause of our anger.”

Published by admin5057

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6 Comments

  1. “Speak to your feelings they say.
    They are you – you know!

    Questions seek! Only they find the answers.

    Could peace with those feelings within
    Become peace with those without?

    To the question of anger be – the answer of need?

    Reply
  2. I love practicing meditation! I never imagined it would work before I tried it… I wish everybody would try it. When I started I just felt a bit more relaxed and was amazed that this peaceful feeling stayed with me the whole time or at least a few days. Now it is as important as being happy for me.

    Reply
  3. The 10 vesus above I copied to go over w/my Granddaughter’s. They lost their Mother, my daughter, April 9th. 2010. Their father in his grief, is rarely there. My daughter, Candace Rae Watson, is a good mother and now she’s not here to raise
    her girls. I am so angry and sad.The 3 little girls have his parents to help raise them. My daughter’s in-laws moved in.

    Reply
  4. Many thanks for posting this. Just found it by Stumbleupon and like it very much. Some very wise words indeed…….

    Reply
  5. Thanks for posting this. It’s inspiring and offers insight.

    Reply
  6. Thanks for posting this. It’s inspiring and offers insight.

    Reply

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