..續本文上一頁n and gaining mental control, calming the mind and gaining some control; then you can basically suppress anger because you have the mental control and don”t react. There is also insight meditation and seeing that all neurotic emotions are in essence empty and have no essential essence of being an entity. So, there is a great deal of instruction on that, but Shantideva wanted to teach you conscientiousness and carefulness.

　　Student: A teacher I had once said that especially in regard to anger that you have to be a little bit careful to be 100 % negative because we live in a human world and humans are equipped with this apparatus. It is a form of protection, just as a cat will growl, "Wraaaarrrrr." Some of the other questions also give me the impression that there is a lot more going on here. It”s a question of degree, it”s a question of duration, and it”s a question of intent. If you were Jesus Christ, you wouldn”t have to worry about this, because great compassion would knock them over, but for us ordinary folks here, it strikes me that it is a one-sided instruction.

　　Translator: So, your point is that it is natural to have it

　　Student: No, if you don”t go around harming with anger all day and nobody annoys you to go "Wraaaaarrrr," then that”s over, they know .…. I have trouble seeing that if you are not hanging on to it and they are not hanging on to it, everybody agrees on what happens, then what is the problem

　　Rinpoche: It is important to distinguish what anger and hatred actually are. Often what appears to be anger is not really anger, you know, like the mother and child; it may look and feel like anger and hatred, but in fact it isn”t true. Sometimes what appears to be an act of anger can actually be useful. There is a well-known story of Buddha in his previous life as a captain of a boat of merchants sailing to a place called "Jewel Island" because of all the jewels. The 100 merchants were going off to get them. One really evil person on the ship wanted to kill all the others and slowly made a hole in the boat so that it would sink. The captain knew that this is what was going on and thought, "This is not good, because 100 merchants will die. Also, this person who is planning to kill them will have the negative karma and will suffer a great deal as a result." So, the captain thought it would be a better idea to hit the fellow on the head, to kill him, to save the 100 merchants, and to save the evil soul from carrying out his negative actions. So, that”s what happened. It looks like this is a very violent act, but in fact it was compassion. And it was carried out by the Buddha. For instance, in some tantras there are wrathful Dharma protectors and they look really ferocious. But is that hatred

　　 Is that aggression

　　 No. It”s actually compassion, a face of compassion.

　　Dedication

　　Through this goodness may omniscience be attained, evil enemies be defeated,

　　and may beings be liberated from the ocean of samsara that is agitated by the waves of ageing, sickness, and death.

　　Transcribed & edited slightly by Gaby Hollmann, Munich, Aug. 2001,

　　 appeared in Thar Lam, April 2007, pages 22-29.

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