Healthy Anger?
Never, especially for Mahāyāna practitioners.
In this post, I will examine the modern concept of healthy anger. We have had decades of therapists telling us that our anger is “ok” and even that some forms of anger are healthy.
How does Abhidharma define anger?
Anger (krodha) is defined by Chimtön as:
[T]he deep disturbance of the mind manifesting with respect to sentient beings who harm oneself and so on. It functions to provoke contempt.1
Anger is listed among the limited afflictions (parīttikleśa), since it is only associated with confusion (moha), and not desire (rāga) or hatred (dveṣa).
The Inquiry of Upāli2 is a interesting Mahāyāna Sutra.3 In this Sūtra, the Buddha comments on the the faults of anger for a Mahāyāna practitioner:
“Upāli, suppose that, on the one hand, a bodhisattva who follows the Mahāyāna commits faults associated with desire for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges; and suppose that, on the other hand, the same bodhisattva commits a single fault related to anger. If we consider each of these cases in the context of the Bodhisattvayāna, then the fault related to anger is much weightier than the faults related to desire. Why? Upāli, anger forsakes beings, whereas desire brings beings together. Upāli, bodhisattvas are not deceived by and do not fear afflictions that gather beings together; but bodhisattvas are deceived by and fear the afflictions that forsake beings.
In terms of the totally pure ethical discipline of a bodhisattva, anger is the most grave fault. It should not be indulged at all. It destroys one’s mindfulness, equanimity, and compassion. Why is it such a grave fault? Because sentient beings are repelled by anger, frightened by it, and in turn become angry and resentful. By comparison, desire brings sentient beings together. This is why Mahāyāna practitioners do not need to renounce the five desirable qualities of the five senses: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations.
These days we are confronted on all sides by things which understandably induce anger: wars, social injustice, politics, economic insecurity, and so on. It is important for us to remember, however, that anger is never healthy, that it creates divisions, and in the end, causes birth in lower realms.
Anger arises from causes and conditions, just like everything else, and when we understand these causes and conditions, it is relatively easy for us to remove them. There are a number of approaches—the classical one is development of patience. Patience comes about through recognizing that compounded phenomena are impermanent. Just wait long enough, and everything will change.
When we understand that everything sentient beings do to each other is because they ignorantly seek their own happiness, we can understand we too have injured others in seeking our own happiness. We can understand how we are equal with and no better than any other sentient being. This humility will immediately remove any conditions for us to experience continued anger when we understand we are not better than anyone else.
Śantideva said:
“Whoever wishes to swiftly protect
oneself and others,
should practice the sublime secret of
exchanging oneself with others.
If we are a little more stable in our practice of equanimity (upekṣa), we can try the mind training exercise of sending and taking (gtong len). We imagine the object of our anger. When we exhale, we imagine all of our happiness and merit ripening on that person or those people in the form of white light, and when we inhale, we imagine all of their suffering ripens upon us in the form of black light. There are several variations on this visualization and many books on the subject. The source of this practice is the famed Seven Points of Mind Training. It is very useful.
From a Dharma perspective anger is never healthy. Understand why one has become angry, and seek to remove those causes in oneself. One will not be able to remove those causes in others, no matter how much one tries to condition them.
Coghlan, Ian . Ornament of Abhidharma: A Commentary on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosa (Library of Tibetan Classics Book 23) (p. 338). (Function). Kindle Edition.
This Sutra is also the source of a very popular confession practice in Tibet called the Triskandhasūtra. https://84000.co/translation/toh68#UT22084-043-005-translation.
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/appendix-3-confession-downfalls-thirty-five-buddhas
Wonderful column!
You're going to have the whole trauma industry up in arms against you: "But you have no training in polyvagal theory or trauma informed therapy. Neither did the Buddha. We modern western therapists understand psychology so much better."
Again, thank you. And please don't listen to the trauma cult. Sometimes I think they're training people to have personality disorder symptoms: "I'm not responsible for anything, it's all the fault of (x, y, Z)
Thanks for this. I’ve always had my misgivings about the modern “celebration” of anger in dharma circles. I find it helpful to separate the ‘hurt’ aspect of anger, which falls under contemplation of vedanā and should be embraced, understood, met with compassion, and the aspect that’d fall under contemplation of citta: the impulse to hurt back, to repel, the aversion/hostility, etc. This is to be let go of.
Btw can you recommend a classical reading on how the mahāyāna practitioner should not shun the 5 desirable sense objects?