19
May

Buddhist Belief – How Hot is Your Anger?


“By means of meditation we can teach our minds to be calm and balanced; within this calmness is a richness and a potential, an inner knowledge which can render our lives boundlessly satisfying and meaningful. While the mind may be what traps us in unhealthy patterns of stress and imbalance, it is also the mind which can free us. Through meditation, we can tap the healing qualities of mind.”

~~~ Tarthang Tulku

One of the things so many teachers of Buddhist Belief include in their teaching is to not react with anger toward others because anger has a way of turning into hatred. Hatred will only lead to more hatred.

Do you get angry? If so, what makes you angry? It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? I know I do. Perhaps not as much as I did in past years, but, yes, I do still get angry. Or, I get irritated. Here’s an example of what I mean. Sometimes when I’m trying to explain something to a person or to a few people, they just don’t seem to get it. So, I try again using different words to get my point across and they still don’t get it. I then notice I’m getting a kind of nervousness in me. I feel anxious about not being able to make myself clear enough for people to understand. That irritation turns into impatience or anger and the next thing you know I’m thinking things like, “Oh, c’mon on people – this isn’t rocket science I’m talking about here! Why can’t you get it?” Or, I start into a thought process which goes something like this, “I might just as well give up trying to get through. I should just give up and stop talking.”

Buddhist Belief, meditation, nirvana, mindfulness, karma, peace

When I hear about some of the things that are happening here in our country with the politics – and when I watch the dysfunction in how our government is working, I tend to get a bitter taste inside of me. Sometimes it turns into a hard place in the pit of my stomach. So, I write letters – I sign petitions – say things on my Facebook page. I used to go out and do marches and take part in protests and stand on street corners and wave signs at people driving by. Age and health has caused my activism to be more of an “at-home” process now – but I guess I’m still wondering if this is anger or is it irritation. Or, is this an okay way to react for someone trying to live a Buddhist lifestyle?

Some people do have a short fuse. They’re the folks who will start yelling and screaming at the drop of a hat. They’re also the ones you’ll see taking out their anger on some inanimate object. I used to know this guy who did construction work who would bang tools around when something didn’t go the way he had planned. He screwed up some pretty nice tools doing this. Then, there are those who go to the next step and take their anger out on other people. Not good!

A former Buddhist teacher of mine in Vermont used to ask his students what they gained by being angry about something. Invariably, after some thought, the answer would always be “Nothing”. He then would ask what do you lose by being angry. Again, usually the answer was “Nothing”. Then came the teaching … he would say, “Oh, but you do lose. You lose your peace of mind. You lose your positive karma.” He would point out how when we’re being angry we’re teaching our mind to use anger to deal with problematic issues. He would also remind us that the pathway to hatred is anger – and each time we get angry we’re widening the pathway to hatred.

Hatred is much more dangerous than anger. We need to become aware of those times when anger takes over. We need to recognize it for what it is. Next, we need to learn why we became angry. Then we need to spend some meditative time with the reason or reasons.

One technique I use is to make a sincere attempt to walk away from the cause of my anger. Turn away from it. Take a quiet walk. Listen to some peaceful music. Pick up a good book. But, as most of us know, there will be times when the anger is just too intense to walk away from it. What I was taught by my Vermont Buddhist teacher is to know when the anger is so hot you are totally aware of it. It’s no longer just possible you’re angry – you know it. That’s when you look at what you’re losing out on by being angry. As I said above, your peace of mind is lost. You can’t seem to do anything you want to do. Your concentration is shot. You can’t talk to people in a decent way. You feel a need to cry you’re so frustrated. That’s when you ask yourself, “Is this what I want?”

Hopefully the answer is a resounding, “No!” When you succeed with this, you will be beginning the training of your mind to go this route rather than the route to hatred.

This process of training ourselves to react differently to situations which arouse our anger is not easy. However, if we learn the power of being compassionate with ourselves as a way to protect ourselves, we’ll see that compassion is much stronger than anger. Most of us have an established pattern of using anger. Buddhist teaching says our practice is to work on changing the pattern to use love and compassion, not only for ourselves but for others as well. Like with any practice, it needs to done over and over. Do this and it will become a habit – and a darn good one.

Metta ….May I be well and happy. My I live in safety. May I be healthy and strong. May I live with ease. May all beings be well and happy. May all beings live in safety. May all beings be healthy and strong. May all beings live with ease.

Namaste — Be in Peace.

Ron Rink
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Ron’s Recommended Reading List —

Just click the links that are sort of Grey in color to take you to where you can learn more about each book and how you can purchase a copy for your own library.

Stephanie Kaza — Hooked!: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume

Stephanie Kaza, an amazing writer and Buddhist teacher I knew from my 36 years living in Vermont, gathers key Buddhist thinkers to reflect upon aspects of consumerism, greed and economics. Certainly, many other authors have examined consumerism from the lens of their religious traditions, but this book’s Buddhist perspective is unusual, and its pairing of consumerist critiques with core Buddhist concepts is generally fruitful. Check this one out! Hooked!

Stephanie Kaza — Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking

Another one from my Vermont friend — Stephanie Kaza, a biologist and professor of Environmental Studies at University of Vermont, combines Zen Buddhist practices and teachings with her 40 years as an environmentalist for this guide to enlightened environmentalism, proposing a belief in the interdependence of people and nature as the genuine way to “go green”: “When we come to see ourselves as part of the green web of life… we are naturally drawn to respond with compassion.” A good read for Buddhists or anyone from any religion. Mindfully Green

Anam Thubten — No Self – No Problem

No Self – No Problem
shows how to realize the ultimate meaning of life in each moment by dissolving all notions of ego-identity. It asks that spiritual seekers wake up to their true nature, which is already enlightened. Based on Buddhist wisdom traditions, this easy-to-read book discusses in simple, but profound and inspiring language, how we can live a life full of love, satisfaction, and happiness. No Self – No Problem

Sharon Salzberg — The Kindness Handbook

“It takes boldness, even audacity, to step out of our habitual patterns and experiment with a quality like kindness–to work with it and see just how it might shift and open up our lives. This book is an invitation to do just that. — From The Kindness Handbook

Eckhart Tolle’s amazing best seller, A New Earth

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s wonderful book, My Stroke of Insight: Nirvana is just a breath away!

And this one by Sharon Salzberg and is entitled: A Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom and Compassion“.

This is a new one for you by Pema Chodron entitled: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….


“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

~~~ Buddha

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)


“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

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11
May

Buddhist Belief: Benefits of Meditation

I’m going to post a Guest Article today. I’ve been having some health-related issues which have slowed me down a bit, so rather than write my own this time, I hope you’ll be alright with this article. It IS a good one by Vicki Santilliano for Divine Caroline.

Thanks. I’ll be back in a few days.

Be well — be in peace,

Ron Rink
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Whenever I hear about the many benefits of meditation, my determination to find a place for it in my life is renewed once more. Unfortunately, the few and far between times I’ve attempted meditation have always ended in naptime, but I keep trying because the purported advantages, particularly increased relaxation, are just too good to pass up. And with myriad studies that explore the ways it emotionally and physically shapes our brains, it’s clear that meditation’s positive effects span well beyond relaxation. As we learn more about what meditation can do for us, penciling it into our schedules becomes not just a good idea, but a necessary one.

It can make you a nicer person.

In 2008, researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison assembled a group of thirty-two people—an equal mix of Tibetan monks who had been practicing meditation for several years and people who were inexperienced with meditation—and asked them to perform compassion meditation while their brains were scanned by MRI machines. The non-practitioners were given a two-week course on that type of meditation, which involves consistently focusing on a desire to rid all people of suffering and unhappiness. The scans revealed a great deal of activity in the parts of the brain associated with empathy and emotional responses toward others, and in the monks’ brains, the activity was even more markedly increased, which suggests that compassion can be learned and developed like any other skill.

It can make you smarter.

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t necessarily increase IQs, but meditation has been proven to result in sharpened mental acuity and performance on tests. A 2005 study at the University of Kentucky involved participants doing one of four activities for forty minutes—reading, sleeping, talking with others, or meditating—and then clicking a button whenever they saw an image come onto an LCD screen. Those who meditated did remarkably better than the others, even though none of them had experience with the practice.

A continuation of that same study compared the gamma waves of ten non-practitioners with the Dalai Lama’s eight most experienced and successful meditation devotees. The monks’ brains showed not only faster-moving and stronger gamma rays, but the progression itself was more intricate and formulaic. The inexperienced volunteers also showed more gamma ray activity, but even before the groups began meditating during the brain scans, the monks had higher levels of gamma ray production. So not only can meditation increase gamma ray activity—which directly affects our focus and perception—in the short term, the affects might be long-lasting and progressively more dramatic over time.

It can make your brain grow—no, really!

A study at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston scanned the brains of fifteen practitioners (some with a lot of experience, some with very little). Those who practiced meditation the most had thicker brain cortexes (the part that deals with motor skills and sensory information) than those who practiced less. Similarly, a study at a university in Atlanta used MRI machines on older-aged adults who were experienced with Zen meditation—a type of meditation involving sitting and concentrating on breathing—and compared results with that of older-aged adults who didn’t meditate. Those who didn’t meditate had age-related declines in brain function—less focus, decreasing brain activity, and so forth. The practitioners didn’t show the same kind of correlation, which might mean that diligent meditation can slow down the mental affects of aging.

It can help you control your thoughts and feelings.

People who meditate often report that they are able to take bad news better and remain positive in most situations. Quite a few studies have reached similar conclusions based on their results. For example, researchers from the University of Queensland and the University of California, Berkeley performed an experiment on seventy-six Tibetan monks. The monks were asked to put on goggles that showed different images in each eye while their brain activities were monitored. Most people can’t help but dart between images and their brain scans demonstrate this. These monks were actually able to pinpoint their attention on one object, which could mean that they developed a superior ability to control their minds through meditation. Therefore, they’re able to better avoid the dwelling and negativity that plague the rest of us non-practitioners.

Meditation can even help people cope with stress more successfully.

At the University of Oregon in 2008, researchers compared two groups of students: half were taught how to practice mindfulness meditation and the other half were taught relaxation training. After just a few days, the ones who did mindfulness meditation performed better on perception tests and showed decreased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) compared to the relaxation group.

It can make you think about pain differently.

A study published in Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology in 1996 explored how people who practiced social transcendental meditation and those who only knew of it through an introductory lecture. Researchers chose twenty-four individuals and put two of their fingers in warm water for a minute and a half, then switched to hot for thirty seconds, and then went back to warm for another minute. Their brains were scanned to show how they processed the different sensations.

Almost everyone reported that they felt the same amount of pain when asked, but their brain scans showed entirely different results—frequent meditation practitioners had almost 50 percent less activity in their brains when touching the hot water compared to the inexperienced group. The ones who had cursory knowledge of social transcendental meditation were then asked to practice it two times a day for the next five months. They performed the same warm-hot test again and their brain activity decreased by 40 to 50 percent as well.

Perhaps if more people knew just how much meditation could do for them, they would make time to practice it. After all, devoting twenty minutes or so out of your day isn’t that much to ask, especially given the big payoffs for such a minimal amount of effort. When simply sitting and breathing deeply offers this many advantages, there’s no reason not to incorporate it into our lives.

By Vicki Santilliano for Divine Caroline

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