So your anger hurts yourself. This is clearly demonstrated. You don’t know you are angry. You never think it’s going to hurt yourself. But the consequences are so clear: it does hurt you, so badly. That’s that.
As anger hurts you, so does obsession, hatred and everything. This is how the negative emotions are functioning within us. Everything we do, we justify and we become a little blind, from the wisdom point of view. But you want to believe what you want to believe. That’s how negative emotions immediately, directly hurt us. Then you know the consequences of negative emotions quite well now. Anger is anger, no matter whether it is about politics, economics, personal, or public, or in society, or whatever. Anger is anger. Hatred is hatred. It has its own consequences, no matter whatever it may be. Even anger based on Dharma, on spiritual practice, has consequences. Anger based on religious sectarian actions has consequences. Honestly, anger is bad. Hatred is bad. It’s consequences are not exempt on the basis of religious beliefs. That’s why certain religions, including Buddhism, have bases or points on which you raise your anger. Honestly. Very much sometimes.
Some people get angry because you are going against Buddha. Some people get angry because you are not following the normal Buddhist norms. When that becomes anger, even though it is based on religion, it has it’s consequences. You are not exempt because you are admiring Buddha, and someone is angry with Buddha, and then you are angry with that person. Anger is anger, and it has consequences. If you are angry with the one who is angry with Buddha you may have two different karmas developing. You get the dark anger karma, and you get the virtue of admiring Buddha. They don’t cancel each other out. You have both. So knowing that, remembering that, realize that. Any justification of anger is just that: anger justification, honestly.
~ Gelek Rimpoche, Jewel Heart Ann Arbor, November 20, 2016
