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Contemplation of Mind- Removing Angry Mind

A Case Study of Removing the Cause of Anger

When there is no anger, how can we know? We may contrast that with the moment of rage. When someone is furious, their voice is harsh, their expression is sad, and their movements are jerky. Like the elderly auntie described before.
According to Abhidhamma, the mind causes both physical intimation (kayaviññātti) and verbal intimation (vaciviññatti). The term Viññatti refers to the process of expressing one's thoughts. When the mind is pleased, the body and verbal action are also pleasant. When the mind is dissatisfied, the body and speech will be unpleasant. Of course, occasionally because of greedy thoughts, the face will be joyful and happy.

The Buddha is said as the physician and Dhamma is the medicine to cure disease. Now, we are applying Dhamma therapy to her. After administering the remedy to her, she is happier, her voice is softer, her face is more relaxed, and her movements are gentler. What is the best remedy to calm her furious mind? As previously stated, she had a few issues. 1. Tired and sleep deprived due to volunteer fatigue.

2. Unhappy when her beloved teenage niece was admonished by us. 3. Was unwilling to accept aid from others.

My senior nun and the chief nun of Aggācāra, Sayagyi Aggavati is good at counseling and problem-solving. I can assist her in some way only as it is to do with Burmese people, Burmese life style and culture.

To solve the first problem, we let the old aunty sleep as long as she wanted.  In this way, she can recover from her tired body and mind.

Then, she contacted her neighbor and spoke with her for two hours, informing her the problem and asked her to come and aid the old auntie.

When the neighbor arrived, she came to help the aunti. She used  sweet and polite voice and helped her to cook the food. So this aunty’s mind is getting softer as she had enough rest, now with assistance from a kind neighbor, her face was happy. The neighbor then sat with her during her leisure time and spoke. The aunty had the opportunity to talk to other persons, besides the children here and us sayagyis. She now thrived in loving-kindness from the neighbor, and not feeling tired as tired as before.

Actually, it is a task to prepare breakfast for 8 people, lunch for 15 people lonely. Now, with the neighbour’s help, the task is easier. The Burmese people need to eat rice, there minimally must be a soup, a fish/meat, and some vegetables, and also some fruits if we have. So, thanks to this old aunty and the kind neighbor, we can provide the meals to the children here!

In short, when there are causes for anger, once we know it, we can try to remove it with our best ability.

Dosa (anger, hate) is one of the evil roots in Buddhism. Others include greed (lobha) and delusion (moha). So it is important to be conscious of it because when it becomes uncontrollable, individuals may engage in actions such as scolding, striking, or even killing beings.

Mettā is called adosa. The negative prefix 'a' implies both 'no' and 'free from'. So adosa means "freed of anger/hatred," adosa is mettā (loving-kindness). We use loving-kindness to reduce hatred and anger.
In her position, the greatest method to deal with her dosa (anger) is to employ metta, which is a universal practice that we may perform at any moment.

So, do contemplate your mind at any time. Try to make good minds like generosity, loving-kindness arise more, and reduce greed, hatred and delusion.

 

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