"Anger and Patience" Part 3, Bhikshu Tenzin Sherab

Excerpt of Dharma talk on "Anger and Patience" by Canadian Buddhist monk Bhikshu Tenzin Sherab (Br. Sean Hillman), at Mahavihara Sri Lankan Buddhist Temple, Toronto, 2003

http://torontobuddhistethics.blogspot.com/

NB: I am speaking in a particular way because the audience is less familiar with English

Textual Reference:
"A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" (Arya Shantideva)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Buddhism
• monks
• Buddha
• Dharma
• Sangha
• religion
• patience
• ethics
• Shantideva
• anger
• self-help
• meditation
• health
• Bhikshu
• Tenzin
• Sherab
• Sean
• Hillman
• India
• Tibet

[SmoothPinkWater]

I wish there was a part 3, the ending seemed weak to me. "There is always another solution". Should the Jews have listened to Gandhi and all committed suicide in protest?  I can't believe that, and find the thought despicably unethical. What is the Buddhist solution to human nature's longing for violence and conquest? It seems the only possibility, for them, is for everyone to believe the same thing, unfortunately this seems impractical and highly unrealistic.

[seansherab]

@SmoothPinkWater

I have never heard of Gandhi-ji's suggestion to commit suicide in protest...do you mean by way of his actions (his fasts that would have been unto death)? I concur that suicide is not an appropriate way to protest injustice. It is violent, and it is an act of killing.

[seansherab]

@SmoothPinkWater

I would refute the idea that it is human 'nature' that compels people towards violence and conquest. I personally feel that human nature is pure and that negativity comes from fabricated and removable delusions that are NOT a part of our nature, but rather, covering our basic nature and therefore separable from it. I think people get the idea that it is a part of us because it follows us from lifetime to lifetime until we actively purify it.

[seansherab]

@SmoothPinkWater

As far as a solution, I surely would not say that everyone has to hold the same views...that is, as you have said, unrealistic. I do feel that people need to individually take responsibility for their actions of body, speech and mind and do some sort of "cleaning house" by whatever means. One doesn't need a religious system to remove inner impurities.

[seansherab]

@SmoothPinkWater

What I meant by there always being another solution, when I gave this talk so many years ago, is that there is a way to do what needs to be done to make for social change without anger. That's all. As far as the MEANS of bringing about social justice, there is a vast array of ways to go about it.

[seansherab]

@SmoothPinkWater

The next part of the talk is up now...it is called Part 4 (i had to re-arrange the sections...)

[greyreynyn]

i conquered my anger pretty earlie on lol.

[sonamling]

Thank you, have missed you Sherab. aka Patricia, your old neighbour