Mastering Anger: Lessons from Zen Stories

 In this post, there are two special Zen stories. Both of them are important, but the second story has a different message. If you have time, please read this article and try to understand it.

First Story:

Zen Master was passing through a village with one of his disciples when they encountered a stubborn donkey blocking their path. The disciple, losing patience, tried to push the donkey out of the way in anger, but the donkey remained unmoved on the road.

At this moment, the master said, "Sometimes our anger is like this donkey. The more we try to force it away, the more resistant it becomes. Instead, let's try to calmly and gently guide it off the path."

Getting angry is a natural reaction, but when we become slaves to it, it becomes uncontrollable and harmful to ourselves and others. Sometimes, the best way to deal with anger is to pause, observe it, and when we can do that, we won't be enslaved by it anymore.

Second Story:

A disciple approached Zen Master Bankei and said, "I have a lot of anger, and I can't control it. Master, how can I control it?"

Bankei asked, "Show me this anger you have."

The disciple responded, "I cannot show it to you right now."

Bankei continued, "When can you show it to me?"

The disciple replied, "It suddenly arises within me."

Bankei then said, "Well, that's not your true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born, you didn't have this anger. It was given to you by your parents. Reflect on this."

Let's understand this a bit more clearly. Just as the sun's nature is to shine, even when dark clouds gather in the sky, no one says the sun isn't shining. It shines naturally, and it doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. Similarly, when anger arises, pause for a moment. Understand that it's just like a thief entering your house. Once you realize this, the thief (anger) loses its power. This thief changes disguises, sometimes as anger, sometimes as greed, sometimes as hatred, and sometimes as desire. But as soon as you catch the thief, it starts to squirm and escape. This squirming is also its tactic.

Whenever it comes, just observe it, understand it, and wise people say that for a self-aware person, it doesn't even exist. But for those who lack self-awareness, it becomes everything, and they end up destroying their lives.

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