For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva (Shambhala Classics)

by Dalai Lama XIV

It does not refer to the merit gained through the realization of emptiness. Anger cannot destroy this type of merit. Nor can the anger of a lower state of mind destroy the positive actions accumulated with a superior state of mind.29 In brief, there are two types of merit that anger cannot destroy: the merit of realization of emptiness and the merit of spiritual qualities that come from meditation.

Negative thoughts arise by themselves, and it is difficult to make our actions truly positive when our intention and the way we carry them through are not perfectly pure. Our meager stock of hard-won positive actions is rendered powerless in an instant of anger.

Under the influence of anger, people of normally good character change completely and can no longer be counted on. They are ruined by their anger, and they ruin others, too. But anyone who puts all his energy into destroying anger will be happy in this life and in lives to come.

When we think of someone who has wronged us or who is doing (or might do) something we or our friends dislike—depriving us of what we want—our minds, which were at peace just a moment before, suddenly become slightly agitated. This state of mind fuels negative thoughts.

It is this first stage, this unsettled feeling that kindles our hatred, that we should try to get rid of.

We must make an effort to remain in a relaxed state of mind. Because unless we get rid of this unsettled feeling, it will feed our hatred, causing it to grow and eventually destroy us.

the inner enemy, anger, has no other function than to destroy our positive actions and make us suffer.

What irritates us in the first place is that our wishes are not fulfilled. But remaining upset does nothing to help fulfill those wishes. So we neither fulfill our wishes nor regain our cheerfulness!

Whether we are suffering at present or have suffered in the past, there is no reason to be unhappy. If we can remedy it, why be unhappy? And if we cannot, what use is there in being depressed about it? That just adds more unhappiness and does no good at all.

In general we have to make a great deal of effort to obtain happiness, while suffering comes naturally. The very fact of having a body inevitably involves suffering. Sufferings are numerous and their causes abundant. A wise person can achieve happiness by transforming the causes of unhappiness into favorable conditions. We can use suffering as a means to progress.

If we are very forbearing, then something we would normally consider very painful will not appear so bad after all. But without patient endurance, even the smallest thing becomes unbearable. A lot depends on our attitude.

To be forbearing means that even when confronted with great suffering or harm we do not let it disturb our minds.

Our suffering also has a positive side. For one thing, we lose our sense of self-importance. We learn to appreciate the suffering of others, and our compassion grows. And we become more careful not to accumulate the causes of suffering.

Many people think that to be patient in bearing loss is a sign of weakness. I think this is a mistake. It is anger that is a sign of weakness, whereas patience is a sign of strength.

People rarely get angry if they are confident in what they are doing. Anger comes more easily in moments of confusion.

If we analyze these animate causes that make us unhappy, we find that they are themselves influenced by other conditions. They are not making us angry simply because they want to. In this respect, because they are influenced by other conditions, they are in fact powerless. So there is no need to get angry with them.

According to Buddhism, there is no such thing as something arising without a cause. Everything is conditioned by something else. The same applies to negative actions.

According to the Sāṃkhyas, there are twenty-five objects of knowledge, of which the principal one, the primal substance (Skt., prakriti), is considered to be absolute truth: absolute, eternal, all-pervading, and independent. All phenomena are caused by this primal substance. The Sāṃkhyas also postulated the existence of a Self, or conscious principle (purusha), that is also eternal and independent and that experiences the manifestations of the primal substance.31

Buddhism refutes the possibility of something independent that does not depend on a cause. Everything is interdependent. No phenomenon arises autonomously, suddenly deciding, so to speak, that it will manifest. If the primal substance were the cause of everything it gives rise to, then it would have to be produced itself. But as it is not itself created, how can it create anything? Buddhism teaches that everything arises from causes and conditions and that therefore th...

If the cause were independent and able to create constantly, then of course its results would also have to be constant. Since the results are not constant, we can argue that their cause also is not constant: it is impermanent. If there is such a thing as an independent creator, which in consequence is alone and all-pervading, all its manifestations or results should be permanent. Belief in such a creator is simply not logical.

As regards the permanent and unchanging Self, if it were indeed immutable, all its perceptions would likewise have to be constant, and there would be no time when it was not experiencing them. Ordinary logic tells us that this is not true. Sometimes we perceive things, sometimes we do not. But perceptions would have to be permanent if the Self were an unchanging entity.

According to the Sūtra of Interdependence, everything arises from a cause. But such a cause cannot be a creator who at some time or other brings the universe into being. This cause is by definition impermanent, and so must itself have a cause. Finally, a result must be of the same nature as the cause that produces it. If, however, we were to believe in ...

This is why we say that all beings are influenced by other things, meaning their own emotions, and are thus not independent. The process of cause leading to result is due to the coming together of conditions. Nothing is independent.

The answer is that illusory suffering is the result of causes and conditions that are also illusory. Even though pain is illusory, we still suffer from it, and we certainly do not want it. The same is true of happiness. It is an illusion, but it is still something we want. Thus, illusory antidotes are used to get rid of illusory sufferings, just like a magician uses one magical illusion to counteract another.

If we all had a choice between happiness and suffering, no one would choose suffering, and there would be no suffering in this world. But because everything is interdependent and subject to other causes, both happiness and suffering exist.

We must be compassionate and never angry toward those who harm themselves. And when others harm us, we should check whether it is in their nature to do harm or simply something temporary. If it is their nature, then it is no use getting angry with them. If it is just a temporary thing, then it is not their nature that is bad, and they are simply harming us because of temporary influences. So again, it is no use getting angry with them.

If someone uses a weapon to injure us, the actual thing that hurts us is the weapon. What hurts us indirectly is the person’s anger. So if we must be angry, we should be angry with the weapon or with the anger that is the reason for the weapon’s being used. Take away the person’s weapon and anger, and there is no one left to be angry with.

The wrongs other people do to us are the direct result of our past actions. These actions have in fact caused our adversaries to harm us. From this point of view, it is we who are harming our opponents, for in the future they will suffer because of the harmful act we ourselves have instigated. When others harm us, it gives us the chance to practice patience and thus to purify numerous negative actions and to accumulate much merit. Since it is our enemies who give us this great opportunity, in reality they are helping us. But because they are committing negative actions and we are the cause of these, we are actually harming them.

One might therefore wonder whether, by thus causing our enemies to accumulate negative actions, we accumulate negative actions ourselves and whether our enemies, in so helping us to practice patience, have accumulated positive actions. This is not the case. Although we have been the cause for their negative actions, by our practicing patience, we actually accumulate merit and will not take rebirth in the lower realms. It is we who have been patient, and that does not help our enemies.