Worldly Passions - Anger

               In the previous blog post, we learned about the nature of desire. When our desires get blocked in ways we don't like, we experience the worldly passion of anger. 

Original Photo by dickuhne available on Flickr.com

                If someone or something stands defiantly in the way of our heart’s wishes, we become indignant and our blood begins to boil. Not getting our way for an extended period of time results in a full-blown fury. 

                When we're ticked off, we lose so many important things because of our own anger. For example, getting mad at relatives, loved ones, coworkers, or friends can result in the loss of a valued relationship, support, or contact. 

                On a grander scale, when countries get angry at each other it can escalate into war or military conflict. Even religious groups can clash ferociously, despite a mutual aim toward greater good. 

               When our deepest desires become disrupted, it can lead even people with the best intentions to argue and turn to violence.

               It’s all because as humans we are constantly pulled, twisted, and spun around by our worldly passions. As these desires become increasingly denied, our rage mounts all the more.  Even though this anger is destructive, poisonous -- even toxic to us -- we persist with furrowed brows and clenched fists as if it were the only way.

                There’s a short story on the nature of anger I'd like to paraphrase from the book Unshakable Spirit (pg. 20-21). 

                Once there was a very rich household. The owner had a servant who would take care of all the meals, laundry, and other various domestic affairs. On his estate, there was a farm with various kinds of livestock including a large number of sheep.

Original Photo by goingslo available on Flickr.com

                In the afternoon, one of the sheep managed to sneak its way into the kitchen and eat all the foods that the servant had prepared for the evening’s meal. 

                  Upon hearing the bad news, the owner yelled at the servant, blamed him for not securing the kitchen, and insulted him for failing at performing his duties. 

                   Feeling humiliated, the servant began looking around for a place to now take out his anger. His eyes landed on the offending animal who had been wandering around outside. Without thinking, he ran to the fireplace, got out hot coals, and hurled them onto the poor sheep.

 

Original Photo by Robert S. Donovan available on Flickr.com

                In a state of anger, we feel strongly justified within ourselves to do anything we want and begin to lose all sight of our own faults. During this time, all we can see is the wrong that others have done to us. 

                   Now taking out your rage on an animal is certainly morally wrong, but we still perform similar actions in fits of anger in our daily life. Examples include throwing the cell phone down after hearing bad news, slamming our car door, or throwing a stack of papers up in the air. Although these acts may seem harmless to us at first glance, any kind of uncontrollable anger can become like a spreading wildfire that leads us to do more outrageous and reckless things later on. 

Original Photo by Jo Naylor available on Flickr.com

 

                        Getting back to the story, wool is known to be very flammable. So in the case of this poor sheep, its coat immediately caught fire once it came into contact with those hot coals. 

 

                        In times of great stress, humans and animals alike have a desire to run back home for comfort. So the sheep, naturally, went fleeing back into the barn where all the other sheep were resting. 

                         As soon as that unfortunate sheep made its way in flames into that barn, all the other sheep began to catch fire one by one. Within a short time, the entire barn caught fire. 

 

Original Photo by Chuck Grimmett available on Flickr.com

                         The sparking flames fanned out toward the owner’s house, and gradually everything began to smolder into just ash.

Original Photo by Chuck Grimmett available on Flickr.com

Anger begins in thoughtlessness and ends in regret. 

                  The seeds that we choose to plant in our own mind are what manifests into our own misfortune. At the very source of our mind we can find greed, and this greed flows directly out of our worldly passion of desire. As our greed continues to thrive but becomes blocked for some reason, the resulting conflict lights the fuse for our worldly passion of anger.

                   "One person's anger spreads out in waves without end. Know that anger is the enemy, and patience is the foundation of long-lasting peace. He who expresses anger with his mouth is an inferior man. He who grits his teeth and does not express his anger is a middling man. He who shows no sign of anger even when he is boiling with rage is a superior man."

(Excerpt from Unshakable Spirit, pg. 21)

                        Our thoughts will still cleverly try to spin us into thinking that if we don't get more upset, we’ll end up losing more. But this useless way of thinking doesn't serve us. In fact, it can only bring us more harm. 

The opposite of anger is patience. 

                        We gain so much more with a calm, enduring mindset during turbulent times. As we will see in the next story, it's actually in your best interest to keep your cool.

                   

                    "A certain Swiss philosopher was famous for his even temper. A woman who worked as his housekeeper for 10 years swore that she never saw him so much as frown in anger. 

                    One time a prankster offered to pay her if she could make her employer, a friend of his, lose his temper. The housekeeper thought and thought, and decided what to do. Her master liked his bed neatly made, so she deliberately left it unmade. The next morning she fully expected a reprimand, but he only commented, smiling, 'Say, last night when I went upstairs, the bed wasn't made.'

                    One night wasn't enough, she thought. The next night she left the bed unmade again. In the morning he said, 'You know the bed wasn't made last night either. You must have been busy. Make it tonight, will you?' But she didn't.

                    On the third morning the philosopher summoned her to his study and said, 'I see you didn't make the bed again. You must have your reasons for not doing it. Anyway, I've gotten used to making it myself, so from now on I'll take care of it.'

                    The housekeeper had expected a thorough dressing-down. At this show of generosity, she broke down, fell at her employer's knees, and sobbed out the whole story, begging his forgiveness. The philosopher never left off smiling. He bore this undeserved ill treatment with admirable patience."        

 (Excerpt from Unshakable Spirit, pg. 19-20)

  

                     Patience is a very good deed to practice. It benefits not only you, but those around you greatly. In Buddhism, this is known as the concept of "Benefiting Others Benefits the Self." The gain in giving to others becomes more evident once we understand the universal truth taught within the Law of Cause and Effect. 

Good deeds bring good results. 

Bad deeds bring bad results. 

Our own deeds bring our own results. 

 

                      Even when we know this wisdom from the sutras, defiance of the Law of Cause and Effect still remains at the deepest part of who we are. In the next post, we will discuss further the next worldly passion of ignorance.

Worldly Passions - Desire

                         Very soon at December's end, countries from all around the world will celebrate the coming of a new year.  The exact date may vary for some nations, but it’s still an occasion where people will mark the passing of 365 days of time with creative and quite unusual customs.

                      In Latin countries, twelve grapes are eaten, one for each month in the year. It is meant to bring good luck and fortune.

                      Thai people throw water on each other in hopes that it will bring rain for their crops. They also release birds from their cages and return fish back into streams for good luck.

                      In Japan, the bells in temples are rung 108 times. This is because Buddhism teaches that we have 108 worldly passions. These passions are said to be blind because we are entirely driven by them, causing us constant trouble and torment. So a New Year's tradition arose that striking the bell 108 times banishes all the worldly passions that caused us suffering from the passing year.

                     However, we know from the Law of Cause and Effect, little rituals that promise luck are not true. In order to receive good fortune, we must first plant the good seeds ourselves.

                      In the case of a bell dissolving all our worldly passions, this is also untrue -- no matter how many people still practice it. It may be fun to ring in the New Year, but believing anything will follow your action besides a loud "GONG!" noise is surrendering yourself to a false superstition.

Original Photo by MIKI Yoshihito available on Flickr.com

                      What is true is that we are made up of worldly passions and nothing else. Buddhism explains that worldly passions never vanish within us as long as we're living, and attempts to remove them don't even leave a dent.

                      You can think about it like a snowman.

Original Photo by islandjoe available on Flickr.com

                      If you take away all the snow from out of the snowman, what do you have?

Original Photo by mrsdkrebs available on Flickr.com

                      You don't have anything. Without snow, a snowman loses form and ceases to be what it is supposed to be. 

                       It's the same with us. If you remove all of our worldly passions, there is nothing left.

                      Sakyamuni Buddha used the number 108 to represent the idea that our worldly passions are seemingly countless. 

                      Yet within this large number of passions, there are Three Poisonous Passions which are the most dreadful of all. These passions reflect the very nature of all the other 105 worldly passions. They are DESIRE, ANGER, and IGNORANCE. 

The Three Poisonous Passions

DESIRE -   

It's the constant longing we have to get something. 

If we don't have it, we really want it. If we have it, we want more of it. 

And no matter how much we are satisfied, we will still have new cravings arise within us.

There is no end to our limitless desire.

Original Photo by Ani Carrington available on Flickr.com

Our desire can be compared to the deep, blue sea. 

Our wants come to us like waves, one after another.

The deeper the water, the deeper the blue becomes in color.

If we always get what we want, we can endlessly drown in our own greed.

ANGER -  

It's the fury within you of being denied anything you think you deserve. 

We can yell at people we love or curse strangers over the slightest offense.

Our anger can spread uncontrollably and become unpredictable.

The more we feel betrayed, the angrier we become. 

Original Photo by wwarby avaialble on Flickr.com

Anger can be likened to a fire, because it burns at high heat.

Flames span outwardly scorching everything it touches quickly.

We turn red when we're mad because our blood is boiling.

 Left unchecked, it can torch everything in our life like a wildfire.

IGNORANCE -

It's the venomous feeling we harbor deep within us.

We secretly envy our superiors, curse those who cross us, and delight in others' misfortune.

Everyone else is to be blamed for our misfortune, and we resent them for it in our minds.

Not taking responsibility for our own fate is defiance of the Law of Cause and Effect.

Original Photo by Darco TT available on Flickr.com

Ignorance leaves us totally blind to the truth, and so it can be said to be pitch black.

These ugly feelings are dirty and filthy and spread like a disease or pollution. 

We distort the world with our own private, warped views.

The nature of ignorance is dark and ugly, because it is so hard to see clearly within ourselves.

               Now, let's take a look at the first worldly passion.

Desire

               Buddhism teaches that Desire can be further broken down into five categories. 

               They are Food, Wealth, Love, Fame, and Sleep. 

                They are known as the Five Desires.

The Five Desires

FOOD -

Original Photo by elsie.hui available on Flickr.com

 It's the pleasure we get from eating a delicious meal.

We love to eat at restaurants and have home-cooked meals.

People enjoy fad health diets or binge on holidays like Thanksgiving.

Even with dessert, we'll still be hungry for more.

WEALTH -

Original Photo by epSos.de available on Flickr.com

It's the urge to stockpile money and not pay people back.
We want to brag about our new smart phones and cruise in our new cars.
Whether we're rich or poor, we revel when funds rise within our bank accounts.
There is no amount of cents that decreases our desire for more money.

LOVE -

Original Photo by kainr available on Flickr.com

It's the wanting intimacy from another man or woman physically and emotionally.
We watch attractive people on the street and get excited when we get to talk to them.
There's an intense feeling that burns to be near the person we love.
Our heart beats expectantly for the next burst of romance and passion.

FAME -

Original Photo by Gareth.D.Jones available on Flickr.com

 It's the thrill of being praised and honored by someone special or a large group of strangers.

We want to have fans like a movie star or be held in high regard like a president.
Deep down we secretly just want everyone to think we're cool.
No man is an island; we always have the desire to be liked.

 

    SLEEP -

Original Photo by Matt Erasmus available on Flickr.com

It's that yearning to sleep in, relax on the sofa, and just be plain lazy.
We hit snooze to escape going to school briefly or take a sick day just to stay in bed.
All we want to do is just chill out and take it easy.
The longer we are awake, the stronger our need for sleep.

                      At the mercy of these five desires, we slave to them in some form or another. We will to go to such great lengths just to get satisfaction, even if it causes to pain those around us.

                       Now of course we should do serious soul-searching if we sense that we are greatly troubling others with our desires. Self-reflection can sometimes catch when we are being too lazy in our studies or when we've been taken over by the luring idea of an illicit affair. We may even overcome the temptation of stealing the last bite on the plate at the family dinner, but our worldly passions will keep flaring up despite our best efforts. They remain as a filter by which we perceive all of our experiences for every moment we're alive... up until our very last breath.

                        In the next post, we will take a look at the second poisonous passion, Anger.

Law of Cause and Effect -- The Three Worlds

                   We've learned so far from the Law of Cause and Effect, that every effect has a cause.


                   So of all the various ages, time periods, and decades we could have been born in... what exactly determines when is the moment we're born?

Original Photo Art by Alan Cleaver available on Flickr.com

                   Answer: the Law of Cause and Effect.

                 There are now more than 7 billion people alive today with nearly 200 countries in the world. We could have been born in so many different cities and places on this planet. So what determines where in the world we're born? Or how we even came to be born to our parents?

Original Photo by woodleywonderworks available on Flickr.com

                   Answer: It's still the Law of Cause and Effect.

Good Cause,    good effect.

Bad cause,    bad effect.

Own cause,    own effect.

                  Let's review briefly.

                  Cause refers to our deeds or actions.

                  Effect means our resulting experiences.

                  Good deeds lead to good results; bad deeds lead to bad results. Our own actions determine the good or bad experiences that happen to us.

                  So, for example, let's say you were born in United States. The cause for your birth had to occur before you were born.

                  The Law of Cause and Effect applies throughout all of the Three Worlds. In Buddhism, the Three Worlds represent time.

                 The Three Worlds are the Past World, the Present World, and the Future World.

                 The Past World includes all our lives from before our present life. 

                  The Present World is the span of our life from birth to death. 

                  The Future World represents our afterlife.

                  We've performed countless deeds in our past lives. All these past actions from before our human experience are what determined in this lifetime what our gender would be, the city we were born in, and even our date of birth. We could have been born at a time of war or a time of peace. Our family could have been richer or poorer when they had us. All of these karmic factors are determined by the deeds of our past life.

                   Children born to the same parents have different faces, personalities, and talents. This is because each one of them has their own individual karma.

                     Our destiny changes over time as a result of each choice we make in the present.

                   Now if someone chooses to take the life of another, they may face the death penalty for their actions. But why is it that if someone takes the lives of 10 people, or even 100 people, they can still only be put to death one time? Under ordinary law, the consequences for the other murders can't be prosecuted. 

                   But if a worker is paid a salary of $100 a day and then works for ten days straight, would it make sense to only get paid $100? No, of course not. Ten days work would deserve $1,000. One hundred days of work would merit $10,000 of wages. 

                   If the causes vary, then the results should also vary. 

                   A murderer can face the death penalty in this life only once. However, under the Law of Cause and Effect, they have to face the repercussions of every life they extinguished in a future life.

                   And just because a bad seed remains undetected does not mean that the person who planted it is safe. It may take time, but the bad effect will most certainly emerge for that person.

                   A seed that is planted will surely grow.

                  Let's review a scientific example of a cause with a delayed effect. More than 30,000 years ago, a squirrel buried the fruit of a flower in the arctic region of Siberia. Forgotten over the ages, it became covered over with an icy cold permafrost and remained perfectly preserved in sub-zero temperatures. Then in February of 2012, Russian scientists were able to grow a healthy, living plant from the fruit of that flower.

Original Photo by captainmcdan available on Flickr.com

Original Photo by tasaarni available on Flickr.com

                 Likewise, karmic seeds that we planted long ago before we were born can still become effects within this lifetime.

                   This means that all those bad things that we ourselves have done and kept secret in our hearts and minds for sure, will come back to us one day.

                   Every cause in the universe has an effect. According to Buddhism, this has always been and will always be the truth. 

                   In order to reveal to us how our destiny is shaped, Sakyamuni Buddha shared this insight within the Cause and Effect Sutra:

If you want to know the seeds of the past, 

look at the fruit of the present. 

If you want to know the fruit of the future, 

look at the seeds of the present.

                         What does this mean exactly?

                         The way to know what you did in the past is to look at what's happening to you right now. Whatever you're doing at present will determine what type of experience you'll have in the future. 

                          There are many practical examples where this can be witnessed easily. Someone with good grades now is someone who studied hard in the past. Someone who's lazy now and makes no effort can't expect good results in the future.

                            However, because of all the countless past causes contained within our Alaya-consciousness (storehouse consciousness) since the beginningless past, there are a vast, incomprehensible combination of consequences that can occur to us while we're alive. The only missing component preventing them from occurring is the right condition to bring them about.

                            The Law of Cause and Effect as it relates to concept of time and condition is known in Buddhism as the Law of Causality in the Three Worlds.

  Looking deeply 

into our present 

reveals both 

the past and the future.

    The present is thus the key to the past and the future.

This is the reason 

why Buddhism teaches 

the importance of the present self 

and being in the 

NOW.

                           But did you know even the word "now" is in the past before you finish saying it?

                           When you say -- "Now!"-- as soon as you utter the sound "N-" from your lips, it enters the past by the time you arrive at the "-ow!" It's a tiny, one-syllable word, and yet with this example we can clearly see how time within the Three Worlds is all connected.

Original Photo by katerha available on Flickr.com

                           The more we strive to understand the Law of Cause and Effect, the more we strive to discard bad intentions and practice good intentions.

                           We aim at getting rid of bad thoughts, so that they don't occur to us later on. The result of doing bad things only brings more bad results into your mind.

                           We want to set our minds on positive thoughts, but then follow through with them so that they become actions as well. 

                           Because whatever we choose to do now... these choices will be the results we are going to end up harvesting for ourselves later. This is why we should fear evil and turn to the light with all our hearts.

Original Photo by _Virdi_ available on Flickr.com

                            If you don't want bad results, stop doing bad deeds. If you want to be happy, do good deeds.

                            This is the conclusion of this series on Law of Cause and Effect. I encourage you to read lessons on Law of Cause and Effect here on this blog. Continue to review and study it often, because this universal truth is both the foundation of Buddhism as well as the compass that points the way for all toward a happier life.

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Source: Arctic Flower Article from New York Times

Law of Cause and Effect -- Karmic Power

            So let's recap what we've learned so far about the Law of Cause and Effect before explore karmic power in more depth.

  Good causes produce good effects. 

Bad causes produce bad effects. 

 Own causes produce own effects.

Causes mean our actions, 

or in other words what we do.

Effects mean the result of our actions, 

or in other words what we experience in life.

            Good deeds bring us good experiences, and bad deeds bring us bad experiences. Our own actions determine what kind of experiences we bring into our lives.

Original Photo by Nicole Yeary available on Flickr.com

            The concept of individuals determining their own future through the power of their own deeds is known as karma.

             Karma is an invisible, indestructible energy that never fades away. It is this karma that has the power to determines whether events are favorable or unfavorable to us in any given situation.

             This karmic power is stored in what is known in Sanskrit as Alaya-vijnana, or "storehouse mind." It is like a spiritual storehouse holding all your karmic power. All our karma is stored here eternally without limit. This is the true self that transmigrates lifetime to lifetime within the cycle of birth and death.

            We can imagine this mind works almost like documents stored onto your computer. You first input data into the word processor by typing with your keyboard. All the letters and spaces you type translate into digital information which the computer then stores invisibly within its hard drive. The hard drive is very compact giving it the power to store a lot of information.

              Likewise, our physical brains also hold a lot of data. Over a lifetime, the brain of a scholar can often hold the contents of an entire library. His head doesn't have actual paper books in it. The contents of the books are stored invisibly within his mind.

Original Photo by Tulane Public Relations available on Flickr.com

                Now because of the invisible nature of karmic power, it can often conceal certain causes and effects from our perspective. Let's look at an example that demonstrates this idea.
              
                Every year in Japan, the cherry blossom trees bloom in the springtime. It is a national pastime to have a picnic under the trees to observe their beautiful pink, white and rose colored-leaves.

Original Photo by rumpleteaser available on Flickr.com

                 However, one creative Japanese poet wrote about the cherry blossoms during the winter and composed this curious work:

Year after year

Cherry blossoms bloom again

on Mount Yoshino

Split the tree and look inside -- 

where are all the flowers?

               In spring, we can see all these beautiful cherry blossoms in abundance, but the poet is asking us here... where is the power to bloom flowers in winter?

               Hidden within all of them is the power to bloom a flower. You can't chop the tree in half and see with your eyes where these flowers are hiding. Science may be able to pinpoint the location of where the organic chemistry of the flowers can be found, but you won't find actual flowers anywhere in the tree. So where are they?

                Sure, all the trees contain the tiny biological energy that make cherry blossoms. This power is a cause that remains dormant until the right condition comes along. That right condition is warm, spring weather. When this cause and condition combine, beautiful flowers bloom as the effect.

                 Trees that are sickly or malnourished no longer carry the biological energy required to create flowers even in spring. So a condition alone isn't enough. Without a cause, there's just no result. There must be a cause and condition for an effect. 

                 If cold weather makes spring arrive late, then the blossoms arrive late as well. In that case, the cause was ready, but the condition delayed the effect. If the winter is mild, then cherry blossoms can bloom sooner. The sooner a condition comes, the sooner it can become an effect.

                 So the energy in the cherry blossom trees is unseen. With the right condition, only then can the visible result of cherry blossoms emerge.

Original Photo by Zdenko Zivkovic available on Flickr.com

                  Karmic power is invisible too, but once it combines with the condition, it becomes an effect. If you where to look for it with a microscope in our body, you wouldn't be able to find it.

                   As we learned earlier, the Law of Cause and Effect runs through the Three Worlds. In the next post, we will learn how our karma relates to our past and future.