How To Deal With Anger: Buddhist Lessons For Peace

Here we explore two Buddhist stories that offer timeless wisdom on how to deal with anger. From the Buddha's encounter with an angry Brahman to Thich Nhat Hanh's parable of the empty boat, we discover mindful ways to confront and dissolve anger before it leads to suffering. #buddhism #mindfulness #thichnhathanh #psychology

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📚 Recommended Reading

▶ Walpula Rahula Thero: What the Buddha Taught
▶ Thich Nhat Hanh: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching
▶ Rupert Gethin: Foundations of Buddhism

Free access to Early Buddhist scripture:

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🎶 Music

Check out the amazing beats by @RMSounds
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📝 Script

You can read the script of this video essay on the S2S website.
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Video editing by Sempiter & Simeon

[seekerseeker]

Many thanks to the S2S patrons on Patreon: Tsvetina Ivanova, RMSounds, Violeta Nedialkova, Shankar Arul, , Isaac Ng, Jonathan Allen, Mark Schwartzberg, Christopher Mailander, Albert cipriani, Pachier Virasami, Brian G, Richard Metafora, Charly H, Lydia Richards, Yipeng, Colin K, Douglas Hills, J. R. Bob Dobbs, Grey, Ivo Mihov, Hans Krueger, Vladimír Šindler, Neil Toyota, Paweł Rozumek, Scott Myers, jimsturling, Nate Reeve, Yvone Beisert, Ben Petty, The Analytical Btch, Mary J Riddle-Bevan, Jamie Bell, Leo Sebastian, Sol Diaz, Isabel, Aayush Khanna, Christopher Devlin, Krozal, Thomas Pettitt, asdas, Roxar96, Hans Krueger, Patrick White, Joshua Plummer, max, Umesh, Joel & Beth, Christopher Kempton, marie möller, Gerardo Lopez, Joanne Yoon, Erik Drewniak, Thomas Crisp, William Ward, Konstantin Petkov (Kosio), Luna, M Skellyman, Mladen R., Andrew Brown, All Nazis Are Nonces, kit cheah, marquisfleur, Matt Geise, Sylvia, Nancy Fleming, Paula Lin, JKomondy, Blaze Williams, Chris Selnes, Registar, Greg h, Ang Kaji, David Cross, Armando Hernandez, Stephen D Higgins, Annette, Armando Hernandez, Victoria Pecherska, Jörg Malzahn, Evelyn Tan, giman97, Amarnath, N, Brett Ammend, Kate Radcliffe, Jack Secker, Anil, XvGt, helen reyes, Jerald Pinson, Mike Moore, Robert C. Allen, Aaron Perry, Boris Mihaylov, Cassandra Bramucci, Thinkdriver8, gguerdrum, Bonnie Lincicome, Stanley Chan, jayplk, Sanjeevini Dutta, Niels de Jong, Iván Cámpora, Andreas, Birendra Gabadamudalige, Ven, Shane Kempton, Matthew, Rich Newsome (x2), Paolo Scalora, Paul Bernhard, Katerina Shmelkova, Alix & Michael May, Chris Holloway, Sudershan Vadehra, Sasha Solovyev, Para Te Ika O Tangaroa, Eszter, Peggy Choenchom, I wonder what those eyes are seeing, Peggy Choenchom, Sarah Curtis, Anna Oldfield, Mark Bodzislaw, Raelie, Sean S, Rey Barceló, HOME MIndfulness, Will Holloway, Rebecca, Tara Cicora, wally williams, Richard Ludlow, Andy, Jer A, Jackson Armstrong, igor, Andrew, KC Nicholson, Tsen-Gun Batbold, William Dash, Ioan Ciparu! Your generous support allows me to do this work!

I would also like to thank all the channel members who support my work through YouTube! You will know them by their orange badges in the comments :)


I owe this video, like everything else I do, to the gentle and constant support of my partner. Thank you, Elly!

[PoppySeed]

its refreshing to have a channel explain these concepts so smoothly. there's so many channels that are just focused debating worldviews... christians vs athiests, christians vs muslims, etc.. 90% of the time the conversations devolve into cheap jabs at one another to to push the other person into some sort of corner in an attempt to "win" the debate... rarely is compassion seen. and rarely does anyone walk away feeling more enlightened. they usually are just angry and thinking about the next debate... seems silly at the end of the day...

[isabeljirash]

With my heart full of gratitude SEEKER TO SEEKER for your videos to discover wisdom, thanks, thanks.

[dizzybee]

Profound and enlightening. I was just thinking today about "leaders" that have waged war and death on others, both in history and in present circumstances. One of the questions that filled me was "no one should be that destructive, unless they themselves are already in pieces". I thought about Putin, Netanyahu, Hitler, Stalin; what were the causalities that made them so insanely miserable that whole continents need suffer them in their wake? It's easy to say some folk are just assholes with a finger on nuclear options. Sentiments like Pride, wrath, greed and arrogance reflect from such people. Reductively, those sentiments can unify into one place - fear. Fear of losing their power? Fear of being thought weak and insecure? Fear of a bigger enemy? Fear of one's own people? I think it says more about the fragility of their ego than it does of their victims.

[Jaycogomez]

Great job. I’ve known this even as a young child, that any form of anger was empty.

[Jasmine_breeze]

Anger is a powerful weapon. Use it wisely.
The trick is not to suppress emotions, but not to let them rule us. It is not the emotion that is bad, but the person makes bad choices when under the influence. Love, just like an anger, can lead astray. Love is a word that people use to do whatever they want, act selfishly or impulsively. It is the same with anger.

Personally, I like to use anger when I have less physical strength and I need to focus. I heard Karmapa say, that he uses hatred before giving the lectures. He uses it, is not used by it. There is a big difference.

[FunnyMan-ezvq]

These guy got the best videos on Buddhism

[waxon]

I especially loved the phrase at 05:39 "In this way he is healing both himself and the other person", not identifying with our emotions at 06:26 and therefore being able to direct them, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's boat story at 07:57, Jung's quote at 12:20 -- very true, and your keen and insightful "empty boat" interpretation at 13:42. May I learn to see all boats as empty. 

I also really liked the "anger as an indicator of hurt", "feelings as a passive experience" comments at the end of the video. 

A very beautiful and helpful video. Thank you :)

[MaxKomes]

Beautiful interpretation of that story of anger from the Pali cannon.. I’ve never heard it expressed in such a potent way!

[Dextersmythe]

I was told this story about the boat from my Buddhist teacher. His words to me is go through life like an empty boat. Took me a while to understand when intentions are pure we are nothing but an empty boat to others.

[sdtsdt]

Mr. Seeker, excellent channel and fantastic video. I have watched hundreds and hundreds of videos on many of the various philosophies, and I have found yours to be the most comprehensive, well-researched and well presented of them all.

I used to make videos for the corporate environment (marketing, advertising, promotional), so I know how much work goes into a 5-minute video, let alone a 50-minute video like many of yours. I think I heard you say something to the effect of, "in the months I spent preparing this video..."

I can believe that it would take months to research it, put the clips together, write the voiceover script, do the voiceover, and everything else you have to do to get one of these blasted things on YouTube...

All this to say, keep up the amazing work! And keep the videos coming...

[fcmiller]

I’ve been learning this teaching and am beginning to understand through practice, life lessons and studying.
Thanks for this video!!

[anicca]

Thank you. You should make longer videos on these topics. Amazing work as always

[jSpirituS]

Thay gave us lifetimes of lessons…. I will come back again and again

[JDubbyDubby]

Gentleness requires courage when we feel anger toward another. Respond with gentleness. This is the practice of a Bodhisattva 😊

[enzobelluomini]

wow! thank you so much for the video, and sharing the dharma :)

[BeattleX]

Youre Videos help me so much developing me my Self and my Soul, they give me Peace and Remind me
Of the true source i really come from, thx a lot I usually dont Write comments but i wanted to say i am really thankfull, pls continue with this work <33

[jorgeprado]

Useful, crystal clear and up to the point as always. Thank you, brother!

[timothydillan]

Great video! Your interpretation for the two stories you have shared are deeply inspiring. I'd like to give an additional interpretation, specifically for "The Boat" story and it's relation to enlightenment. I'd like to start with the following quote from your video: "With his lowered eyes, the monk sees the outline of the object, recognizes it's another boat. Immediately, he is filled with rage..".

The "lowered eyes" and the monk's immediate "imagination" represents a state in which one is not yet fully enlightened; a state by which one is limited by one's own choice for vision and judgement. This assumption of mine is further emphasized by the words: "lowered eyes", translates to the state is in which one has yet to open their eyes fully, such that they will be able to experience and understand things as they are.

To "open your eyes", to move from the state of seeing the world through "lowered eyes", moving from the comfort of being in a filter bubble, constantly thinking and seeking similar thoughts for the validation of the ego, over-and-over, is a difficult and a multi-generation endeavor. It is only when we are able to realize our current "lowered eyes" state, attempt to open our eyes and be mindful, only then we would be able to move further towards the state of self-realization and (hopefully) eventually, "enlightenment".

Thanks again for the thought-provoking video!

[adamshredder]

Your channel is such a precious gift! I, and probably many others, could really use a video on Buddhist insights/stories about anxiety and fear, and how to deal with them. Regardless of what you make next, thank you 🙏