THREE TYPES OF ANGER – VEN. THAY THANH

Three Types of Anger

Teaching in Virginia Beach in November 2015, Ven. Chuc Thanh said the following about anger: “There are three types of anger. The first type of anger or hatred is that which is described as being written in stone.  Carved into the stone symbolizing permanence, entrenched, perceived to be never ending. The second is that which is written in sand.  It is there, but then can be erased at any time. The third is that which is written in water.  The action of writing the anger is done, but there is no trace of it after the fact of writing it on the water.”

Have you experienced various types of anger in your life?  How have you dealt with anger? One of the Buddha’s teachings about dealing with anger or hatred is titled The Aghatavinaya Sutta: Subduing Hatred (AN 5.162).  You can read this teaching at www.accesstoinsight.org by going to the site and typing in AN 5.162 or the sutra title in the search field.  In this brief sutra, you can learn the five ways of dealing with anger or hatred.  

(Venerable Thich Chuc Thanh is the Dharma Master at Dong Hung Temple. These quotations were collected from 2015 through 2018 as he taught in Virginia Beach, VA and Southern Shores, NC.  The quotation titles and commentary are by Mark Palamara.)