Are you ready to go further? I would like to share with you another method to transform anger into tolerance, understanding, and eventually compassion. This one comes from the 8th Century Indian Buddhist saint, Shantideva. He counsels if someone hits you over the head with a stick, or maybe in modern times, calls you a bad name, how do you react? Usually we get angry at the person, the wielder of the stick or the one spewing bad words. But Shantideva says, what was it that actually hurt you? It was the stick, or the sound of the words. Then, he says, why do we get angry with the person, for it was the stick, or the sounds that actually hurt us? Many people chuckle at the ridiculousness of his logic. Yet chuckling diverts our anger. There is tremendous wisdom here!
