Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 51-minute teaching from a five-day KI retreat, Venerable Thubten Dondrub guides practitioners through Geshe Langri Tangpa’s Verse on the Eight Antidotes to Anger, focusing on verses 62 through 68. He explores why anger toward those who demean us or harm those we cherish is logically inconsistent: if we don’t resent someone for slandering a third party, why resent them for slandering us? If we accept that others’ harmful words stem from afflictive emotions and ignorance—not malice—we should develop compassion rather than anger. The teaching moves through progressively deeper reasons to relinquish resentment: recognizing that harm comes from both animate and inanimate sources, that both the one who harms and the one who grows angry act from ignorance, and crucially, that our present suffering reflects our own past karma. Pitched at serious Buddhist practitioners familiar with traditional Tibetan commentarial method and the logical, step-by-step dismantling of reactive emotions.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 30. Day 5 Final Teaching Pt1.mp3
UUID: c66c2257-c4df-4598-b6fb-f465abe81f30
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: KI Retreat (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2005 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 51.5 minutes
Words: ~2,289
So then we have to develop good motivation. Again, we have to think in order to achieve enlightenment, we are going now to engage in study. So then we go to a fourth division of which topic? Anyway. Okay.
The topic is called It is unreasonable to be angry because others lack confidence in oneself. So this topic has two divisions to it. The first one goes something like how do you say? So so How do you say that? Okay.
So so if I if one if one gets if one gets angry while others do not have confidence in oneself sorry. If if by if by by being if by being derogated by by one and then ones get angry and by being derogated and having others’ confidence in oneself being being diminished, then one one gets angry. Then also when someone else derogates and diminishes the other’s confidence in a third party, then we should also get angry. That’s the reasoning. So if yeah.
And then the other topic says So then the the second one goes, if one can bear the lack of confidence in others, it is reasonable to bear with the lack of confidence of others in oneself, which is due to afflictions, to the conditions of afflictions, loss. So then we go into the first topic, which leads straight into the verse sixty two, the first half of verse sixty two, which reads: Surely I should be angry with those who say unpleasant things that weaken other beings’ confidence in me. So and then Geshe-la says, Geshe-la says,, if one says such a thing that it is alright to to be angry with them, says this is not right, according to Geshe-la’s commentary on this verse, because if we do not get angry while others are talking ill of third party and diminishing others’ confidence in this third party. If you do not get angry with this person who is talking ill of them, then there is also no reason for us to get angry when they talk of us. Okay.
Okay. So then the commentator goes on to say that if if it is if it is unreasonable even though it is unreasonable if okay. It’s like this. If one says that it is unreasonable, that even though it is unreasonable to be angry at at the obstructions to one’s achievement of material wealth, then it is reasonable to be angry at those who, talking bad, ill of us make others’ confidence in us diminish. If one says such a thing, then we get into second half of verse sixty two.
Okay. So then the verse goes on, but in in the same way, why am I not angry with people who say unpleasant things about others? Gela is explaining, if he says something bad about him, and then he’s also making other people lose confidence and faith in him. So if I get angry when when he makes people lose confidence in me, then I should also get angry when he makes people lose confidence in him because we in this in this sense, we are both in the same situation. Okay.
Okay. So the commentary goes on to say that if if once if once if if gets angry when someone else when someone else is engaging in non-virtue, then one should should then one should get angry. Then then why why not get angry when someone else is is derogating someone else, which is also non-virtue. This one? This one?
Okay. So then then in this Los. Los. Okay. So when another makes others lose faith in a third party, it is the same case when someone else makes others lose faith in a third party. So then we’re going to the next topic, which is which is called if one can bear the lack of confidence in others, then it is reasonable to bear with the lack of confidence of others in oneself, which is due to afflictions. Again, I just say that if if one can bear with the this lack of confidence of others in a third party, and then and the lack of confidence of others in oneself, they’re both the same. So if one can bear with one, then one should should be able to bear with the other.
Then we go into the next verse, sixty three, which reads: If I can patiently accept this lack of confidence because it is related to someone else, then why am I not patient with unpleasant words about myself since they are related to the arising of disturbing conceptions? And Geshe-la is just explaining again that if if I do not get angry when he derogates him and and makes other people lose confidence in him, then by this the same reasoning that I do not get angry with him in this situation, I should not get angry with him when he derogates me and makes other people lose confidence in me. So then the commentary goes on to explain the verse. It says, Those beings that do not have confidence in a third party. So it’s like this.
So when someone else says unpleasant things about a third party that makes others lose confidence in this third party, then And then I don’t get angry with this person who is saying these unpleasant things about the third party. Then on the same So I also should not get angry when this person is saying unpleasant things about myself, and that is because this person who is saying these unpleasant things is being moved, is being overwhelmed by afflictive emotions. So, Geshe-la explains that because what causes this person to say all these unpleasant things about either someone else or oneself is afflictive emotions, then we should not get angry at the person who is saying these derogatory things. Then we get into another topic, which is called arresting anger towards those who harm people dear to oneself. And this topic has two divisions.
The first one is arresting this anger by means of the patience that is intent on dharma, and the second division is arresting it by means of the patience that pays no heed to those who cause harm. Okay? Then the first topic, which is arresting this anger by means of the patience that is intent on dharma, has again two divisions, okay? And the first one of them is the reasons why it is unreasonable to be angry at those who harm holy statues and so forth. Okay?
Then the second topic, what why why it is unreasonable no, sorry. It is reasonable to be patient with those who harm those dear to oneself. Okay? Okay. So then the root text goes into the first topic of little divisions, which is the reasons why it is unreasonable to be angry at those who harm holy statues and so forth.
So the text goes on to say: If one says that even though it is unreasonable to be angry at those who harm oneself, but it is still reasonable to get I mean, there is still no fault at getting angry at those who harm the precious jewels, the three rare ones. If one says such a thing, and then we get into verse sixty four. So then the the the verse goes the verse goes like this. Should others talk badly of or even destroy holy images, reliquaries, and sacred Dharma and the sacred Dharma, it is improper for me to resent it for the Buddhas can for the Buddhas and so forth can never be injured. Okay?
So then the commentary goes on to explain in more detail that if someone says derogatory things or even brings physical harm to statues of the Buddha or to the stupas, which are representations of the mind of enlightenment, and or to the pure Buddha Dharma, and so forth. If someone says or does such things, then it is not alright to get angry with them, even if they do such things. Because the Buddha and so forth, all the Three Jewels cannot be harmed. So this this so we should we should develop for this person who is doing these negative deeds, we should develop compassion towards this person. So then he’s saying that we should develop compassion because these people, they they are afflicted by not liking the three precious Jewels or by being intoxicated or by being afflicted, overwhelmed by negative emotions and so forth.
Because they are doing these things out of these causes, we should develop compassion towards them. Okay, so then we go to the second division, which is: It is reasonable to be patient with those who harm those dear to oneself. Okay, and then we get into verse sixty five, which goes: I should prevent anger arising towards those who injured my spiritual masters, relatives, and friends. Instead, I should see, as in the manner shown before, that such things arise from conditions. Geshe-la says, Because these people who are causing harm to these close friends of ours and so forth, they are doing that out of afflictive emotions, and those are the conditions, then there is no reason for us to get angry with them.
Instead, we should develop compassion again. We should develop compassion towards those people. Then the commentary goes on to explain that Why should we not get angry when we see someone harming our masters, our friends, our relatives, and so forth? We should not get angry because these dear ones, these people who are dear to us, in their past, out of ignorance, they have I’m sorry. Because it is their past karma that was accumulated out of ignorance that is impelling that is impelling, how to say, other people to cause them harm.
Okay? So if one sees that, that those conditions come out of this karma, one has to, how do you say, seeing that, one has to avert anger from arising. We are getting into another topic, which is arresting anger by means of the patience that pays no heed to those who cause harm. This topic has four divisions. So, the first one says it is unreasonable to be angry only with animate beings, literally beings who have a mind.
The second topic goes like the reasons why anger is unreasonable. The third one is reflecting on one’s own faults, and the fourth one is reflecting on the benefits of patience. Okay, so now we get into the first one in verse sixty six. So this verse sixty six goes something like, since embodied creatures are injured by both animated and inanimated objects, why only bear malice to the animated ones? It follows that I should patiently accept all harm.
So, again, I briefly say that both animate and inanimate objects cause harm, so it is unreasonable to be angry with just one of them because the harm is the same in the end. So we should be patient with both. So then, can I explain the commentary which goes like, if when an an enemy in the like harms the bodies of dear one or when the when the harm comes out of a weapon or so forth in other inanimate objects, then because the harm is the same, the harms are the same, then it is not right to get angry only with the animated animated beings that cause harm? Again, the commentator says, because of that, we should we should bear patience. Sorry.
We should bear patience with all harm that comes to to our dear ones, be it from animate and inanimate objects. Okay. So then we’re going to another topic, which is the reasons why anger is unreasonable and into the verse sixty seven, which says: Should one person ignorantly do wrong, and another ignorantly become angry with him, who would be at fault, and who would be without fault? Geshe-la adds to the to those questions that adds to the verse that we should we should should not get angry with any of them. We should bear we should bear all with patience.
So then the commentary goes on to say how do you say, if a being out of ignorance kills and so forth and does engage in negative deeds, such negative deeds. And then another one, by not knowing the faults of anger, then gets angry with him. Then who of these two is who of these two is without fault? So the text goes on to to say that both of them, how do you say, both of them are at fault. So so it is not alright for us to be angry at them.
So then we go to another topic, which is reflecting on one’s faults and into verse sixty eight that reads: Why did I previously commit those actions because of which others now cause me harm? Since everything is related to my actions, why should I bear malice towards these enemies? Then Geshe-la briefly added to to this verse that actions here on the third line refers to to one’s karma. Yeah. That’s it.
Yes. Yes. This one? So then the the commentary goes on to say that because of because of actions, there were because of such actions as as causing harm in the past, causing harm to others in the past, then now Now all this all this harm that I