The Process of Anger Arising in the Manas and Abandoning Anger

Ru Chun: Today I discovered that afflictions arose in my mind. I felt all the pores of my body opening, my muscles stiffening, my heart tightening, anger surging upward, and my head feeling tight and dizzy. Various counterattack methods rapidly formed in my mind, very much like a rooster ready to fight. I really disliked being this way, so I quickly sat down, leaned on the desk, and forced myself to calm down.

Commentary: This is the outward manifestation of anger arising when encountering an event. Was it the mind consciousness that became angry, or the manas? When anger arises, all the pores of the body open—that is, the body hair stands on end. Why does it stand on end? Because the anger in the manas's mind causes the qi of the whole body to rush outward, driving the body hair to stand up. Only the manas has the authority to do this; the mind consciousness cannot. By controlling the central nervous system of the brain, the manas controls the entire body; it can even mobilize every cell and pore of the body, and it can mobilize the qi, breath, and blood vessels of the whole body. Therefore, when the manas has emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, happiness—the whole body cooperates to manifest those emotions. Thus the manas certainly possesses the mental factor of anger (pratigha), possesses all afflictions, and possesses all wholesome and unwholesome mental factors.

Muscle stiffness is the manifestation of the manas involuntarily tensing the nerves; the tightness in the heart is the phenomenon of the manas controlling the heart. Anger is fire, moving from the heart toward the head, hence the anger surging upward. The head feeling tight and dizzy is caused by the manas's anger suppressing the normal circulation of qi and blood, resulting in insufficient qi and blood supplied to the head. Various counterattack methods rapidly formed in the mind—here there may be counterattack methods devised by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta), which the manas had the solitary consciousness think up and also adopted, thus preparing to counterattack. One can see how severe the manas's anger is, and what things it can do when angry. This is the anger formed from the self-nature (the nature of self-clinging) of the manas since beginningless kalpas: no one may touch one's own interests, otherwise one will become angry and want to fight, thereby creating evil karma and receiving evil retribution. It has been like this throughout beginningless kalpas; without cultivation, it will continue on.

Ru Chun: I asked myself: What is it right now that ties you to this affliction? Is it your own mind, the matter itself, or other people? What is its essence? You are now tightly gripped by the aggregate of perception and the aggregate of feeling—this will not do. Although you lack the ability to see through the falsity of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), you cannot remain so powerless to resist. So I drew my mind away from the affliction of anger and readjusted my state of mind: if others want it, just give them some; if it is unreasonable, then so be it—it is no big deal; be kind to others, avoid forming bad karmic bonds, let it go. None of these things can be brought at birth or taken away at death. The Great Wall still stands today, but Qin Shi Huang of those years is seen no more. It is far too unworthy to delay cultivation and create knots in the heart over such a trivial matter. In this way I counseled myself, and as I counseled, my whole being loosened up. With a mindset of kindness toward others, I stopped dwelling on it.

Commentary: This passage describes the process of the mind consciousness counseling the manas. Clearly, the solitary consciousness understands the principles and is free of anger; it uses the principles it has learned to guide the manas to abandon its anger and understand cause and effect. The manas accepted it, the mind opened and the mind understood; it thought it through and gave up the thought of anger, and thus was positively permeated by the solitary consciousness that is free of anger. Once the manas stops dwelling on things and lets go of its attachments, the whole body relaxes and the qi and blood return to normal. If a person is chronically angry and irritable, the qi and blood will congeal and stagnate, the body will develop problems, and this will affect lifespan. The process of cultivation is precisely like this: using correct principles to guide one's own mind. Without cultivation, the manas will frequently go to battle like a fighting cock, resulting in unceasing evil karma and unceasing evil retribution.