Transforming Anger Into Wisdom
Explore how to work skillfully with anger in an increasingly angry world, learning Buddhist perspectives on the wisdom within anger and practicing compassionate abiding — a powerful technique to transform hatred and aggression while maintaining the clarity needed for compassionate action.
Introduction: Anger as Currency
Buddhist teacher Judith Simmer-Brown shares her personal background growing up in an “angry household” and introduces the urgent question of what rising anger is doing to us as individuals, practitioners, and societies.
01:23
Introduction: Anger as Currency
Buddhist teacher Judith Simmer-Brown shares her personal background growing up in an “angry household” and introduces the urgent question of what rising anger is doing to us as individuals, practitioners, and societies.
01:23
The Crisis of Anger — And How Buddhism Understands It
Examine alarming statistics on anger's growth in North America — from customer rage to road rage deaths — and discover Buddhism’s teaching that anger at its base is wisdom (dveṣa), but becomes poisonous when it turns into hatred and aggression (pratigha) that lashes out to hurt others.
11:07
Guided Practice: Compassionate Abiding
Learn and experience compassionate abiding, a practice developed by Pema Chödrön and Dale Asrael, breathing in feelings of anger and hatred directly into your heart while breathing out into openness and space, cultivating wisdom while releasing the urge to harm.
12:50
Living as a “Warrior Without Anger”
Discover how to incorporate compassionate abiding into daily life (including “emergency” versions for acute situations) and explore what it means to be a “warrior without anger” — showing up with gentle strength, holding perpetrators accountable, and meeting harm-doers eye-to-eye without demonizing them.
05:12